Chennai : The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has welcomed a Nasscom plan to hold a common all India pre-qualifying test for job seekers in this rapidly growing sector.

Nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies) recently announced it will conduct the test for those seeking employment in call centers and other BPO services to help companies hire people with a minimum set of relevant skills. Nasscom even evolved a model based on experiments by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in their BPO Skills Assessment Test (BEST), which helped many BPO companies in these states get the right candidates.

India’s BPO industry is growing at 50 percent annually and employs over 250,000 people. It draws business worth $5.1 billion from around the world. Jyothi Menon, head (human resources) of Lason India, a leading BPO company, said here on April 19 that the Nasscom test would add credibility to the workers’ skills, besides reducing the time and cost of hiring for the recruiters. “Such a testing methodology is necessary. I believe that the time has come for software and ITeS professionals to be (tested and) branded. It adds credibility to their authenticity and level of competence,” she told a conference here.

Lonnie Sapp, chief operating officer of OfficeTiger, a graphics and illustrations outsourcing firm, said: “Significant time and effort goes into selecting the right candidate. Therefore, a pre-qualifying test would reduce recruitment time and cost.”