Linguists Sought For Belfast Call Centre

Multilingual staff are being sought for a north Belfast call centre.

TeleTech - in Duncairn Gardens - announced it will add up to 80 technical service positions in the next month.

The new employees will provide inbound technical support for our global clients.

Native speakers in Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, or Turkish are encouraged to apply.

The move follows growth in an existing contract in Belfast means new jobs for customer service support : "These are excellent opportunities for qualified multilingual candidates," said Craig Reines, Senior Vice President for EMEA Service Delivery.

"With the downturn in the global economy we are particularly pleased and excited to be able to introduce these positions into the Belfast job market."

Just two years ago, the US-owned call centre launched a recruitment drive for staff who were prepared to work from home. The company said it was targeting 500 workers in Ulster in particular because of the concentration of skilled workers and high rate of broadband usage.

The company has encountered up-and-downs.

Dozens of workers lost what was then 'new' jobs at the Belfast call centre just weeks after being recruited - because not enough people were using its new 118 directory inquiries service.

The firm blamed what it called "a very unusual situation" in 2003 on a massive shortfall in the anticipated number of directory inquiry calls received.

Just a year before that, there were fears for the future of the facility as it was in a flashpoint area after its American owners expressed concern about violence in the community.

Things were serious enough to prompt comments by the then Enterprise Minister Sir Reg Empey over TeleTech plans for a second site in the North West being 'put on hold'.

(BMcC/JM)