VIDEO: Call center giant looking for home-based agents
A Cincinnati-based company that is one of the nation's largest call center operators has targeted Colorado and eight other states to recruit people to work from home answering customer service calls.
Convergys Corp. expanded its home agent program last month to Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The company hopes to recruit up to 2,000 such workers this year, said Scott Van Stratten, the program's senior director. The company already has about 100 home-based agents in Colorado, including "a couple" in the Colorado Springs area, he said.
The company is not seeking a specific number of workers from any particular area or state. It recruits home-based workers in 29 states through federally funded work force centers, such as the Pikes Peak Workforce Center, job fairs, military spouse employment groups, vocational rehabilitation centers, college, work-at-home Web sites and referrals from current employees, said Amy Williams, a Convergys spokeswoman.
"Colorado offers us an excellent applicant pool, and our association with military-spouse (employment) programs and the widespread availability of high-speed Internet access affords us a strong applicant pool in the state," Van Stratten said.
Convergys provides call-center services for companies in the telecommunications, entertainment, health care and retail industries. Its home agent program enables the company to quickly handle increased call volume for its clients without having to build or lease a new call center.
Home-based agents must use their own personal computers and have high-speed Internet access so they can take between eight and 30 calls an hour through Internet-based calling software provided by Convergys, Van Stratten said. The agents make about $9 an hour and are hired as employees, paid while they are trained and eligible for full benefits if they are full-time and partially paid benefits if they are part-time workers, he said.
The company launched the home agent program in 2006 and added more than 600 agents last year to expand the program to 1,500 such workers in 20 mostly Midwestern states, working flexible hours around the clock, seven days a week.
Convergys operates 83 call centers in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including facilities in Denver and Pueblo that each employ about 600 people.
The company has a history in Colorado Springs. Matrixx Marketing Inc., which was spun off with another subsidiary from Cincinnati Bell Inc. to form Convergys in 1998, operated a call center in northwest Colorado Springs until 1998, when it consolidated that facility with its Pueblo center and laid off 350 workers.
-
Call Heilman at 636-0234
DETAILS
What: Full- and part-time home agent positions
Pay range: About $9 an hour
Education requirement: High-school diploma
Where to apply: www.convergysworkathome.com
Other requirements: Home office that is quiet and free from distraction, personal computer that meets minimum requirements, high-speed Internet access, noise-canceling USB headset
Today's Question
Are you interested in a $9-an-hour, stay-at-home job? Do you think many Colorado Springs-area residents will be interested in such a job? Go here to vote.
