Ascensos, the contact centre management specialists, have recruited a further 122 people – including 87 students from Isle Of Wight College – to join their new contact centre, to support their peak period in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Working in partnership with Isle of Wight College, Ascensos wanted to use the peak period to provide students with work experience working with leading brands in a fast paced environment. The recruits will gain customer service experience – handling inbound telephone, email and online queries for a range of blue chip retailers during this busy period for retailers.
A total of 551 people are now working at Ascensos.
Lyle McLean, Operations Director at Ascensos, said:
“It’s great to be able to use this busy period as a platform to provide work experience and extra income to so many of the Island’s students and other members of the community joining Ascensos in the weeks leading up until Christmas.
“It is fantastic to have established a working link with Isle of Wight College and create a pipeline of future employment opportunities for the students during their study and on completion of their further education.”
The Isle of Wight facility is the company’s first UK operation outside Scotland and, once fully operational will create up to 600 new jobs, making Ascensos one of the Island’s largest employers.
The business selected the Isle of Wight as the location for its new operation after a UK-wide search and due to the access the Island provides to a high calibre workforce; support from Isle of Wight Council; and assistance in recruitment, training and development from the Department for Work and Pensions and Isle of Wight College.
The new facility, located in Cowes, was officially opened by Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the Island, Major General Martin White CB CBE JP, earlier this month.
Ascensos has invested over £1m in the new facility with additional support from the Isle of Wight Council, who have valued the benefit of the project to the Island’s economy at £35m.
