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Barclays recruitment drive to create over 100 jobs at Sunderland

Barclays Contact Centre in Sunderland has announced plans to create more than 100 jobs as part of its ongoing recruitment during 2015.

The jobs boost at the bank’s Doxford International Business Park site, which currently employs 1,200 people, comes as the company celebrates being named North East Contact Centre of the Year 2014 for an unprecedented third consecutive year.

Barclays is recruiting new staff in its business banking, premier banking and retail banking operations as it grows its business in Sunderland.

The Doxford site last month became the first banking contact centre in the UK to introduce video banking for its premier customers, a new concept allowing customers to interact face-to-face with a Barclays colleague through their computer, tablet or smartphone, 24 hours a day

Video banking is now being rolled out to business, mortgage and wealth customers over the next few months before being extended to retail customers. Callers will be automatically connected to the last advisor they spoke to, if they are available.

Barclays Sunderland site president and head of customer services Christine Allenson said: “Sunderland is at the forefront of our plans to make telephone banking more accessible and we need more people as we expand the services we provide from the site.

“We will be recruiting throughout the year and we are looking for people with a strong customer service ethos, who share our values and have a can-do attitude. They don’t need to have previous call centre experience because we provide induction and training, but what is important is their commitment to providing the best experience for our customers.”

Applicants will take part in an online assessment of their skills and aptitude and those who are successful will proceed to face-to-face interviews.

Barclays, which has operated its contact centre in Sunderland for more than a decade, lifted the North East Contact Centre Award for the best contact centre with 250 seats for a third consecutive year at the end of 2014. The category was open to all the major contact centres in the region and Barclays won again against stiff competition.

Sunderland City Council deputy leader, Cllr Harry Trueman, said: “I’m delighted to congratulate Barclays both on winning this prestigious award and indeed on the news the company will be recruiting strongly in the New Year.

“Sunderland is of course a major player in the UK’s contact centre industry and successes like Barclays’ really hammer home the quality of people we have in Sunderland. I applaud the company’s growth in the city and its determination to invest in new services for customers, which plays a key role in creating more jobs to boost the local economy.”

Christine Allenson continued: “To win three times in a row is unprecedented and against the context of the highly competitive contact centre environment in the North of England, this is an amazing achievement.

“It’s testament to the fantastic team we have in Sunderland. Each one of our colleagues at Doxford plays a key role in setting the high standards we continually strive to achieve.”

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