Dell to hire 1,000 in Ottawa
Computer-maker Dell Inc. is adding 1,000 jobs at its new technical support office in Ottawa, another sign that software jobs are slowly returning to the nation's capital.
The Texas-based computer giant announced Friday that it intends to beef up the workforce at its Ottawa centre to 1,500, three times the current payroll of 500.
"We've been excited with the quality of employees that we've found here," Michael Jaillet, Dell's general manager of the Ottawa site, told the Canadian Press.
"The thing that attracted us to Ottawa was its really strong technical workforce and also, the employees here really understand customer service and how to service our customers effectively."
The news was welcomed by Ottawa and the neighbouring suburb of Kanata. Thousands of local software and technical people lost their jobs in the late 1990s with the collapse of the dot-com entrepreneurs.
The Ottawa office will include technical support people who will work in English and French. Another 150 people will support Dell's government marketing arm.
The Ottawa site has been running since February. It is one of several customer contact centres that the Texas-based company has opened around the world in recent months.
Others are in the United States, the Philippines and India.