Now for another uptick in the fluctuating world of Utah's call center industry.
Affiliated Computer Services said Monday it will hire 225 people to work at its call center at 1911 N. 2200 West in Salt Lake City.
That news comes less than a week after CompuCredit, an Atlanta-based financial services company, said it will lay off 162 employees at its call center at 5215 Wiley Post Way; Convergys said it was hiring more than 1,500 temporary workers for its U.S. Census call centers in Taylorsville and Ogden; and 150 Clearfield-based call center workers laid off last October by Teleperformance USA learned they are eligible for federal assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor.
In addition, Vangent Inc. and three temporary staffing companies in Utah are in the process of hiring another 1,500 temporary people to work at another Census Bureau call center in Sandy.
Based in Dallas, Affiliated Computer Services already has 425 employees at its Salt Lake City call center, which company spokesman Chris Gilligan said is large enough to handle a 50 percent increase in its work force.
He said ACS is looking to hire and train English-speaking and bilingual agents, supervisors and managers. Training classes start weekly.
"Most of these positions will handle inbound telephone calls answering general questions as well as questions about billing or troubleshooting," Gilligan said. He declined to list a specific pay level, but said "these positions start off well above minimum wage, with benefits. Employees also have the opportunity to increase pay through performance incentives."
According to its Web site, ACS started as a bank data processing company in 1988. After acquiring the data processing and electronic funds transfer operations of First Texas Gibraltar bank, ACS signed a 10-year data processing outsourcing contract with Southland Corp., parent company of the 7-Eleven chain. In 1995, ACS went public and divested itself of bank data processing operations.
It now employs 78,000 people worldwide, including 34,000 agents at 150 call centers. Its agents speak 20 different languages and interact daily with more than 1 million customers, Gilligan said.
Job seekers interested in applying for work at Affiliated Computer Services' call center can apply online at www.acs-inc.com, spokesman Chris Gilligan said.
Applications also are being accepted at the Salt Lake City call center, 1911 N. 2200 West, Salt Lake City, and over the phone at 801-258-8511 during regular business hours.
