Teleperformance is coming to Utah, and it’s bringing 300 new jobs, according to a press release this month.

Teleperformance is a customer-service management operation working in a variety of areas, including, according to its web site:

New Product/Service Sales/Subscriptions (with cross-sell/up-sell options);
Billing Explanations or Payment Applications;
Technical Assistance;
Problem Solving/Complaint Handling;
Pro-Active Outreach at Key Milestones of the Customer Relationship (e.g., welcome calls, satisfaction checkups, contract anniversary, and so on); and
And more…

Ranging from onsite solutions to call-center management, the services that Teleperformance offers are vast.

To apply to work for this company, visit www.teleperformance.com. As of this writing, the company has two job functions available: Inbound Customer Service Representative and Technical Support/Customer Service.

Congressman Jim Matheson (D-Utah) recently sent a piece of promotional literature detailing his contributions to our Utah economy to houses across the state. The flyer was interesting because it related federal needs to Utah’s needs.

Reduction in international trade tariffs

The most interesting point was the fact that he specifically stated he supported local businesses. Matheson’s promotional piece noted that one-fifth of Utah-manufactured items are sold abroad. To that end, he recently supported trade agreements with Colombia, Korea, and Panama enabling sales of U.S. goods in those countries—and promoting job creation to the tune of 250,000 domestic jobs, according to International Trade Association estimates.

Interestingly, President Obama signed this bill into law with the support of big business and the disfavor of the AFL-CIO and other major unions. So do we expect job growth domestically—or not? Do we expect protection for Utah’s big businesses or small businesses? Over the next 3 years, as these bills take effect and generate results, we’ll begin to see that.

Utah’s energy jobs

Utah’s universities are incubators for incredible technology solutions, new company development, and job growth. So Matheson’s support of domestic energy products seems to be a boon for our local economy, but his proposal seems to have stagnated during the summer of 2011.

Another bill Matheson is cosponsoring relates to alternative fuels for vehicles. That one is under review as well, in the Subcommittee on Energy and Power.

Tax Reform

Another complex proposal with dozens of cosponsors in Congress related to amending the federal tax code to allow deductions of foreign dividends seems to be moving forward and is currently being evaluated in the House Ways and Means Committee.

The remainder of Matheson’s promotional piece considered the effects of legislation on the growth small business and controlling the federal budget through regulatory changes in decision making.

The University of Utah’s Lifelong Learning program has announced its schedule for the upcoming months, including 42 classes scheduled to begin in January. Topics range from Spanish for Medical Professionals to Read Like a Writer and include such arcane subjects as learning to play the ukulele and cooking without recipes.

For Job Seekers Seeking to Grow

For job seekers, taking classes such as these can serve a number of purposes. Treating yourself to a class outside your area of expertise can be refreshing and mind-clearing, especially when you feel like all you do is focus on getting that next new job. But, more than that, by building an educational portfolio that addresses your future goals, you’re communicating to hiring leaders that you are attuned to the current state of the art in your industry.

And, if you happen to be unemployed, the fact that you are doing something constructive with your time speaks volumes about your commitment to improve your situation. Lifelong Learning classes at the University of Utah, unlike regular university classes, have an open enrollment process, are fairly inexpensive compared to for-credit classes, and last about 6 weeks each. This means you can get a good taste of a new topic without over-committing time or money.

For Job Seekers Seeking to Teach

Whether you’re currently employed or seeking a new role while you’re working, one of the best ways to prove you’re an expert in your industry is to teach a class. The University of Utah Lifelong Learning program enables visitors to its web site to propose classes—and themselves as subject-matter experts (SMEs) willing to teach well-conceived courses.

Learning Is Always Resume Building

Education and training forms a critical section of any job seeker’s resume. In that regard, short training courses on focused topics can supplement your formal education—or, in some cases, take the place of a university degree. If you happen to be transitioning to a different industry, getting a taste of your target trade can be enlightening, and it can help a future hiring manager understand the seriousness of your intent to move forward.

photo credit: knowinspiration

With so many options for jobs in Utah, and so much confidence in our decreasing unemployment rate, there is so much opportunity for hope for job seekers as we ring in the 2012 new year.

According to the Department of Workforce Services in Utah, practically every job sector is adding positions, save government and construction. The best part of this happy news is that the growth is natural and organic, being supported by our state’s ordinary growth and stability. This fact alone leads us to think that our state’s growth with be consistent and provide jobs over the long term.

If you’re still struggling to find the right job, for the moment you have some respite: With the payroll tax cut recently approved, 2 million unemployed throughout the nation can keep their benefits—approximately $300 a week—for two more months.

“Utah: Hire. Work. Live.” to Boost Utah’s Economy

What can a Utah job seeker do with two more months’ worth of unemployment benefits? Let’s fill the excess capacity in Utah with Utahns—the message here has always been “Buy Local,” meaning we should support Utah businesses first. Let’s create a “hire local” philosophy that empowers our citizens and our community.

For job seekers, this approach takes many forms.

• Use Utah job boards or job boards with Utah presences to power your job search.
• As you use Twitter for your job search, start promoting yourself with the #hirelocal hashtag.
• If you’re a Utah business, and you’re evaluating multiple candidates with identical credentials, help a local Utah resident out with a job offer if it makes business sense to you.
• If you’re a Utah resident, work with businesses that promote a local philosophy.

For most people, this idea won’t change the way we think, buy, or sell in huge ways—but the impact philosophically can make a tremendous difference for our local job seekers and employers.

Are we in Utah not among the luckiest in the country? As we have seen over the last several weeks, both the Salt Lake City area and the Provo – Orem area have jumped at least 10 spots in a study recently conducted by the Milken Institute. Clearly our state’s contribution to the tech market, and the jobs that market has created for us, have boosted our job economy and provided our job seekers with a terrific place to land.

If you happen to be a technical expert in Utah, where should you be looking for your next career move? Companies including XMission, Stackable Web Hosting, and Novell all have posted openings for technical roles on Utahtechjobs.com. The job titles range from intern to director, so it seems that individuals at all levels are likely to find roles that that undue match their qualifications and skill sets.

Funding for WAVE Projects: New Jobs for USU?

Technical experts in the areas of

• Biodevice and Pharma
• Energy
• Imaging Technologies and Digital Media
• Medical Imaging & Brain Medicine
• Nanotechnology

need to take a look at InnovationUtah.com. It’s an excellent source for information on Utah’s booming research in a variety of technologies. It also provides information on what organizations are getting the funding they need to expand, meaning new jobs for our tech experts in Utah. For example, the site reported that WAVE, a Utah State University spin-out venture has received a Federal Transportation Administration grant in the amount of $2.7 million to use wireless power to electrify a University of Utah bus route.
While the WAVE program doesn’t seem to have posted any opportunities specifically, the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR), seems to be hiring for a number of positions, including USU Commercial Enterprises, Director of Business Development.

USTAR is a “long-term, state-funded investment to strengthen Utah’s ‘knowledge economy.’  This revolutionary initiative invests in world-class innovation teams and research facilities at the University of Utah and Utah State University, to create novel technologies that are subsequently commercialized through new business ventures.

Oracle’s co-president, Mark Hurd, explained to the Utah Technology Council that companies across the globe need to hire amazing talent. In a message delivered in November, he promoted strong recruitment as one of the critical factors to technology companies’ success. The right talent, he stated, enables great strategy and great operations to succeed—a company needs all three to function effectively.

Message for Utah’s Innovators

The message to Utah’s hiring leaders seems clear: If the money is there, if the right investment is there, hire the experts who know how to accomplish strategic goals. We are truly lucky to have excellent resources right here in our state, and with our unemployment rate dropping to 6.4% (compared to the national rate of 8.6%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics Data for November 2011), competition for critical jobs might be decreasing, meaning employers are going to have to search harder for the right people to fill these technology roles.