BT Struggles To Fill Call Center Jobs in West Midlands; Skill Shortages Blamed

If you've got call center jobs open and the positions you need to fill are located in an area with high unemployment, these jobs should be easy to fill, right?

Not necessarily, as British Telecom (BT (News - Alert)) has discovered recently. The UK-based telecom giant is reportedly struggling to fill nearly 300 jobs at its flagship call center in West Bromwich in the West Midlands. While 1,500 people have submitted applications, the quality of those applications has been so poor that BT has managed to fill only 54 of the 300 open positions, local news site Express & Star is reporting today.

The situation highlights a problem of skill shortages in the area. While unemployment in the region is at a 17-year high – 243,000 people are reportedly without jobs – many of these unemployed lack even the type of skills for call center work. The jobs, which are located at BT?Centre in Providence Place, are paying salaries of to £22,500 (about $34,500) a year and require some skilled customer service work.

Transform Sandwell, an economic development agency working in partnership with BT, says the standard of applications has been very poor, with many applicants believing the positions are entry-level.

Said Fred Lynch of Transform Sandwell, “We are not yet seeing a strong pipeline of candidates. The pre-Christmas recruitment slowed and, despite the quantity of applicants, we are not getting the quality of candidates we require.”

BT had hoped hiring for the contact center's open positions to be completed by the beginning of this year, but local personnel have been forced to plan two recruitment fairs on January 26 and 28, the Express & Star is reporting.

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