A Company President who CARES

One can  easily be carried away with an emotionally filled day when you have to let go of employees who have faithfully served your company. This scenario however is not uncommon these days when different organizations in Cebu are forced to retrench and drastically cut down its workforce due to the global economic crisis.

With the ongoing cost cutting measures across industries, One Core Business Innovations‘ (Cebu City, Philippines) Managing Director, Claudette Manus has embarked on a robust career drive to personally visit affected companies at the Mactan Economic Processing Zone and work with their management team in finding ways for the affected employees to get back on their feet and be hired in other industries.

This venture however have been met with mixed reception; some companies just shrug their shoulders and say that they don’t want to have anything to do with the employees when they get their last pay; some have lukewarm and non-committal feelings about it; but out of the rubble comes someone who has decided to think out of the box with One Core (Cebu City, Philippines) to help his employees.

Myservel Manufacturing Corporation in MEPZ (Mactan Economic Processing Zone) was not spared from the crisis. Being a sub-contractor for mostly automotive parts, the drastic drop of the car manufacturing industry in the United States had a direct impact on the business operations of Myservel. 

When Myservel’s President and Chief Operations Officer, Manny Fortuna received a call from OCBI’s Claudette Manus, he had a very positive response and immediately wanted to know how One Core Business Innovations (Cebu City, Philippines) can help get his employees jobs after the factory will close at the end of February 2009.

The best industry to be employed these days is the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing);  and since One Core Business Innovations (Cebu City, Philippines) is a sourcing partner for multiple call centers in Cebu, OCBI can easily profile and pre-screen the Myservel employees  on their skill potential.

Manny Fortuna right away identified employees with college degrees or those who have completed at least 4 semesters in college (this is the basic requirement for most call centers). After pre-qualifying these employees, he organized a company wide meeting and asked Claudette to talk to them about the call center industry. She explained how call center jobs can help them financially but at the same time they have to make sure that their skills match the job requirement; questions were raised and answered. At the end of the talk, what could have been a sad day for most people, turned out to be a day of hope and possibilities.

Company leaders like Manny Fortuna is refreshing to find and to work with. One Core wishes him the best and success with his new business endeavors.

When Life Gives You a Lemon, Make Yourself a Nice Glass of Lemonade!

The business community in Cebu has not been spared with the effect of the global economic crisis; therefore it did not come out as a surprise when multinational companies, mostly based at the Mactan Economic Processing Zone started laying off employees. 

Many of these laid off employees have gone to the One Core Business Innovations (Cebu city, Philippines) office to seek for employment assistance. Finding possible employment opportunities would not have been a problem since One Core is a sourcing partner for multiple call center companies in Cebu and for other companies representing varied industries. So far though, it is only the call center sector who has not stopped hiring new employees while the manufacturing side is laying off.

Endorsing these laid off employees to One Core’s call center partners would not have been a problem except that at least 85% of these applicants do not have the skills that match what the call center job needs. Many of the laid off workers are high school graduates; a basic requirement to apply in the call center is to have least 4 semesters in college; some even require to have the same major for the first two years in college. The educational attainment alone disqualifies a substantial amount of applicants.

Another skill challenge is the now classic case of the lack of English language competence. Applicants can hardly carry a conversation or fluently express their thoughts during an interview. If ever they manage to sustain a conversation, it is oftentimes marred with mispronounced words. A major skill overhaul should be considered at this point.

The One Core Business Innovations  (Cebu City, Philippines) Sourcing team however does  not give up hope on these determined workers, who despite the recent loss of a job does not feel sorry for themselves and blame a global crisis they have no control of. They are more determined than ever to make something positive out of these challenging times. The OCBI Sourcing Team gives them a free skills assessment and pre-qualification interview to determine their employability in the Call Center industry. Should they pass both the basic educational qualification requirement and the skill assessment; they are immediately endorsed to One Core’s call center partners. They still go through the regular recruitment process in the call center. If the applicant does not pass the free skills assessment and interview, a call center training will be recommended for him/her to undergo.

In the middle of these tough times, the One Core Business Innovations (Cebu City,Philippines) team would not want to shrug their shoulders in surrender and just wait until the good times start coming in. The OCBI team has rolled up its working sleeves to work with anyone who needs a job; they may step into the office with a lemon on their hand, but the OCBI team takes it and makes a nice cool lemonade out of it!

Corporate Trainings for Businesses in Cebu

It is good to know that despite the global economic recession, companies still try their best to sustain employee trainings; although every business sector is challenged with the ripple effect of the crisis, management also sees the need to upgrade the skills of its workforce.

One Core Business Innovations (Cebu City, Philippines)  is aware of the multiple training constraints an organization must face; and of them is in the area of cost. Should a company have something in-house or should they send a company representative to a public training and “echo” the information back in the workplace?  What OCBI does is  work hand in hand with the organization to come up with the most cost-effective training measure and ultimately arrive at a win-win arrangement…deliver quality trainings while meeting the budget of the organization. This collaboration has worked very well and its quite good to know that there can still be a way around a tough situation.

Some of the trainings that companies prefer are: Building Effective Teams, Presentations with Impact, Image Enhancement and Effective Business Writing.  The OCBI team works closely with the organization to make sure that the trainings are customized.

For more details on other One Core Business Innovations‘ (Cebu City, Philippines) trainings, you can visit the website at www.onecorebusiness.com. Trainings may not be limited to the metropolitan Cebu area but to other cities in the Visayas and Mindanao areas as well.