NAC - NASSCOM’S Assessment of Competence
Frequently Asked Questions
1. About Indian ITES-BPO industry?
Indian ITES-BPO sector industry continues to grow from strength to strength, witnessing
high levels of activity - both onshore as well as offshore. The last year witnessed
vendors move up the value-chain to offer higher-end research and analytics services
to their MNC clients. The industry clocked export revenue of US$ 5.2 billion in
FY 2004-05 registering a 40% growth from FY 2003-04. The ITES-BPO sector also created
around 100,000 jobs in the sector adding the total employment to 348,000 in the
same period. According to various research agencies and the ITES-BPO sector will
continue to register phenomenal growth rate and will register revenue of US$ 17-18
billion and employment generation of 1 million people by CY 2009.
2. Are there any training programs/ courses that I need to attend before
joining the industry?
Yes, you do. The industry is very industry specific i.e. the work done at any ITES-BPO
outfit is mainly processing any industry verticals like BFSI sector, Administration,
Sales, Marketing, research and any process which is not core to the customer. An
experience in related industry vertical is helpful. The ITES-BPO sector world-wide
is customer-centric and you need to cat all levels of hierarchy some kind of ‘soft-skill;
training.
3. Who is the certifying body for this initiative?
At the pilot stage, NASSCOM will lend its name to the certification. However,
going forward am independent governing council will be formed to take care for certification
and other administrative work.
4. How will this certification program benefit me?
This program will provide you with a score sheet on different parameters.
You can apply to different companies across India on the basis of this score and
need not go through similar selection processes at different companies.
5. How can I participate in the program?
Please get yourself register at SPIC.
6. What is the basic qualification required to participate in the program?
The minimum qualification required is graduation (10+2+3)
7. Do I need to pay for this program?
You have to pay Rs 1500/- for participating in this program.
8. What are the skills being tested?
This program aims to test the general aptitude of a candidate on different
skill sets. This includes
Listening and Keyboard Skills,
Verbal Ability, spoken
English,
Comprehension and Writing Ability,
Office Software Usage, Numerical &
Analytical skills, and
Concentration & Accuracy.
SCOPE
10. What is the scope and objective of the pilot?
As per the plan in Stage I of the pilot, an integrated assessment
will be put online to test the candidates coming for recruitment at participating
companies. The plan is to do parallel testing of the candidates i.e. the candidates
will be assessed as per the existing recruitment process and also on the NAC system.
This will help validate the NAC assessment vis-à-vis the recruitment requirements;
and enable assessment of the overall candidate experience.
In Stage II of the pilot the plan is to conduct assessment in tier II cities, independent
of the recruitment process. This will help test the assumptions around logistics
and delivery.
11. Who all are participating in pilot?
Very wide spectrums of ITES organizations have stated an interest
to participate in the pilot; and contribute their resources. NASSCOM team will work
closely with the industry to arrive at the final list; this will be done keeping
in mind the need to have right balance of process, third party and captives; and
companies from participating locations.
12. Which all locations will be covered under the pilot?
As per the current plan, Stage I of the pilot will cover Bangalore,
NCR and Mumbai while Stage II will cover a wider variety of Tier II cities.
13. How is pilot getting funded?
During the pilot the candidates will not be asked to pay; the model
being adopted is one of shared cost i.e. vendors will share part of the cost while
the rest will be shared by the participating companies.
14. What is the plan for funding the national roll out and ongoing assessment?
Post successful completion of the pilot, NASSCOM together with the
industry will evolve the model of funding of the one time investment and the governing
organization. Ongoing funding will be done by way of the fees being collected from
the candidates being assessed.
15. What is the planned mechanism for voice testing?
In one of the pilots, voice sample will be captured transferred over
the web and will be assessed by the assessor. In another pilot voice assessment
will happen face to face with the assessor at the center itself when the candidate
appears for NAC.
At the end of the pilot, data collected and the overall feedback on the validity
will decide the best way forward. 16. Did the project team look at a fully automated
voice testing model? Though it is one of the most heavily researched areas; there
is no technology in the marketplace which can do voice assessment in a consistent
manner. As and when there is a solution in the market place which can meet our requirements the initiative will evaluate and switch to such a tool.
16. Why industry fitment not included in the scope?
Most of the industry felt that though
important; the fitment piece can be left for future because it is by nature subjective
and a correct implementation will need far more groundwork and education.
Miscellaneous
17. How we can be of help?
Industry will continue to play the central role in the initiative;
for the pilot phase participating organization will be expected to contribute resources
and opinions of the organizations that are not part of the pilot will continue to
sough after to ensure that the system being design has complete alignment. During
the national roll out; industry will play a crucial role in lending credibility
to the certification and in ensuring that the same gets differentiated in the marketplace.
This will happen if the certification gets a mention in recruitment advertisements;
the certified candidates undergo a shorter process and/or get a salary differential
etc.
19. Who will own this going forward?
NASSCOM on behalf of the industry will continue to play the central
role; the plan is to form a governing board/ committee to oversee the initiative
and the business model of this program will fund the governing body’s functions.
20. Whom should we contact at NASSCOM for further details?
Please contact Md. Shahabuddin, Assistant Vice President, NASSCOM
(Shahab@nasscom.org) for further queries.
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