Cingular is offering the New York agents opportunities to transfer to other company facilities. That work didn t go anywhere it went away, says Emily Eikelberner, investor relations spokeswoman for TeleTech Holdings. The company continues to negotiate for work that will keep the center open, she adds. Employees are scheduled to learn the fate of their jobs May 28. Indeed, there is room for contact center growth in terms of space, employment and range of services.
Community colleges have training programs for CSRs.
We ve been a heavy manufacturing area for a long time and we have to make the transition, Kucharski says. The call center segment is a significant percentage of IT that wants to move into the area. There are a lot of people that can t go to the fast-growth places any more because the unemployment rates are around 1.5 percent. Loyal, educated workers and good transportation are key to the region s future, say observers. The attraction is the critical mass of skills in the Northeast.