Led by a spike in business volume, BPO firm 24/7 Customer has started hiring big numbers again. The company is planning to hire 1,000 people this quarter in India and a few hundreds in its overseas centres.

Bharathwaj V, chief marketing officer, 24/7 Customer told Financial Chronicle that the firm had seen a strong positive movement in business volume of 15-20 per cent from clients since October 2009. “This swing in demand is leading us to hire large numbers again. In October-December quarter, we recruited about 800 people overall in India and abroad. This quarter, we are hiring 1,000 staff in India and 750-800 for our centres in Manila, Guatemala and China.”

While part of the hiring is from a planned ramp up, Bharathwaj said that new business from clients has increased the projections. The joinees will mainly offer customer services and tech support to financial services, telecom, travel and retail segments.

Going forward, the CMO is confident of the momentum and certain that the downturn impact of last year is almost over. “We don’t have exact visibility over business yet but I feel that the momentum seen in last few months will continue. And to cater to this demand, we should look to employ between 1,000-1,500 people in next 3-4 quarters,” he added.

The Sequoia Capital funded BPO major is stepping on the gas in terms of hiring following a lull after it transferred over 1,600 staff to former client Aviva in 2007.

The company presently employs 8,000 people, about half of them in India. 24/7 Customer has 9 delivery centres across India, Guatemala, China and the Philippines.