Narayan AmmachchiAmerican BPO provider Sykes says it has already hired around 100 Costa Ricans it trained in English language skills as part of an agreement it had reached with the Central American country’s Labour Ministry earlier this year.
Of the 560 people enrolled at its academy, 300 have already finished their learning, stated the Tampa, Florida- based provider, adding that it is in the process of hiring another 75 people.
The new hires will provide finance and technology services to the company’s clients around the world. Those who have minimum proficiency in English can join the academy, Sykes said.
“From August to December, the academy will allocate 250 positions to people with 80%-90% English proficiency, and 100 positions to those who have 75-80% proficiency and 40 positions to those with 70-75% proficiency.”
The government has lauded the training program, saying it bolsters the global services industry, which created 65,900 jobs in the country last year. There are about 172 major service providers operating in the country.
Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, was also present at the time of the announcement, said the government wants to provide people with the “required tools to face the demanding and current challenges.”
“The goal of the partnership is to create as many bilinguals as we can,” said Steven Núñez, the Minister of Labour.
Sykes is a veteran player in the Costa Rican BPO industry, where it employs more than 5,000 people across three delivery centers. Elsewhere in Latin America, it has operations in Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, and Brazil.
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