Northern France ranks second in France for call center operations and now has around 100 units employing nearly 10,000 people.
Companies present include
Mail-order sales (29 call centers)
Quelle, La Redoute, Pimkie, Spot, 3 Suisses/Cidal, Camaïeu Femme, Damart, Movitex (Daxon), Afibel, Blanche Porte, Vert Baudet, Norauto, Boulanger, Marigny et Joly (2 sites), Prima Cabri, Scafruits (Intermarché)
Direct marketing (22 call centers)
SNT, Contactel, Eurotéléphone, Phoneleader, Profil, Téléperformance, Sétradis, Servitix, Feeling, Omega Service
Banking, finance, insurance (25 call centers)
Accord Finances, Cofidis, Cetelem, Finaref, Crédit Mutuel du Nord, Banque Populaire du Nord, Banque Scalbert Dupont, Crédit du Nord, Crédit Agricole, Caisse d’Epargne, Lloyd Continental, La Mondiale, Maaf Assurance, Autofirst, Mutuelle du Pas de Calais, Téléassurance, Caisses d’Epargne du Hainaut et du Pas de Calais
Other (23 call centers)
Editions Atlas, Ingram Micro, Bernard, Dockers, Seton, FTMS (France Télécom Mobiles Services), La Poste, Conrad Electronique, SNCF, Kiloutou, Willemse France, Flandre Ateliers, ODA, Assonance, AOL, Marien, Centrale de L’écriture, Arvato, B2S, Armatis.
Companies benefit from a pool of skilled labor: 4,000,000 people - 7% of the French population.
- 37% are under age 25 (national average: 32%)
- 86% live in towns and cities (national average: 74%)
- population density is a high 322 inhabitants/sq. km
The region counts 11 areas with population over 100,000, including the Lille metropolitan area with 1.2 million inhabitants-rising to 1.8 million when areas across the border in Belgium are included.
Unemployment: 12.2% (national average: 8.8%).
Number of jobseekers: 186,000
- Male, female: idem
- 50,000 less than 25 years old
Total workforce : 1,600,000.
At present, call-center operations employ only 0.6% of the regional workforce, and many areas with populations of over 100,000 have little or no activity in the field yet.
Northern France has more students than any other region in France after Paris-150,000 in all. Over 32,000 students are registered in A-level + 2-year training programs. A pool of skilled labor includes experts with diplomas ranging from the baccalaureate (equivalent to the UK’s A-levels) to a selection of technical qualifications and post-graduate degrees.
Call centre specialists in Northern France benefit from a comprehensive infrastructure including :
- Specialized centres training hundreds of qualified call centre operatives every year (Cepreco, Phoneco, Colorado and others).
- France’s first secondary-school course designed to encourage students to consider career opportunities in call centre activities
- A club gathering all the private actors involved in call center activity : CLIADIS, aiming to develop this activity in Northern France and to promote new ideas in training, recruitment, image, technology...
- A national job centre specialized in call centres, working closely with businesses to recruit and train staff. As members of a European network, French national employment agencies can help companies locate the foreign manpower they need.
- Temporary employment agencies specializing in call centre personnel, including Adecco, Manpower and Kelly Services.
- Northern France has excellent telecommunications infrastructure, and is at the centre of European fiber-optic cable networks. A high proportion of fiber-optic links between the UK and the rest of Europe run through the Channel Tunnel, with Calais their first port of call on the continent.
A strong support for recruitment and training :
A specific program for recruitment and training can be organised to facilitate the recruitment and training of the future staff of your operation in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, covering :
- Pre-recruitment : targeting of potential applications, evaluation and pre-selection
- Job adaptation and preparation : setting-up of specific training programs, based upon the requirements of your project and the profile of applicants, followed by a possible period of validation within the company
- Integration of applicants, selected at the end of the training programs
The cost of recruitment and training program can be taken in charge by public bodies, depending upon jobs characteristics and applicants profiles.
Contacts :
Olivier Charras
+33 (0) 359 562 315
o.charras@nfx.fr
Sharon Cacheux 
