Jobs in KPO or the Knowledge Process Outsourcing are quite in demand these days given the bright prospects in this field. The industry is fast picking up in India given the wealth of well-educated professionals in India who can be hired at relatively cheaper rates. It is a knowledge based industry and in this regard it is quite different from a BPO. In a KPO, employees are involved in knowledge-based work or research in different verticals. So, people with experience in specialized fields are considered for a KPO job. Unlike BPO, it is not just the youngsters or fresh out of college youth who opt for a KPO jobs but experienced professionals from various fields and even retired people are joining the KPO industry to take up lucrative jobs.

KPO jobs involve work in various fields such as finance, legal issues, intellectual property, analytics, market research and data management for a company. Since this is all knowledge based and confidential work, a lot of risk management is required in KPO jobs in India and abroad. The job would require in-depth knowledge of that area of work. Of course, the KPO centre imparts training to its employees for the vertical that it is working in. High-end knowledge work is executed in these KPOs as directed by the client. It could be data management, petition filing, research oriented work or any other such work that involves proper understanding of that field.

Since India offers good KPO services with a lot of cost advantage, it is estimated that by 2010, nearly two and a half lakh people in India would be employed in this industry. This is an indicative number and given the potential of this industry, it may as well increase. In the past decade, there has been a mushrooming of engineering, technical and professional institutes in India. Thus, there is no shortage of skilled manpower in the country which is capable of handling high-end knowledge work in KPOs. Thus, more and more international companies are either setting shop here or hiring the local talent for research and development work or outsourcing such work to Indian KPO companies that specialize in the particular vertical.

Experienced and qualified professionals are choosing this career option because it is very lucrative. A person with two years of experience can expect to earn remuneration as high as around Rs 6 lakh (Rs 600,000) to Rs 8 lakh (Rs 800,000) annually. Someone with higher experience and knowledge of the industry would easily draw anywhere between Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) and Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million). However, this industry is fraught with attrition. Since people are not properly aware of the potential of this industry, they tend to leave jobs quicker in this industry.

To get hired for a KPO job, one has to have proper educational qualifications unlike BPO where only a good knowledge of the English language is required. Since in a KPO job, the work requires specialized skills, proper educational qualifications are a must. Qualified people from various diverse backgrounds can look at making a career in KPO. It could be teachers or engineers or MBAs or lawyers or journalists or professionals with financial background. Professionals from all such backgrounds are eligible to work in KPOs. The basic skills required of an employee in KPO job are good analytical skills for data analysis, proficiency in usage of resources for information research, ability to make presentable reports from raw data, good computer proficiency and command over English language.

For a KPO job, one would require domain expertise and knowledge for projects that may involve moderate to very high levels of analysis, research, updating, database creation and cataloguing and indexing. Thus, one must have a basic interest and knowledge in specific domains with an aptitude to working with data and information to thrive in a KPO job. During the recruitment process, candidates are first short-listed on the basis of marks and their previous experience of the domain. Their aptitude and attitude towards doing research-oriented work is also tested during the recruitment process. After selection, all employees are given the requisite training in the domain and the projects involved.

KPO industry employs employees from diverse academic backgrounds. There would be a huge demand for engineers, CAs, doctors, MBAs, lawyers, research analysts, scientific researchers and even PhDs in the near future. KPO is one industry where one can make full use of his/her educational qualifications. Also, good performers in a KPO have remarkable growth opportunities in this field because the number of skilled people is less. They can look forward to a good salary package, in-depth domain knowledge, managerial responsibilities and career growth.




By: Geetika Jain