The Indian BPO industry is estimated to grow at 28% for FY08 with revenues around $10.9 b and over 700,000 employees, according to NASSCOM. Estimates suggest that the BPO industry will have a shortfall of 350,000 people by 2010, due to the lack of 'employable' manpower in the country.

The BPOs have been grappling with the issue of being able to recruit the 'right fit' for quite some time now. This has spurred the need for comprehensive and scientific skills assessment of potential employees in the BPO industry. Growth in scale, pressure to constantly recruit coupled with low employability and high employee turnover have driven the growth of external skills assessment in the BPO industry.

There is a huge potential for the testing and assessment market within the Indian BPO industry. While there are a few small players, Merittrac is one of the frontrunners in the space for employee skills testing. The company tests over 125,000 candidates per month and 30% of these are for the BPOs. According to Biju Zachariah, SVP Sales (IT/BPO), Merittrac, "Apart from the pressure of growth, quality requirements and attrition in the BPO industry, the need for quick candidate turnaround is driving growth for structured, process-driven selection methods, and this includes skills assessment. Since the Indian job market has plenty of opportunities, not limited to BPO alone - the candidates expect a quick turnaround and an offer within a certain period from the company. This puts additional pressure on the overloaded HR department in the BPOs to speed up the recruitment process." This also explains the over 60% growth that the company is witnessing over the last couple of years.

Of the approximate 70,000 employees tested per month for BPOs, over 70% assessments are for voice-based services. The voice testing is done on parameters like accent neutrality, voice clarity, fluency and grammar. Candidates are rated on these parameters, feedback on which is sent to the BPOs.

Apart from the voice-based services, the back-office services are witnessing a growth in demand. As the scale requirement in KPO grows, areas such as financial research, content writing, design, etc. may also move to external testing. Says Biju, "We have tests for domain knowledge on F&A, manual writing, etc. We have evolved depending upon the requirements of the industry. We are noticing a trend in growth for back-office services vis-à-vis call center services. While we expect a steady volume in voice testing, back-office or even KPO testing is expected to grow more. The trends in the BPO industry impact us, and we tune our services towards new developments."

Along with NASSCOM, in 2006 Merittrac launched 'NAC-Tech' to benchmark entry-level skills in the IT/BPO industry. Merittrac has recently introduced an employability test - TracSkills National Employability Test (TNET) for IT/BPO industry aspirants. The program tests candidates on communication skills, analytical abilities and technical skills. These tests have been rolled out across various states in India.

On an average the testing process for a BPO job aspirant takes approximately 3-5 hours depending upon the nature of work. The output provides data on where the candidate stands on the employability ladder. There is also a feedback process, which helps the candidate identify the gaps in his job-readiness for BPO.

The test score certifications have become an industry standard, which enable BPOs in easier selection of pre-tested applicants. The tests have found endorsements from industry majors. This step has helped BPOs tap talent in remote cities and states and has also increased the accessibility and awareness levels of aspirants in these non-metro cities.

While the level of employability is relatively higher in metros, on an average only about 5% of the candidates are found worthy of employment. This highlights the most lamented issue faced by the BPOs today - Lack of employable talent!

The issue of employability points to the ineffective school and college education provided en masse in India. Unfortunately there is no quick fix for the improvement of employability of these job aspirants. The fault in the quality of education imparted is palpable.

As the industry-academia gap widens, the industry needs to get more involved at the college or even school level education. Inputs towards designing / lobbying for introducing industry specific courses can be a beginning. However, good plans need to be followed up with even better implementation. One often hears about the lacuna of schoolteachers, thanks to the exodus towards better opportunities with the opening up of BPO in India. Can the BPOs rise to fill this gap? Among the several CSR initiatives that the industry takes, developing industry-ready manpower at the grassroots level can become one such initiative. While the investment may not pay off immediately, the benefits are long-term… and who knows… 'Corporate Social Responsibility' initiative may prove to be an astute corporate move for the industry.