Dateline: 09/21/2013
CHICO — The founder of the Silicon Valley company that will bring more than 200 jobs to Chico says the positions aren’t low-paying, and all but one position will be hired locally.
At a press conference Friday morning, CEO Prem Chand said the jobs that Milestone is offering start out at $15 an hour plus benefits.
Earlier this week, he announced the hiring of 230 employees for a new office in Chico.
The new operation will be on a 24/7 schedule, and an empty office at the Chico Municipal Airport Industrial Park is being readied for a December kickoff of what Chand calls a “contact center.”
Individuals with questions about their technology products will be calling the 200 “agents” to be hired for the center.
Applicants “must be familiar with the use of products such as Google Chrome OS, Google Play, Google Docs and more,” he said.
Training for the first wave of employees will start Oct. 21, Chand said.
“They are all from Chico,” said Chand, who shared a press conference with Chico State University, Butte College, and the nonprofit Alliance for Workforce Development, all of which will help in bringing skilled employees to Milestone.
An all-day job fair on Sept. 28 at Chico State University’s Bell Memorial Union will launch the hiring process. Applicants need to register online at www.milestonepowered.com, and appointments are being made already.
Chand said he was excited about bringing the jobs and his company to Chico. He opened a small office in Chico in July 2012, and was pleased with the results.
It didn’t hurt that he was born and raised in Biggs to a farming family, he said. While he developed the company in the Bay Area, he saw loyalty missing from employees there that he believes he will find here.
“This company is bringing good-paying jobs to Chico at a critical time,” said Mayor Scott Gruendl.
Ben Juliano, interim dean of College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management, and Annie Rafferty of Butte College’s The Training Place said both institutions will be playing roles in locating and training people.
The airport building at 282 Convair Ave. that Milestone will eventually occupy is owned by Wayne Cook and Howard Slater. Chand said the remodeling, being done by Slater, will be making the 22,400-square-foot facility “a fun place to work.”
Luis Moreno of Alliance for Workforce Development in Chico noted that these are the kind of jobs that “people will relocate for,” but his office’s priority is to get local people into these jobs.
While Milestone prefers applicants make an appointment on its website, there will be accommodations for walk-ins at the job fair, which starts at 10 a.m.
Original source can be found at ChicoER: http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_24146165/milestone-tech-workers-wanted-decent-pay
Reach Laura Urseny at 896-7756, lurseny@chicoer.com or on Twitter @LauraUrseny.
About Milestone – Milestone Technologies, Inc. is a leading supplier of technology products and support services. From the desktop to the data center, the organization is focused on client success. When clients are able to serve their customers better and more efficiently, Milestone has accomplished their mission.
