Kalen Spoletini is the face of the 130 new people that TELUS is hiring for its expanded call centre in Prince George, 30 more people than it planned to hire.
"I love the job. I love coming to work. It's a positive atmosphere. It's relaxed, but it makes you work even harder," said the enthusiastic 20-year-old, epitomizing the "spirit" that TELUS management says is the reason the operation is expanding.
Vancouver-based TELUS held an opening ceremony Friday to mark the call-centre expansion, announced five months ago.
Like other new hires, Spoletini spent a month learning in the classroom, another three weeks with on-the-job training before taking incoming calls on his own. He, like the other newly-hired people, is handling calls to support TELUS's digital TV package called Optik.
The bonus for Spoletini, born and raised in Prince George, is he is able to pursue his post-secondary education while working at TELUS. With plans to get a degree in business or law, Spoletini said his school and work experience are a combination he could use to grow with the company.
The call centre provides well-paying jobs, as after five years, workers can make $50,000 or more.
TELUS executive vice-president Josh Blair told local government officials the Prince George operation is growing much faster than other locations because of the pride in their work. "You can take that as a vote of confidence in Prince George and the North," said Blair at the opening ceremony.
TELUS spent $1.5 million upgrading office space on Sixth Avenue to accommodate the new call centre employees. That is in addition to $1.3 million it spent in 2008 on a similar project.
The offices, on the second floor, are light and airy. Work stations include ergonomic desks that can be moved up and down for comfort.
The additional jobs brings its call centre labour force to about 300. In total, TELUS employs 400 people in Prince George.
TELUS also invested $26 million in Prince George last year extending the reach of its services, including digital TV. It plans to spend another $11 million this year.
Prince George-Valemount Liberal MLA Shirley Bond, invited to take part in the opening ceremony, pointed to the photos of about 75 people that had been newly hired, saying the new jobs are important for the community. More people will be hired to bring the total to 130.
Mayor Dan Rogers welcomed the jobs as important to downtown revitalization. Public sector investments downtown are important, but revitalization is only a success when the private sector is investing, said Rogers.
He also pointed to other recent downtown investments by the Commonwealth Group, The Keg and Fortis, which is also investing in a call-centre.
