OXFORD – Global outfitter L.L. Bean Inc. is considering opening a temporary call center in the former ICT space on Route 26 in Oxford.

The Freeport-based catalog company needs to hire between 300 and 400 customer service representatives to work first and second shifts during November and December, according to an ad that ran Wednesday in the Sun Journal.

But it’s far from a done deal.

The company is looking at two potential locations in Maine, and will make its decision within the next week or two based on the “quality and quantity” of applications received from both areas, said Barb Olson, vice president of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills.

L.L. Bean officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon.

The outdoor apparel and equipment company began running an ad Wednesday to gauge the strength of interest in the Oxford Hills community for the jobs, which will pay $9.09 an hour to start. A similar ad, what Olson calls a “survey ad,” is running in a newspaper serving the other prospective location, which she declined to name.

“They will make a pretty quick decision,” Olson said. “It’s only seasonal work, but if we can show them we have the work force they may decide to come in permanently.”

That’s precisely what happened in Waterville, where Bean began a temporary customer service operation in an existing building and is now building a permanent customer service operation. Other customer service locations, where catalog orders are taken by telephone representatives, are located in Portland, Freeport and Lewiston.

Olson is optimistic.

“The area has been on Bean’s watch list for a while now. They looked at the Oxford Hills a year ago,” she said. A number of their Lewiston customer service representatives live in the Oxford Hills.

Olson said the Career Center of South Paris is processing the applications on behalf of the company. About a dozen inquiries were received by the end of the day Wednesday.

“We need people to step up and show that there is eagerness” about the jobs, Olson said. She’s aware that many people are attracted to temporary jobs each year at L.L. Bean primarily because of employee discounts on purchases of company merchandise of between 25 and 40 percent.

Other benefits listed in the ad include a $1-per-hour premium pay for second shift work, paid training and holidays, and access to the employee store in Freeport.

L.L. Bean employs more than 3,700 year-round employees, a number that swells to 9,300 during the peak holiday season.

The building housing the former ICT call center has 110 cubicles that owner John Schiavi retained when ICT closed its Oxford operation in January, opting to shift to offshore call centers, where labor is cheaper.

The growth council had been working with a national call center company to lease the space, but the deal fell apart when the company was outbid on a government contract, she said. Laid-off former ICT workers had hoped to work for that company, and many of them are expected to apply for the L.L. Bean jobs, Olson said.