CHEYENNE – Help Desk NOW, an inbound call center based in Greensboro, North Carolina, announced it’s expansion to Cheyenne today. Help Desk NOW had chosen Cheyenne as it’s number one choice for it’s newest location, but needed assurance of an available workforce. Last week Help Desk NOW Chief Executive Officer, Fred Riek, returned to Cheyenne to hold a Job Fair at the Cheyenne Workforce Center. They presented their company to the community and received applications for the over 400 jobs they hope to create. The community’s interest exceeded expectations.

“I was hopeful we would have a significant response to the job fair,” said Irene Larson at the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, “but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people that actually sat down and filled out the applications. I don’t think this would have happened without the Help Desk NOW representatives present. The job fair wouldn’t have been a success without the partnership between the Cheyenne Workforce Center, Cheyenne LEADS, and the community support.”

Help Desk NOW was originally contacted by the Wyoming Business Council at an international call-center trade show. “They were initially interested in expanding to Wyoming due to the exchange rate that was hurting them at their Canada location,” said Brandon Marshall at the Wyoming Business Council. “We sent them proposals from communities around the state. When they selected Cheyenne due to the higher population and the availability of the Trilegiant Building we put them in contact with Cheyenne LEADS.”

Help Desk NOW narrowed its selection to Cheyenne, when Cheyenne LEADS was contacted to support the company’s search. “When a company selects a specific community, the local economic development group takes over, but the up-front work that gets us in the game in the first place is done by the Business Council,” Randy Bruns, Chief Executive Officer of Cheyenne LEADS, said. “They developed the initial contact and encouraged them to look at Wyoming.”

Cheyenne LEADS supported Help Desk NOW in showing them the community and the benefits of expanding to Cheyenne. It also assisted in designing advertising for the open positions and the job fair and coordinated the event with the Cheyenne Workforce Center. Tim Thorson, Vice President of LEADS, commented, “The work doesn’t stop here, LEADS will continue to coordinate community efforts to assist Help Desk NOW in getting a center up and running smoothly.”

The support from the Cheyenne community has been tremendous. “We and Help Desk NOW appreciate whole-heartedly the support of the Department of Workforce Services and Cheyenne Employment Center.” Said Fred Riek, Chief Executive Officer of Help Desk NOW, “this wouldn’t have happened in Cheyenne if it wasn’t for the work by the Wyoming Business Council, Governor Freudenthal, Mayor Spiker, the former Safecard and Trilegient management and most importantly, this community.”

The job count at the new Help Desk NOW center will be dependent upon the contracts that it gets. Help Desk NOW is a Customer Support Outsourcer that provides inbound customer support services for its clients. They hope to hire at least 400 agents and about 30 technical and management employees. The applications taken during the job fair will be given first consideration, but the company will continue to accept applications at careerswy@helpdesknow.com or at the Cheyenne Workforce Center.

Help Desk NOW is currently negotiating with Cendant’s property management company, Caldwell Banker in Denver for space in the former Trilegiant Building on Pershing Boulevard. If all goes well the center is scheduled to open late summer 2005, but specifics depend on which of Help Desk NOW clients will be supported by the Cheyenne center.

Help Desk NOW has call center operations in Canada and Guatemala; the Cheyenne Center will be their first U.S.-based center. The company provides technical and customer support assistance to a variety of businesses ranging from consumer electronics to utility companies. Additional company information is available at www.helpdesknow.com.

Cheyenne LEADS is a private, not-for-profit economic development organization serving as the economic development entity for the City of Cheyenne and Laramie County, Wyoming. LEADS garners its operating funding comes from more than 300 corporate and individual dues-paying members. LEADS can assist non-retail businesses in all phases of relocation or expansion in Cheyenne and Laramie County.

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