Dear Ate Helen, it’s my fist job, and I got hired as an agent for a call center. I am very excited! I just have a question: what does it mean if they say that I am on a “fixed term” on a “seasonal account”? Thank you! -Sharlette, Pasig BPO

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Hello Sharlette, I have some good news, and some bad news.

The bad news is that you have a job that will end in a few weeks/months (“fixed term”). Some contact centers have accounts that require a lot of agents based on the “season” – for example, a U.S. account that handles airline bookings will get a lot of calls a few weeks before Thanksgiving, after which, the volume of calls may dramatically go down. This is actually quite common in some BPO’s, having accounts that scale up and scale down based on the time of the year.

The good news is that once your employment ends, you now have “call center experience” which is very crucial when applying for another job.

I just want to warn you though. Some call centers have an illegal practice of hiring on a “fixed term” and just renewing over and over again once the term ends. This is done to avoid regularization costs. If you get “re-hired” every six months, then please check with DOLE, or just find a more permanent position in another BPO. –Ate H.

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Need advice? Send Ate Helen an email at auxadvice@gmail.com