Hiring at a fairly frantic pace, Ryla Inc. is nearly halfway toward reaching its goal of employing 600 people at its Lafayette operations.

And the 600 number might be surpassed, as the company gears up its call center facility that provides customer service.

"If we get the people, we have the jobs. If we get the applicant flow, we could do as much as 700," Mark Wilson, Ryla president and chief executive officer, said following a ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome the company to the local business community.

"We're really excited about the reputation the community brings -- the work ethic. It puts us in a place where we feel comfortable."

Alorica Inc. opened the call center in August 2009 and acquired Ryla about eight months ago.

Greater Lafayette Commerce sponsored Monday's celebration of the name change of the facility to Ryla, which is holding a job fair this week for potential employees.

"We're always excited when a business comes to our community. Especially those that are hiring," said Resa Hodnett, membership program manager at Greater Lafayette Commerce.

Lafayette resident Lana Fleming was hired by the company during the initial wave of employment on Oct. 4.

"I'm really enjoying it. I just graduated from college and they hired me as an assistant to the trainers," Fleming said. "I'm getting to apply my education to my job."

Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski attended Monday's ceremony and said Ryla is helping the city, which had an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent in September, take a "wonderful step" forward.

"This is going to be a great company, a great place to work. As we work to compete in the global economy ... we have to show we have that work force for the future."

Immediate employment opportunities are available for qualified applicants.

"We have (jobs) available now. We're in a position to hire folks today," Wilson said. We'd like to get to 600-plus in the next 30 days. We're open for business and trying to create the 'best job you've ever had.' "

Sitel, the Nashville-based call center company that took over Corning Inc.'s photonics testing center in Erwin two years ago, will lay off about 300 workers by the end of the year.

Sitel's Vice President for Marketing Andrew Kokes said the job cuts were the result of the loss of one of the center's major customers. However, he would not identity the company.



All of the affected employees were given eight weeks' notice and the company is working with the state Labor Department and local employers to provide immediate employment and benefits assistance for workers who will lose their jobs.




"Notices were sent out (Tuesday) and the action is based on unforeseen circumstances," said Kokes. "We lost one of our clients and the reduction is not a reflection of the service delivered by the employees."



In a prepared statement, Joel Campos, director of Sitel's Erwin facility, also complimented the quality of the employees by saying the Corning community has provided the company with some of the best talent and skills across the customer care industry.


Sitel offers inbound call handling for customer service requests, technical support and order taking. The company also provides outbaound telemarketing, database and list-building services and direct response marketing.


In addition to call services, Sitel provides outsourcing services for a number of business functions, including order processing and payroll management.


The privately held company started operations in Painted Post in 2008 at 101 Canada Road. Corning Inc. retained ownership of the former telecommunications building and to help the company set up shop in the 45,000 square-foot two-story building, Empire State Development provided a $1.5 million grant, plus another $750,000 from the Governor's Office of Small Cities. Sitel spent about $4 million to renovate the building and intended to employ about 400 workers.


Sitel's downsizing plans come less than a month after another call center in downtown Elmira, American Customer Care, announced its plan to beef up its head count by adding up to 100 new jobs. American Customer Care employs about 140 people at the Iszard's building in downtown Elmira.

KENNESAW, GA -- If you've got patience, are a good listener and have a positive attitude, you could land one of 1,000 seasonal jobs or one of 400 permanent ones in the Ryla Call Center in Kennesaw.

You'll be taking customer calls from top companies and helping resolve questions and complaints.

"With the growth that Ryla is undergoing right now, we feel really confident that a good majority of the individuals on seasonal who are interested will have an opportunity to stay on with us," said Karen Clay of Ryla.

For call center candidates, it's been a tough road looking for work.

"Really hard," said job candidate Cameron Sankey. "Looking for a job since January after my birthday. It was ugly. Everywhere I go they say 'We'll give you a call back.' I'm frustrated, very frustrated."

"I've been out of work since 2008," said another Ryla candidate Jazzsmine Howard. "I graduated from high school in May of 2008 and I worked a little while after I graduated, and I've been of work ever since then."

Both candidates got the jobs and will start training at once and start answering phones in about a week.

And whether it's on a phone call or in an interview, it's all about attitude.

"The person on the phone doesn't know you," said Ryla's Andre Malone who had been in the call center business for years. "How can you get upset about what they are upset about? Let them be upset and see if you can help them."

To apply visit www.Ryla.com

A Clovis call center is still in the process of hiring hundreds of workers.

Ryla, a company which specializes in customer service, held the first of several job fairs on Monday.
They plan to hire between 500 and 600 new workers.

Mark Wilson, Ryla’s CEO, says very little experience is needed. “We are not looking for anything more than folks who have a real pleasant, customer service focused personality. They do have to have some modest typing skills and a high school education.”

If you missed Monday's job fair, don't worry, the job fair continues into next week.
A recruitment open house will take place at 170 West Shaw Avenue in Clovis on the following dates:

• Monday, October 18, 9:00am - 4:00pm
• Tuesday, October 19, 9:00am - 7:00pm
• Wednesday, October 20, 9:00am - 4:00pm
• Thursday, October 21, 9:00am - 7:00pm
• Friday, October 22, 9:00am - 4:00pm
• Monday, October 25, 9:00am - 4:00pm
• Tuesday, October 26, 9:00am - 7:00pm
• Wednesday, October 27, 9:00am - 4:00pm

Job Requirements

• Must be PC literate and pass a computer based pre-hire assessment
• Inbound call center and excellent customer service experience a plus
• High school diploma or equivalent required
• Professional dress is required
• Bring a copy of your resume and two forms of government-issued ID
• Must not have any felonies or misdemeanors
• Must be able to pass a drug screening and national background check

The rapid growth overseas comes as the company seeks to change the terms of its $52 million incentive agreement with the city of Cincinnati that requires it to keep at least 1,400 workers here.

The expansion in the Philippines will raise the company’s workforce in the Southeast Asian nation to 25,000 by the end of the year, reports said.

Source: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100719/BIZ01/307190112/Convergys-hiring-3-600-more-workers-in-Philippines

Call Center Hiring

Consumer Cellular, a provider of wireless phones and services mostly for seniors, opened its second U.S.-based call center in the Valley, and the company plans to staff it with about 100 employees by the fall.
Employees at the 8181 S. 48th St. center in Phoenix will provide sales and support for the company's customers from a 39,000 square-foot building. The company said there are 24 new employees on the job and another 80 will be hired by September.

Consumer Cellular also has a customer service facility at its headquarters in Portland, Ore.
"Our Phoenix expansion allows us to meet the demands of our expanding customer base by providing additional time zone coverage, increased data security, and emergency back-up customer support when needed," said John Marick, CEO of Consumer Cellular, in a statement. "We chose to locate the new call center in Phoenix because of its excellent talent pool and business-friendly environment."

Consumer Cellular's Valley expansion comes six months after the company celebrated double-digit annual revenue growth from nearly $65 million in 2008 to more than $100 million in 2009.

Founded in 1995, the privately-held company is the exclusive wireless provider for AARP members. Its niche is basic cell phone service for seniors.

NRG Global Solutions Pty. Ltd., an Australian debt management company servicing multinationals in the telecommunications, banking and finance industries, opened yesterday a new, 150-seat call center at the Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City.

The firm’s local call center operation, which started on Aug. 8, 2008 with only five seats, plans to expand operations in the Philippines by adding clients from Australia.

"NRG is the first Australian collection company to establish a presence in the Philippines. The company chose the Philippines for its agent talent pool, infrastructure, and readily available vendors and suppliers focused on supporting the international call center sector," the company said.

NRG recently incorporated a Philippine subsidiary, NRG Global Solutions (Philippines), Inc., to serve the firm’s Australian client base.

"The company has gone through measured growth from its Brisbane-based call center, opening with only five seats in a Manila business process outsourcing (BPO) center in August 2008. We are excited with this new phase of growth in the company, as it exponentially increases our presence from five seats to 150 seats," Laurence Barlow, co-founder and chairman of NRG, said in a statement yesterday.

He added: "It made business sense for us to move a portion of our call center operations offshore as the Filipino government encourages foreign investors to set up here in the Philippines with its conducive business environment, incentives, and special economic zones. We also want to capitalize on the abundant talent pool and redundant infrastructure available in the Philippines.

One hundred and forty new jobs are soon coming to Springfield. KSMU's Ryan Welch reports.
Gold Mountain Communications, a relatively new company in the Springfield area, is more than tripling its employee count from just three months ago.

The call centre began operations in April of 2009, and made its first official call in June, 2009 with 15 employees on staff.

Hank Seevers, president of Gold Mountain Communications, says this expansion was all part of the plan.
"It was kind of the vision when we started the company a little over a year ago in our small downtown office. We kind of envisioned this coming along at some point, and it really came along on schedule as we had planned…which is sometimes surprising,” Seevers said.

To accommodate this rapid growth, the company is investing nearly one million dollars and has moved from its downtown location to West Sunshine Street.

Seevers also says the Economic Development Team at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has helped his company apply for state tax credits.

“Having those tax credits prompted us to move a little bit sooner than we would’ve, and we’re very happy to have them,” he said.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development approved nearly 400 thousand dollars in state tax credits for Gold Mountain Communications under the Enhanced Enterprise Zone, because the company is creating jobs and making investments within the specified zone.

Continental Airlines is cutting about 600 jobs in its reservations centers because customers increasingly prefer to book flights online.

Continental told employees about the furloughs on Monday and said they would take effect April 11.

The airline said it will cut the jobs of 250 agents who are currently on leave plus another 350 still working.

The company said calls to reservations agents are falling 15 percent per year as customers instead buy tickets from Web sites. There is no charge for booking on continental.com, but customers must pay $20 to make a reservation by phone. Airlines use the call center fees to raise money and encourage passengers to book online, which is cheaper for the carrier as well as the passenger.

Continental also said it won't renew a contract to answer calls for Disney resorts, which will result in about 100 of the 600 job losses.

The Houston-based airline has about 2,600 U.S. reservations agents, with about 1,000 working from home and the rest at centers in Houston and Salt Lake City. Spokeswoman Julie King said most of the furloughs will be in the Houston area, including agents who work from home.

Last year, Continental cited the same downward trend in online bookings when it closed a call center in Tampa, Fla., and eliminated 500 jobs there.

The April furloughs will be based on seniority. The airline said it will offer early retirement packages including travel benefits to employees with at least 10 years of service, and will offer severance payments to others losing their jobs.

As of Dec. 31, Continental had 41,300 employees.

Airlines are looking for ways to boost revenue and cut costs as they deal with a slump in travel that started during the recession and has been slow to end.

Higher traffic and lower fuel prices helped Continental earn $85 million in the fourth quarter of last year — a profit that surprised analysts. Still, the airline lost $868 million in 2008 and 2009 combined.