New jobs in the Moravia-Silesia region with Telefónica

Telefónica is expanding the services of its call centre in Ostrava. Approximately 150 new jobs will open in the next few months. The number of the call centre's operators will increase by 14 percent. Over the last three years, the number of call centre staff went up 33 percent (more than 300 new employees).

"Working at a call centre is ideal for school-leavers and other candidates without substantial work experience. Such work can offer first work experience and start a career in a strong international company, which offers many opportunities for professional development. The average age of the Ostrava call centre employees is presently around 31," says Ctirad Lolek, Director, Human Resources Division, Telefónica Czech Republic.

"We are presently advertising for customer care representatives in the individual segment and telesales," reports Aleš Jelínek, Director, Customer Services, Telefónica Czech Republic. "As in our other call centres, newcomers first go through rigorous training, in which they learn about the company, the telecommunications market and our service portfolio. And of course, we train them in the area of communication with the customer and they also learn to use our systems," he adds.

Telefónica is the largest call centre operator in the Czech Republic, employing more than 3,000 staff.

Employment in Ostrava call centre - the trend

The call centre in Ostrava is the biggest customer care operation of Telefónica in the Czech Republic. Customer care representatives cater to individual and business customers; there is also telesales and collection. The call centre in Ostrava will handle up to 5.5 million calls and requests from customers. One consultant processes 800-1,000 calls per month on average. One call is on average 4 minutes long, with additional 4 minutes for the processing of any related requests.

"New jobs in the call centre spell good news for the local job market in Ostrava. Presently we have almost 12 applicants on record per every vacancy. The job prospects may be particularly attractive to jobseekers from the ranks of secondary school-leavers, of whom we had 15.5 thousand on record at the end of December,"explains Vladana Piskořová, Head of the Job Market Department, Labour Office, branch Ostrava.

Think Big

Young people, including those in the Moravia-Silesia region, can apply for funding for their non-profit projects from Telefónica. The ongoing programme Think Big helps successful applicants make their ideas into reality - create something or change something in the community. In the last year alone, when Think Big was launched, Telefónica awarded 100 projects from 300 entries with funding. In the Moravia-Silesia region, twelve projects were awarded funding, together exceeding CZK 730,000. Up to 12 million Czech crowns is to be distributed every year to good ideas from young people. This year, thirteen projects from the Moravia-Silesia region were awarded with funding CZK 740,000 in total.

Think Big offers to young people not only money - but also training in the area of communication and presentation skills from experienced instructors, basic equipment and a helping hand from Telefónica's staff. For more information and the terms and conditions of application please visit: www.o2thinkbig.cz.