“Hundreds of
new jobs available”. This is the headline of new
billboards posted along many of the roads throughout Volusia
County. How many jobs? Nearly 500.
Frontier Communications Solutions, a division of
Citizens Communications, the nation’s seventh largest
telecommunications provider, has selected DeLand as the
headquarters for its nationwide customer care division.
“The selection of DeLand came after a six-month search
of more than 200 communities nationwide,” said Doug
Vimmerstedt, the county’s economic development specialist
for the Frontier recruitment initiative. Frontier and its parent
company, Citizens Communications, is a $2.2-billion
corporation that provides telephone, internet and satellite
television services in 26 states.
“Our site selection team from Phoenix first brought the
DeLand area to our attention several months ago,” said
Angela Christian, Frontier’s Vice President of Customer Care.
“The recommendation for the DeLand area was based upon
the progressive growth of the community’s workforce, its
level of existing trained and skilled personnel in the market
and the availability of a suitable facility.”
The final site selection by Frontier Communications
Solutions was made possible because of the availability of the
former TeleTech Communications facility in the Woodland
Plaza along U.S. 17-92 just south of city’s downtown area.
TeleTech closed its 40,000-square-foot DeLand facility in
2005, laying off more than 300 area workers.
Economic development professionals from the county
Department of Economic Development, the City of DeLand
and the Volusia/Flagler Workforce Development Board
worked for more than two months to coordinate workforce
issues and other community concerns, such as utilities and
the permitting of facility renovations.
Frontier will invest more than $2 million in facility
renovations to the former TeleTech operations center.
The company officially announced its selection of
DeLand during a special ceremony June 22 in the DeLand
City Commission Chambers. In addressing the city and
county officials present, Dan McCarthy, Frontier’s Executive
Vice President said: “We are pleased to be able to become
part of DeLand’s future and as such Frontier will be providing
more than $13 million in new annual payroll to the area’s
economy.”
“There are more than 20 job classifications for which
Frontier is seeking work candidates,” said County Economic
Development Director Rick Michael. “They include medium
skilled positions ranging in annual wages from $20,000-$30,000 to more technically skilled and professional positions
that range from $30,000 to more than $75,000 annually.”
Frontier plans to ramp up its need for the 487 proposed
positions over the next six to nine months. Since the June 22
announcement, Frontier has made employment offers to
more than 75 workers with more being made daily. The first
training class for Frontier employees began August 1 and new
classes are scheduled monthly into 2007.
If you or someone you know may be interested in
exploring employment with the nation’s seventh largest
communications provider, you are encouraged to go on-line
to www.onestops.com or stop in anyone of the One Stop
Centers in DeLand or Daytona Beach.
