A "well-known retailer of electronics and entertainment products" has announced that? the company will be locating support services in Glasgow, Kentucky? "during the next few months, which will mean more than 500 additional jobs for the community's workforce," say officials of Sitel?.

Best Buy (News - Alert) Co. recently announced that the business has ?signed a deal with Sitel, a business process outsourcing provider, to set up call center operations at the Sitel facility adjacent to the Western Kentucky University-Glasgow Campus off Roseville Road.

According to the Glasgow Daily Times, it's been "a long and sometimes frustrating road for local and state officials in bringing the Sitel facility and the right client to the community. After two years of negotiations with the state of Kentucky, Sitel announced in July of 2007 that it would be building the call center in Glasgow. Construction began a year later during the summer of 2008 and was completed in January of 2009."

Working behind the scenes, the newspaper reported, "?local officials in conjunction with Sitel representatives brought multiple potential customers, including Apple (News - Alert), to? tour the building and the community during the past two years," but no deals were signed.

The newspaper reported that officials with Best Buy were "pleased with their visit to the community, according to Miller and now that a contract has been signed, the hiring process for employees will begin very soon," adding that Sitel representatives are hoping for 1,500 to 2,000 applicants for the two-day career open house next week. Miller said people were already stopping by the Sitel building at 101 Hilltopper Way to make inquiries, but he stressed the best way to apply is online at www.sitel.com in the "Careers" section before the open house.

Recently TMC's (News - Alert) Brendan Read had the opportunity to interview Bert Quintana, who is president and chief operating officer for Sitel, who said "The BPO industry continues to transform in the face of the evolving economic landscape. Consolidation has whittled down the number of significant providers. Customer demand is a lot more sophisticated -- and call [contact] centers are pressed to cost-effectively align their resources, agent skill sets, processes and technology with client needs for ongoing improvements.

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