FOCUS Interactive Outsourcing seeks for ace PHP programmers

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu (June 5) -- What is better than having a high paying job? It’s working on an exciting job that pays well, especially for top ace programmers in the fast-growing information and communication technology (ICT) sector in Cebu.

FOCUS Interactive Outsourcing, the most recent addition to this sector that serves the worldwide market, offers both excitement and a competitive compensation package to promising ICT professionals.

“All we seek are those who have the right attitude to go with their talent,” declared Andrei S. Udal, the company’s CEO, who hopes to hire up to 100 programmers by the end of 2006.

Since it began operations early this year, FOCUS has so far hired 37 programmers who are working at the FOCUS operations center in Greenhills, Maguikay, Mandaue City.

A major player in online sales acceleration which has a very crucial role to play in the Internet marketing business worldwide, FOCUS serves clients in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe.

It also produces and sells mobile phone ring tones and logos to GSM providers in these countries, but the company is more occupied with handling the advertising requirements of its international clients.

Udal, a former human resource director for a call center company, places a premium on programmers who are adept at or have, at the very least, a working knowledge on Hypertext Preprocessing, or “PHP.”

PHP, known to ICT practitioners as "Personal Home Page," is an open-source, reflective programming language used mainly for producing dynamic web content and server-side applications, he explained.

Benefits

Programmers at FOCUS enjoy a very competitive basic salary, bonuses and fringe benefits that include one sack of Ganador rice per month, he disclosed.

“More than the material benefits, our people will further gain continued learning opportunities and team building activities,” Udal said.

In the treatment of his team, Udal took his cue from call centers, where employee turnover rates are as high as 25 percent per month, a nightmare for any human resource department.

“My call center experience tells me that for employees to stay, they should feel at home with the company and there should be a continuous training program that allows them to learn,” he said.

In choosing employees, Udal says he prefers applicants who have the right attitude at work and about life to go with their talent.

“I go for attitude first, then talent and commitment. We give so much to our employees so I would expect them to do their jobs very well and to commit to the company for at least five years,” he stressed.

For the right combination of attitude, talent and commitment, Udal – who is fondly called “Chief” by his staff – has gone to the extent of relocating programmers (and their families) from Mindanao to Mandaue City.

FOCUS accepts applications through its website.