Many apply, but few are chosen. This is the situation faced by multinationals in Costa Rica seeking to hire employees with proficiency in English.
The latest to face this is SYKES that received more than 700 applicants in less than two hours to fill 200 jobs that required a 85% proficiency in another language, in this case English or Portuguese.
After sorting through the applicants, each having to first pass two oral interviews before being able to be considered, very few passed the door into the third test.
What is clear is that the English being thaugt or being learned in the country is not making the grade.
Companies like SYKES have had to create an academny where selected applicants will have to spend some five weeks – without pay or the promise of a job – to perfect their second language skills to the required level.
SYKES currently employees 3.500 in Costa Rica and is looking to fill 200 positions at its call centres located in Heredia, Hatillo and Moravia.
The average salary at SYKES is ¢400.000 colones or US$800.