Sitel jobs draw hundreds of applicants

By: Kat De Maria

ELMIRA, N.Y.–Averill Bolster just landed herself a job at Sitel. And she said she’s excited.

“I am (laughs). Oh, I’m excited,” Bolster said.

She’ll provide customer service at the company’s new call center on Canada Road in the town of Erwin.

“I think it’s something this community needs. And I think there’s an awful lot of people who are going to be looking for these positions,” Bolster said.

Sitel representatives say they already have some 800 applications for about 400 positions. At a job fair Thursday, they said they’ve never seen a response quite like this.

“I can’t remember a time when we’ve had such a great turnout from a community this quickly,” said Recruiting Programs Manager Tim Jones.

Sitel leaders say they chose to come to this area partly because of the job market. And people here applying for these jobs say there just aren’t that many others out there.

“This area here has been depressed for a long time,” said Ray Gavin, of Gang Mills.

“Over the years, I’ve had seven jobs. And every year it gets harder and harder to find one,” said Eric Bennett, of Elmira.

“The ones that are available, there are so many candidates applying for them, it’s very difficult to find work,” Bolster said.

Gavin said that means companies like Sitel that do have jobs also have a talented pool from which to choose.

“Very smart people, very knowledgeable people, who can do this call center a great service working with them, working for them,” Gavin said.

So applicants say perseverance is critical.

“Even though you don’t get the job the first time, keep at it,” Bennett said.

Sitel representatives will continue recruiting at the CCC Center over the coming days. Anyone interested can go to the job fair or apply on the company’s website, www.sitel.com.

Copyright ©2007 TWEAN News Channel of Syracuse, LLC, d/b/a News 10 Now.