By Espie Angelica A. de Leon
The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry provided the bulk of employment opportunities for the country?s fresh graduates in 2016, with 66 percent of all jobs for newly grads coming from BPO firms.
Meanwhile, fresh graduates working in the legal field, healthcare, and journalism received the highest salaries in 2016.
These were revealed in the 2017 JobStreet.com ?Fresh Graduates Jobs and Salary Report? presented on Wednesday, March 15, to the media by JobStreet.com Philippines country manager Philip Gioca at the Flatiron Restaurant in Bonifacio Global City.
A total of 650 employers representing all industries were surveyed by JobStreet.com for the report.
The top 10 BPO jobs with the most number of employment opportunities for new graduates were those involving customer service, tech and health support, telesales and telemarketing, IT hardware, hotel and tourism, clerical and administrative support, banking, nursing, human resource, and education in that order.
Retail and real estate came next in the list, grabbing 2 percent and 1.5 percent of total jobs respectively. These were followed by manufacturing, food and beverage, banking, construction, telecommunications, general and wholesale trading, and IT-software.
As for salaries, the report stated that average earnings of fresh graduates employed as contracts analysts, paralegal law clerks, and legal researchers increased from P21,232 in 2015 to P27,124 in 2016.
Salaries of those in healthcare working as medical technologists, nursing aides, and occupational therapists also posted an increase. From P20,048 in 2015, average salaries climbed to P23,216 last year.
Journalism, meanwhile, climbed two rungs higher in the ladder, from its previous fifth place, to its current position as third in the list. Those working as content writers, translators, and junior brand writers earned a monthly average of P21,777.
Taking up fourth place is previous topnotcher IT, followed by education, actuarial sciences, training and development, banking, public relations, and advertising.
The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), University of the Philippines (UP) and University of Santo Tomas figured as the top three universities where employers sourced their new personnel.
In terms of work performance quality, fresh graduates from UP came out on top, followed by those from PUP and Ateneo de Manila.
PUP fresh graduates were particularly voted as number one in terms of work quality by employers in the BPO, retail, manufacturing, and real estate industries.
Meanwhile, new graduates from UP were given the thumbs up by employers in the IT, food and beverage, and education sectors.
When deciding on whether to hire a fresh graduate, the report stated that employers considered these top three factors: attitude, field of study, and asking salary.
On the other hand, three qualities were named by employers as plus points of fresh graduates in the workforce, namely willingness to learn, personal grooming, and effectiveness as team players. Their negative points were likewise pointed out, namely, lack of analytical skills, lack of proficiency in English, and weak problem solving ability.
?Job seekers should equip themselves with further knowledge should they want a distinct advantage in this highly competitive field,? said Gioca.