Ottawa Business Journal

Dell Computer is recruiting 500 qualified and experienced tech support professionals for its Kanata call cente, and creating additional training programs for the existing staff.

The company's recent investments in customer support are creating a demand for more highly-skilled employees.

"We're providing direct-to-customer technical support for a growing number of Dell customers around the world who have increasingly complex issues," says Ottawa site director Michael Jaillet. "To meet our goal to resolve every customer issue in one contact, we're elevating our skills. Locally, this means additional career training and hiring agents with advanced hardware and networking skills, and operating system certification."

In its latest round of hiring, Dell is recruiting employees who have at least two years experience with CompTIA A+ certification or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification.

Software issues generate 80 percent of Dell's support requests.

Dell is also using new technology that allows technical support staff to access a customer's system, with permission, via a broadband connection to remotely troubleshoot the problem.

Dell's next local recruiting event is an open house on Oct. 14, at its Solandt Road call centre.