2500 Solandt Dr. (Darren Brown, OBJ)

Critical job experience, the "multiplier effect" and relief for a long-suffering commercial real estate market are among the key reasons why Dell's Kanata call centre is nothing but good news for the nation's capital, say the experts.

Last week's confirmation by the Texas-based computer retailing giant that it will open a call centre at 2500 Solandt Rd. was accompanied, not surprisingly, with glowing endorsements from Mayor Bob Chiarelli, Premier Dalton McGuinty and the executive of OCRI. Little emphasis was placed on the fact that these are call centre jobs in an area that has seen the loss of tens of thousands of telecom jobs that typically commanded much greater skill sets and salaries to match.

Dell spokeswoman Wendy Giever confirmed that the centre would initially offer technical support and customer service, predominantly for U.S. corporate customers. At a later date sales staff will be added for the Canadian market, but she said that increase will still be within the company estimate of 500 local staff.

Help desk tech support positions will start at a modest $25,000, while salaries for professional and management staff will begin at $40,000.

However, local experts emphasize that the new centre offers a host of benefits to the National Capital Region that go far beyond salary ranges and headcount estimates.

"The bottom line is, it's good for Kanata and its good for Ottawa," said Brian Card, president of the Corporate Research Group.

He believes the call centre will attract the interest of jobseekers from all over the National Capital Region, as far afield as the Outaouais and Pembroke.

While the addition of a 500-person operation isn't likely to spur any significant increase in housing or retail development in Kanata, he says it is nonetheless another sign that the west end economy is on the mend and the surplus in the commercial real estate sector is drying up.

Mr. Card emphasized, that, while the jobs are somewhat at the low end of the tech scale, people should note the distinction between a technical support call centre and the required skill set of its staff versus the perception of a call centre as a peddler of promotional products that offers low-paying jobs.

At Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, strategic management Professor Ian Lee offers several arguments as to why the Dell announcement is good news across the board and is quick to rebut any criticism that the call centre will be offering only mid-level jobs.

Mr. Lee cited the "multiplier effect" that comes into play when new wage earners are added to the economy with income to spend. He admits that people in his economic circle, such as academics and senior public and private sector managers, tend to "pooh-pooh" low- and mid-level job creation when in fact this is the area of the labour market in greatest need of new opportunities. Such jobs, he said, provide the entry point for young people to get into the workforce and gain the necessary experience to move up the ladder. Too much emphasis is put on the creation of more senior positions where the employment prospects are already fairly good.

The latest figures release last week by Statistics Canada support his view. Across Canada, employment among young people aged 15 to 24 has fallen 24,000 so far this year and the student job market slowed in both June and July.

According to Statscan analyst Vincent Ferrao, employment among young people in Ottawa-Gatineau has improved since one year ago, but the jobless rate still stands at 13.4 per cent, higher than it was in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and on par with 2003.

"Dell is an exceptional employer," Mr. Lee added. "It's never a bad thing to have a world-class employer with best in class practices to come into the region and raise the bar a bit."

Javier Sanchez, a relationship manager at the University of Ottawa's School of Management, believes the presence of such a multinational conglomerate in Ottawa provides a host of new opportunities for management students in search of the necessary skills to launch their careers.

"At some point in your career if you want to be management you have to have gone through sales," he said, emphasizing that such hands on experience outside of the classroom is vital to developing customer service skills.

He also believes Dell made the right move by coming to Ottawa because its diverse population is representative of Canada as a whole as Dell focuses on building its customer base in Canada.

"I'm convinced completely that the bilingualism, the multiculturalism of Ottawa is what will make all the difference for those organizations to come to us," Mr. Sanchez said.

Nor should the fact that Dell is a Fortune 50 company with revenues in the tens of billions be overlooked. Dell's suppliers have a habit of following after the company and setting up operations where Dell goes.

Jeffrey Dale, president and CEO of OCRI, said Dell's decision to come to the nation's capital will not go unnoticed by other multinationals.

"When you have a Fortune 50 company setting up in your city, you're going to have other companies from elsewhere looking at why they came here," he said.

While the pursuit of Dell was a cooperative effort that included Mayor Chiarelli and the Premier, Mr. Dale said no special incentives were offered to the company.

One big selling point that bodes well for Ottawa, however, was the apprenticeship training tax credit offered by the provincial government to companies in any number of industries.

Mr. Dale said the tax credit has traditionally been available only to manufacturing industries such as automotive. Last year the provincial government broadened the criteria to include a number of technology jobs. Once Dell sets up shop and applies for the credit, it will be the first time that it will have been used in a significant way for training in Ontario's tech sector.

OCRI spent six months in clandestine negotiations to bring Dell to Ottawa and Mr. Dale pointed out that Dell has yet to provide specifics on its long-term plans for the new call centre or its labour needs. "This is a very confidential company," he said.

That confidential and conservative nature has raised speculation about Dell's staff figure of 500 considering the sheer size of the near 160,000-square-foot Solandt Road site. Mayor Chiarelli has already suggested that figure could double in the next few years.

Additional details from Dell, as well as dates for job fairs to staff the new call centre, are expected within a few weeks.

By Leo Valiquette

leo.valiquette@transcontinental.ca