Call Center Agents

Having a background in Journalism, I’m sure to say that a “HEADLINE” is the most important part of a newspaper not only because it’s the first thing that you will see in a broadsheet but also because it is the reason why readers buy your material. It merely defines what’s in store for you in the following pages. Considering that millions of Filipino people are unemployed nowadays and thousands of these people are using print materials to search for jobs, can we still say that a headline of a newspaper matters a lot? Partially the answer is yes, but let’s look at the situation as a whole, I know you know what I mean; we also have to consider the “no’s” for an answer.

If you buy a newspaper sold anywhere for just P15 to P20 you’ll see a lot of advertisements about job hiring or what we call “classified ads.” Through this section people search for jobs compatible to them hoping that they’ll be given a chance.

I have also become one of them, searching, scanning through the pages of my somewhat “book of dreams” that will help me get there someday; get me to my dream job. Then somewhere between searching and hoping you’ll see a light of chances in the ads like “Why wait? Apply now and be a customer service associate. Earn 12 thousand and up each month!”There are lots of ads like this on newspapers and even online, and because media influence readers/viewers, these ads really make big impact on people’s lives, no wonder lots of Filipinos would definitely pray to get this job.

One main reason why there are a lot of call center agents in the Philippines is that this industry offers higher basic wage than other jobs. Will a public school teacher be capable of earning 12 thousand pesos per month? How about construction workers? Will they be earning 500 pesos per day? Maybe in other countries who offer much more salary but here in the Philippines saying that a construction worker can get 500 pesos a day that would be a lie.

Last year after graduation I promised myself that I will be a journalist, photographer, pre-school teacher, NGO (Non-Government Organization) Volunteer and a Disk jockey. Every time I scan through the pages of the broadsheets and browse through the internet I didn’t miss a day without seeing a job hiring for call centers and these ads really made a big impact to me knowing that as a fresh graduate I can earn that much money. So I also decided to apply in call centers and then came a time that I need to choose between the call center job for 15 thousand and creative writer position for 7 thousand and I will tell you its hard to decide. It’s hard to decide whether to choose the one I love to do than the one which will give me higher pay. As for me, I chose having the higher salary rather than doing what I dreamt of doing all my life.