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Telemarketing
Company May Hire 200 Here |
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January
10, 2003
Muskegon Chronicle
By Dave Alexander
A New Jersey company is prepared to run its new telemarketing
center in the downtown Muskegon's Hartshorn Centre,
if it can find 200 employees to staff the operation.
When first announced in May, the Civic Development Group
call center was expected to employ 75. But the phone
sales company has enough business to employ many more,
if the local labor market can support it.
And the company is looking for area people with the
"Midwestern accent," or lack of accent, to
fill those positions.
"We would love to employ up to 200 people or more
if the labor market can provide it," said Walt
Lapinsky, CDG president of its call center operations.
"We would love to have all of our people full-time,
but the labor market dictates that. We will adjust to
the market."
CDG -- the nation's fifth-largest telemarketing company
-- will begin recruiting employees through the Orchard
View Workforce Development Center, 1550 E. Laketon,
beginning next week. Lapinsky said his company hopes
to hire its first group of telemarketers and have them
trained to begin operations the week of Jan. 20, he
said.
The local center will only handle out-going solicitation
calls and does not have "order-takers."
At minimum, CDG hopes to employ 75 to 100 employees,
including a management team of approximately 10, Lapinsky
said. Top managers will be brought in from another CDG
operation while local managers are trained.
The Muskegon call center will be a seven-day-a-week,
9 a.m.-to-9 p.m. operation. Some of the employees would
need to be able to work evening and weekend hours.
CDG telemarketers will start at about $8 an hour. The
local call center will have no commissioned-based jobs.
Performance standards are set within each call center
operation,
Lapinsky said.
Perspective employees need to have good telephone voices,
have adequate verbal skills, elementary computer skills
and strong work ethic.
"We're able to give just about anybody a try,"
Lapinsky said.
CDG provides its workers with flexibility for full-
or part-time positions, Lapinsky said.
With Muskegon County's 8.5 percent unemployment rate
and need for entry level jobs, employment specialists
predict that the local labor market will be able to
support a 200-employee CDG operation.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for clients in
our welfare-to-work programs," said Wendy Ohst,
deputy director of the Department of Employment and
Training. "There won't be any problems filling
these jobs right now with the economy."
CDG selected Muskegon over locations in four or five
upper Midwest states to add to 36 other call centers
in 12 states and Canada that employ 7,000.
Lapinsky said CDG is impressed with the potential labor
pool in area, the training opportunities of Muskegon
Community College and Baker College, the assistance
from Muskegon Area First and the lease opportunities
at the Hartshorn Centre.
CDG will be located on the main floor of the office
center owned by John Bultema and George Bailey. The
11,000-square-foot office space was once the "Hartshorn
Room" when the old roller shade factory was converted
into the Lumbertown Mall and then Waterfront Centre
by previous developers.
CDG is a privately held company that has been in the
telemarketing business for 20 years. It operates call
centers for Fortune 100 companies selling long-distance
telephone services, credit cards and cellular telephones.
The company does not release individual client names.
CDG officials know the reputation that telemarketing
has with people tired of dinnertime telephone solicitation
calls. However, Lapinsky said telemarketing services
are a basic need of legitimate businesses.
"Ten percent of the (phone solicitation) industry
is bad and creates the poor image for the entire industry,"
Lapinsky said. "Telemarketing provides a useful
service to people and our clients."
The CDG lease for the Hartshorn Centre is for five years.
"We are not looking for a short-term operation,"
Lapinsky said.
FAXBOX:
Telemarketers wanted
* Job: Telemarketing position in telephone solicitation.
* Skills: Pleasant telephone voice, verbal communication,
basic computer literacy and strong work ethic.
* Wage and benefits: $8-9 an hour with health, vacation
and retirement benefits for full-time employees.
* Hours: Part- and full-time positions with flexible
hours but must be able to work evenings and weekends;
operation is seven-days-a-week, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
* Applications: Are being handled by the Orchard View
Workforce Development Center, 1550 E. Laketon.
* Questions: Contact Civic Development Group at (800)
929-5753. |
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“On
August 11, 2001, we celebrated 50 years in Western Michigan.
You don’t do that without excellent relationships
with everybody.”
Mike Pepper,
General Manager
Howmet Corporation
an Alcoa Business |
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