Y4iT Raffle Winners Get Glimpse of Life at Pointwest with Site Visit

Jig
October 28, 2012

Manila, Philippines — Two graduating IT students, winners of the Pointwest-sponsored raffle at the 10th Philippine Youth Congress on Information Technology (Y4iT), were treated to a tour of the company’s second delivery center.

Bryan James Garcia of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Manila and Angelica Monsalve of Bulacan State University paid a visit to Pointwest’s Quezon City site at the UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub. The site tour was part of the raffle’s prize packs. Other goodies included in the pack were notebooks, pens, fans, and limited-edition Team Pointwest hoodies.

 

“Distributing branded merchandise at job fairs has always attracted more people to our booth, but this time, we want to add more value to what we give away,” said Bernadette Magmanlac, one of Pointwest’s Talent Acquisition Specialists. “A site tour would allow students to get a glimpse of life at Pointwest and know more about us.”

Much of Pointwest’s core operations are carried out at the Quezon City site, which occupies two floors in one of the buildings at TechnoHub. Project teams handling the company’s biggest clients are based here.

The site tour kicked off with excited greetings. Ms Magmanlac, who was later joined by representatives from the Learning & Development Team, did away with corporate formalities and went straight to showing the students around the site. The relaxed setup encouraged Mr Garcia and Ms Monsalve to ask questions, making the experience upbeat and interactive.

The last part of the tour was a brief meeting with Pointwest President Beng Coronel, who presented the winners with the rest of their prizes. While handing them their hoodies, Ms Coronel could not help but share just how much she loved her own Team Pointwest hoodie. “I’d be wearing this jacket to the airport, and people would tell me how cool it is,” said Ms Coronel. “And the fact that it has ‘Team Pointwest’ stitched at the back really makes you feel like you belong.”

Mr Garcia and Ms Monsalve admitted to feeling a bit overwhelmed by the new things they learned about Pointwest, including the crucial role the company’s software engineers play in large-scale, usually cross-border, operations. The whole experience also made them think about the career opportunities open to them, particularly at Pointwest.

Pointwest is the largest Filipino-owned IT and Business Process Services firm in the Philippines, with more than 900 IT professionals in its employ. Headcount is expected to reach 1,000 at the end of 2012.

The company considers its people as its biggest asset, so time, effort, and money are invested in talent development and management programs. Just recently, Pointwest’s competency management framework, based on the Skill Standards for IT Professionals (ITSS) model, was made into a case study by Japan’s Information Technology Promotion Agency.

 

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The third raffle winner, Trissia Marie Fontelera of Saint Louis University in Baguio, was unable to join the site tour. Her prize pack will be shipped to her home.