Call center jobs draw a crowd

OLYMPIA - Nearly 60 job seekers took part Thursday in a hiring event at Westfield Capital mall, the first in what's expected to be a series of such events organized by Thurston County WorkSource and the mall.

Thursday’s event, staged inside the mall near the entrance to Macy’s, benefited Affiliated Computer Services, a division of Xerox that operates an inbound call center in Tumwater. Ninety employees are sought for the Tumwater call center to field customer-service and troubleshooting calls for the telecommunications industry.

Job seekers began showing up 30 minutes before the event began at 10 a.m. By the time it ended at noon, 59 had showed up.

Prospective employees were screened about their qualifications before it was decided whether they could move on to another interview that assessed their computer skills, recruiter Marti Pranger said. Next, the prospective employees will receive 12 weeks of paid training, including four weeks of “nesting” in which they are supervised while they answer calls, she said. They will be paid $9 an hour during this probationary period. If they are hired as a permanent employee, they can earn up to $14 an hour or fall back to the state’s minimum wage of $8.55, depending on job performance, Pranger said.

“All candidates are placed on an activity/incentive-based compensation which is variable and competitive,” according to a job summary distributed during the event.

Job seeker Robert Lockwood, 30, of Shelton said he has worked in a call center before, but he was willing to try again after not having had a job for two years. He last worked as a commercial building inspector but was laid off in 2008 as a result of the slower real estate market, he said. Since, he has tried to stay in that field, finally realizing that he had to broaden his search to find employment.

“At least I’m not interrupting their dinner,” Lockwood said about the nature of working for an inbound call center as opposed to making calls.

Joining him at the event was Jake Peterson, 30, also of Shelton. Peterson said he has been unemployed for 18 months and needs to find work before his benefits expire in May. In that time, he has upgraded his computer skills, but he’s also at the point where he’s ready to stock shelves at a grocery store, Peterson said.

“I can get a job here and keep looking,” he said about ACS.

Gene Pardee, 63, of Olympia showed up Thursday looking to possibly supplement his retirement income. He said he worked as a freelance photographer before moving to South Sound from California but acknowledged that making connections to sustain a freelance job here was challenging. After being screened, he secured a follow-up interview, he said.

“My brain and my mouth are still working,” Pardee said.

Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403

rboone@theolympian.com

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