Smartpo 2007-4-24 08:47
Job Fair on Apr 26 11am to 8pm at Caboto Club
A Texas-based call centre company with 27 locations worldwide is considering opening its sixth Canadian location in Windsor.
The Dallas-based corporation Stream will stage a job fair Thursday at the Caboto Club between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. to test local interest in the company’s plans.
“The development commission has been working closely with Stream for many weeks and we are excited to see the project reach this stage,” said Matthew Fischer, CEO for the Windsor-Essex Development Commission.
A Stream official said Monday night the company is looking to hire 400 to 600 workers if it decides to open a Windsor location. Pay range for the potential call centre jobs was not revealed.
Stream’s decision on Windsor will be based on the turnout at the job fair, as well as the ability to meet its need for workers who speak English and French, said company spokeswoman Katherin Dockerill.
The company — which has 14,000 employees — is looking to Windsor for bilingual help because the call centre business is already saturated in Quebec, she said. Stream is also interested because this city is in transition away from the auto industry and has a large pool of available workers.
Stream has Ontario outlets in London and Belleville where it employs 700 to 800 at each call centre.
Following Thursday’s job fair, Stream will make a decision within 60 days, Dockerill said. The company has already identified available property and is in early negotiations, she said.
Available positions in Windsor are largely to be focused on technical support, customer service and sales positions, the company said.
Stream’s client base includes software publishers, computer manufacturers, electronics companies and Internet service providers.
“We are looking for people who know how to operate computers, but not necessarily at an advanced level,” said Darla Bond, vice-president of human resources at Stream.
Should Stream come to Windsor, it would follow the early success of another global call centre company which opened locally late last year.
Global Sutherland, an India-based call centre corporation, opened its first Windsor location on College Avenue with plans to open a second spot downtown. In total, the company’s local operations is expected to soon employ over 1,500 part-time and full-time workers.
Re-Post from Windsor Star, 2007-04-24
