Juice Cleanse
A new trend right now is juice cleanse. According to http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20679227,00.html: Many people turn to cleanses because they feel off—they’re bloated and sluggish, dependent on caffeine and junk food cravings, breaking out,” says Stephanie Middleberg, a New York City-based registered dietitian. “When you eliminate toxins from your system, your entire body feels better and reacts both internally and externally.
In Metro Manila, Jamba Juice and other over-the-counter juice producers have started selling packages of juices (6 bottles of different juices) for 3 days as a “juice cleanse” package. Health buffs can easily buy these juices and do juice cleanse.
Iloilo City has yet to see its first producer of juice cleanse. Juice cleanse is not even known yet in the city and this is an opportunity that can be grabbed especially since because of the healthy lifestyle trend these days.
To bring the idea a notch higher, it would be good to offer Ilonggos a juice cleanse alone with a “retreat” package where they can relax for three days and introspect as this is also recommended by many health experts. Burned out young professionals and businessmen can take this opportunity to cleanse, detoxify not only their bodies but also their spirits. There are many resorts near Iloilo City (Anahawan Resort is only 30 minutes away) that can accommodate this. We could sell the juice cleanse along with a complete, 360-degree cleansing package. 3.5
What pisses you off in your office? What do you think must be done?
As a Recruitment Manager for a leading BPO Company in the country, one of the current constraints that we are facing is the Versant exam (https://www.versanttest.com/). Versant is an internationally-recognized English language test. However, I, along with many recruiters in Iloilo site and our other Philippine sites, have experienced how Versant is not the most effective assessment of English language command of candidates. We’ve had too many candidates with solid BPO experience in other companies (of up to 5 years) who fail Versant. Most of our partners in Operations are aware of this; however, it is our company’s policy not to hire anyone with a Versant score lower than 58. Almost everyone in the company agrees that Versant is not reliable in assessing a candidate’s communication skills; however, because of the brand that Versant has made for itself, the company is very hesitant to take this off the process because it has been a major selling point for all clients. Versant costs around USD8 per exam (excluding the technology costs needed to make this happen).
It is disheartening for both the recruiters and the applicants that candidates with scores lower than 58 are immediately disqualified (without being given a chance to retake the exam—still a company policy) even if they have excellent communication skills during the interviews done face-to-face with a recruiter. This also prevents the Recruitment Team from meeting hiring targets as a number of our candidates fail Versant. In Iloilo, Versant has currently a hit rate of 35% meaning that over 65% of candidates who pass even the final interview with a recruiter still fail this step.
One of the remedies suggested is to take Versant out of the process and replace it with a more effective language assessment like Berlitz wherein live interviewers from North America would evaluate candidates in the Philippines over the phone. This is a real-time conversation that happens between the evaluator and the candidate. Berlitz, however, is more expensive, costing up to twice the cost of Versant.
Another solution proposed is to allow candidates to retake Versant a week after. This would allow candidates to prepare more for the exam (as sometimes they would fail because they are anxious and nervous). Also, if allowed a retake, candidates are already aware of what to expect in the exam and they would be more relaxed when taking it. 3.5
Pamela Joy L. Go
Have a little faith.
Have a little faith.
