Panasonic expects to hire about five software development engineers every month until the end of 2002 for its new Calgary wireless design centre, says the centre’s business operations manager.
There are now 30 employees at the Panasonic Wireless Design Centre, said Terri Lenci, and the company expects 150 to be at work in Calgary by the end of 2002.
Last week, just days before sod was to be turned on a new $12-million facility for the centre at 8th Street and 72nd Avenue N.E., Panasonic postponed the start of work on the building. But officials of the company, part of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. of Japan, now say the project is back on track and groundbreaking should proceed in about a month.
Despite the relatively large number of software engineers Panasonic hopes to hire, Lenci said she anticipates few problems finding appropriate staff willing to work at the centre.
To date, she said, all staff members have been hired in the Calgary area, but the company is now looking further afield, with recruiting efforts throughout Canada and the United States. “We also are drawing heavily on the new grad community — engineers just out of school,” Lenci observed, noting that the company plans recruiting efforts at six Canadian engineering schools and six U.S. institutions.
Panasonic expects to hire about 15 grads from the University of Calgary next spring, she said.
The new structure, adjacent to Panasonic’s present facility in a northeast industrial park, is expected to be capable of housing 175 employees in more than 75,000 sq. ft. The centre will focus on the development of wireless software technology for a new generation of mobile telephones.
But while software development will be done here, Panasonic has no plans to manufacture the devices in Calgary.
