BPO not the choice of graduates: BCG survey

In a recent survey, Boston Consulting Group has found that only 5% Indian graduates are seeking a career with the BPO industry. This poses a serious challenge to the industry which needs to hire more in the next five years than it did in the past few years. Educated young Indians are shying away from joining the sector. This stark reality could further affect an industry that is already grappling with threat from countries like Philippines, China, Vietnam, among others said a report in CNBC-TV18.From 2004 to 2008, employment in the BPO grew at a whopping 26%. But 2008 saw a drop in these figures and attrition became the crying misery. With attrition levels at 30%, the requirement for professionals is expected to rise by more than 25% in the next five years. Such figures pose a serious threat especially in the light of the job loss figures being churned out by various lobby organizations. The latest is from UNITES India, a politically neutral union of ITES professionals has stated that the IT and BPO industry together would slash over 50,000 jobs over the next six months.Janmejaya Sinha, Senior Partner and MD, BCG, said, "In March this year, when we were talking to every CEO, their biggest constraint was not being able to find enough people to hire. So, when we looked at it at a macro level, there is a shortage of about 760,000 gradates. But when you adjust that to employability, you know, people who can perform productive growth, that number goes up to 5 million."This makes quality manpower the key issue inflicting the BPO industry today. The question now is that with an economic slowdown, competition at its peak, and ITeS clearly not being the of choice for graduates, how will the Indian BPO sector maintain its edge considering that the industry is staled to witness a slew of job cuts in the coming months.