A recruitment open day aimed at helping Steeton-based IMS Response to attract 50 new staff has been hailed huge success by the company's management team.

Over 150 people called the recruitment hotline to book an appointment, and almost 120 turned up on the day.

Each appointment consisted of a presentation about the company followed by a tour of the call centre, and then an opportunity to complete job application forms and have an interview with a member of the management team.

Call centre manager Janet Buckle said: "We were extremely pleased with the turn out for the open day, and with the calibre of candidates.

"As we predicted, we had a good response from local people currently travelling into Leeds and Bradford to work in call centres - moving to IMS Response would mean less time and money spent travelling, a much more pleasant work environment and real career progression.

This is the first time we have held such an event to recruit, and we will undoubtedly hold them in the future as the business grows. We have now short-listed candidates to invite back to assessment days which are being held over the next few weeks."

Part of the IMS Group plc, IMS Response is one of the largest employers in the Keighley area, employing 250 people at offices in Steeton, Leeds and London.

The company is a major provider of live, automated and customer response services, and is ranked eleventh largest in the UK. Blue-chip clients include BT, BBC, Littlewoods, Index, Virgin Mobile and Lever Brothers.

Core services include automated call handling, conducting market research programmes and response to DRTV campaigns in the home shopping and financial services .