JOBS BONANZA
240 call centre jobs created at Baltic Place Jet2 announces 200 new jobs at Newcastle International Airport
AROUND 240 jobs are being created in Gateshead by a Scottish outsourcing firm that is opening a new call centre on the Quayside.
Ago Outsourcing will open its doors at Baltic Place next month with an initial intake of 80 members of staff, but will look to increase its headcount to 240 in the coming months.
The call centre will primarily carry out outbound sales calls for Scottish Power, and is being opened as part of Ago Outsourcing’s national expansion plans.
Last year the company announced it was creating 470 jobs at its Glasgow head office, but it is now looking to open further call centre’s around the country, with Tyneside being the first location on its list.
Stephen Rafferty, chief operations officer at Ago Outsourcing, said: “We already have a large presence in Scotland and we were looking for further expansion. We work with people all over the UK and only 10% of the population are in Scotland, so it made sense to have a mixed site across the border.
“We looked at a few sites and Newcastle came up top.
“The main reason we decided to open here is that in a recent survey the Newcastle accent is the most well received on the telephone. For outsourcing telephone calls the accent is the one people want to listen to.”
Chief executive officer Kris McGenily said: “We have been looking at various locations both in the UK and overseas and we are confident we have found the perfect location.”
The company added that the region boasted a talented workforce and good transport links that meant the North East base was only two-and-a-half hours away from the company’s head office.
Mr Rafferty added: “The majority of the roles will be outbound sales and energy sales for Scottish Power, and we will also do campaigns for them.
“The bulk will of the positions be sales roles but we will also have the back office operations staff, customers service, HR, team leaders, and admin as well.”
Baltic Place was developed to be a key building in the Gateshead Quays regeneration area. In total the building has 131,000sq ft of Grade A office space, and its rooms can be sub-divided for use by a wide range of tenants.
Ago Outsourcing is looking to continue to expand across the UK, and is planning to open another office in Manchester within the next six months.