KPO, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, is a new wave in global outsourcing, which has evolved as an intellectual cousin of BPO, or Business Process Outsourcing in India. KPO deals with off shoring of high-end jobs in order to save costs and increase operational efficiencies. India has a huge amount of intellectual resources and specialized expertise, which makes it a one of the most favorite destinations. According to a report by GlobalSourcingNow, the Global Process Outsourcing industry is expected to employ more than 250,000 people by 2010 and India it is expected that a business of around $12 billion would be outsourced to India till 2010.

KPO helps in transfer of domain specific expertise of higher level rather than process expertise. The high-end services, which Indian KPO sector can provide, are:

• Research and Development
• Business and Technical analysis
• Training and Consultancy
• Data Analytics
• Legal Services
• Intellectual Property and Research
• Medical Facilities
• Writing and Content Development
• Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
• Business and Market Research
• Advanced Web Applications

One should have the following skills if one wants to work in a KPO

• Good communication ability
• Strong command over English language
• Enunciation ability
• Interpersonal skill like listening, questioning and intonating
• Knowledge of computers and online research skills
• Some job specific skill like writing ability, analyzing raw data, report creation etc
• In-depth domain expertise

Apart from this one should have a positive attitude and a basic interest in the work along with high level of commitment and so one can grow well along with the growing KPO sector.

People with science background are preferred more as they have an aptitude for mathematics and natural flair for science and research. But there are no specific qualifications required in a KPO. Some preferred professional categories and qualifications are:

• MBA's (HR, IT, Finance, Marketing, IB etc)
• Doctors
• Engineers (B.E, B.Tech, M Tech)
• Lawyers
• Teachers
• Chartered accountants
• Economists
• Architects
• Journalists
• PHD's

According to a report published by NASSCOM India will bag 70% of the 3-lakh jobs to be created in recent years. One can choose a job from a veritable menu of KPO services. The KPO sector can be divided into 8 segments and there are huge of amount of career opportunities in each one of them.

• Legal services: These services cater to the drafting of contracts, preparation and review of litigation and transactional documents, persecution of patents, global filing, legal advice on infringement etc.
• Financial services: These include fund management, underwriting, assessment of risk, insurance services, market research, debt recovery etc
• Writing and content development: These services help in proofreading, template designing, text composition, press-work etc
• Market research and Analytics: Such services help in writing and editing secondary and primary research work, formatting of client report etc
• Pharmaceutical and biotech R&D: Such services include clinical research, drug discovery and development etc
• Education and training: Such services include content development, teaching preparing curriculum, private tutorials etc
• Health services: These include HIV and allergy testing, oncology tests, diagnostic centers etc .

So we can see that jobs in KPO sector are growing more than proportionally to the growth of the sector itself. This sector promises to provide opportunities of long-term jobs for intellectual and highly skilled workforce. The secret behind the tremendous amount of job opportunity in this sector is that KPO's prefer people from diverse academic backgrounds, as they are known for providing quality work to their clients. So the growing 'Indian Diaspora' full of great intellectuals, can look forward for better job opportunities in this sector.

The pay package depends much on performance shown by the highly qualified individuals.

The beginners may earn between Rs.7000 to Rs.9000 in a month. An experience of 4 to 5 years can get a salary between Rs.4 lakh (400,000) to Rs.6lakh (600,000) per annum which can jump on to as high as Rs.15 lakh(1.5 million) to Rs.20 lakh(2 million) in few years time. Apart from the lucrative pay packages the work environment present in these companies is beyond comparison.

Depending on the kind of domain knowledge the companies give cut-off for marks or grades for specific projects. After the recruitment is done the companies themselves train the candidates in myriad kind of skills required by them. They are trained to work in teams, under pressure and in different shift timings.

The article has been contributed by Ms. Abha Kheterpal. She has been an educationist for past 15 years and runs her own Tutorial Center. She is double M.A. in English and Economics and being diverse in her interests, she also holds a Diploma in Computer and Software Applications. She regularly contributes Career Related articles on CareerAge.com and does Career Counseling.

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