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Call centers thrive in Las CrucesLAS CRUCES, Aug 27, 2012 (Las Cruces Sun-News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Krista Freeman has been in Las Cruces for less than a month and wants to find employment. The 19-year-old visited Convergys contact center at 4201 Del Rey Blvd last week during a job fair. "I've never worked at (a call center) before," she said. "But I know I can." Whether they handle incoming calls or perform sales and make outgoing calls, Las Cruces has eight call centers with about 1,850 employees, the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance reports. That accounts for 3 percent of the local workforce. So why has Las Cruces attracted the industry "Many call center operators began to look into tier 2 markets back in the 2001 and 2002 primarily because many reached saturation and because operational costs were increasing in larger tier 1 markets," said Davin Lopez, president and CEO of MVEDA. "Las Cruces was very attractive from the standpoint that there was not much competition at the time and also because we had a younger demographic market with a strong university presence." Strong backs Empereon Marketing employs about 150 workers at its location at 2255 S. Main St., one of five facilities the company has across the nation. Don Christiano is based in Las Cruces but oversees all the locations. He said communication skills can be taught, but teaching work ethic is not always so easy. "Just speaking for Las Cruces, (workers) do not have the strongest communication in the world, but they have the strongest backs," he said. "You can never have enough good employees." Jim Crossman, site leader for Convergys in Las Cruces, said that his facility is hiring about 100 new workers. He said the new hires will be to replace workers lost to attrition and also for some expansion. "A little bit of both," he said. "We will expand work and do more work for our client." John Munoz, site director for Sitel's customer service center at 2100 Summit Court, said his facility works with hundreds of employees and he has been pleased with the outcome. "We've seen phenomenal results because of our quality and hard-working employees," Munoz said. "Their results and the strength of my leadership team is a huge reason why we have been able to not only stay in business but the reason we have been able to grow." Lopez said that the centers attract a lot of applicants. "When Vangent Inc. began hiring last year for their new Las Cruces operations, over 500 applicants showed up for 140 positions," he said. Vangent reports it has been serving clients in the federal government since 1973 and has more than 7,000 employees worldwide. Bilingual workforce Anselmo Garcia is the manager of the CyraCom facility at 2203 Divot Ave. CyraCom provides language services to hospitals, health-care institutions as well as for other, non-medical clients, and needs bilingual employees, one of the reason it opened in Las Cruces in 2006. "With interpreters and staff we have 107 (workers)," Garcia said. "We were just hiring a class (of new employees) right now." Munoz said access to a bilingual population is important for Sitel as well. "One of our growth sectors is the need for bilingual Spanish speakers," he said. "That is a positive since we have so many bilingual speakers in Las Cruces." Advancement Carpio Gomez is the recruiting assistant for Convergys in Las Cruces. But 4 1/2 years ago, when the facility opened, he started out on the phones. "I love working here," Gomez said. "We definitely have people who advance and are promoted," Crossman said. Steve Bodnar, site director in Las Cruces for Empereon, has worked for the company for 12 1/2 year and has had a similar experience. "I started off on the phones and it's been a great experience," Bodnar said. "There are two other directors that started here in New Mexico." Brook Stockberger can be reached at (575) 541-5457 --- By the numbers --1,850: Approximate number of workers employed at call centers in Las Cruces --8: Number of call centers in operation --3: Percent of workforce employed by call centers -- MVEDA ___ (c)2012 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |