MORE than 50,000 jobs were created in call centres last year, shrugging off fears that recruitment would be hit because of work being out sourced abroad, according to a recent report.

The industry remained on course to employ a million workers by the end of 2007, said analysts ContactBabel.

Steve Morrell of ContactBabel said: "The UK contact centre industry continues to grow at a healthy and sustainable rate, driven by the expansion of existing operations, rather than the opening of new contact centres. It is currently worth £17 billion to the UK economy.

"As we predicted, the boom in offshoring to India and other destinations such as South Africa and Eastern Europe has not had the negative effect that some commentators expected, and the amount of new work going offshore is slowing.

"We expect the UK's contact centre industry to continue to grow steadily over the next five years."

The South East employs the greatest numbers of call centre staff, with almost 175,000 jobs in the sector in 2005, the study showed.

Still the right attitude is crucial for a successful and fulfilling career in the contact centre industry. It is the people that make the difference in a service sector business and this is never more evident than in the world of the contact centre where the skills and attributes of the employee are paramount to success.

Call centres are looking to recruit people who enjoy both speaking and listening. Attention to detail, numeracy, the ability to build relationships and customer service ethos are also looked for as are personal aptitude traits such as integrity, initiative, self motivation and stamina, credibility, confidence, a positive attitude to work, empathy and the willingness to learn.

Call centres have also discarded their image of being large sweatshop-type operations with hundreds of people crammed into airless buildings. Now most call centres in the UK are small employing less than 50 people with the average employing about 200 people