The Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will offer 120,000 more employment opportunities in 2012, which is in line with the industry target of employing 1.3 million workers in BPO by 2016.

“We need motivated and highly qualified professionals. With support from government and academic and training institutions, we expect to meet that goal of employing 1.3 million,” Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) president Benedict Hernandez said recently in a press statement published in Philippine broadsheet Malaya.

Ideal job candidates in the industry should have leadership skills, English-language ability, and strategic thinking.

BPAP is working with various government agencies to develop a more robust and skilled labor pool.

The industry association currently works with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to hold training on job readiness for youth and regular courses for trainers. BPAP has 13 training, HR development and certification programs.

The Philippine information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) and global in-house center (GIC) sector, which is projected to hit US$25-billion by 2016, is working to find more qualified employees. The country currently has top outsourcing companies offering multi-service delivery in engineering and IT, manufacturing, consulting, financial, healthcare and public services, real estate, customer engagement, support services, facility management, and security.