With 90 customer service agents working at a temporary call center and another 250 trainees anticipated to soon join their ranks, the prospect of being part of the labor force has created some excitement here.
 By Xavier Zaragoza/The Douglas Dispatch Gloria Jacobo, a Douglas resident and one of 90 customer service agents at the Visitors Center, has been with the company for about a month. She enjoys her work, especially because of the many interesting people she interacts with over the phone. |
“It really is interesting to be a part of all this,” said Gloria Jacobo, a door-to door representative who processes calls from agents.
Jacobo has been with the center for about a month and said she is excited by what she does and the people she meets.
“There is always something to do and it’s fascinating to speak with people from another part of the country,” she said.
The center hums with activity as customer service and sales agents work from 7a.m. to 5p.m. on one side of the room. On the other side, the door-to-door processing agents, like Jacobo, work from 10a.m. to 7p.m.
By the end of August these agents will be joined by another group that is being trained at the Recreation Center on 3rd Street.
Training Facilities
At the Recreation Center more than 90 trainees are learning the process of becoming a customer service agent.
Three rooms have been reconfigured so as to accommodate the trainees, said Curtis Shook, City Manager for Douglas.
But by early September these trainees will go into what is called “production,” that is, doing what they have been trained to do.
The training facilities at the Recreation Center will then be transformed into a temporary work site, just like the one at the Visitors Center, Shook said.
By mid October, Shook anticipates 250 to 300 customer service agents to be fully employed collectively at the Recreation Center and the Visitors Center.
“This is an economic boost to the Douglas economy that will positively affect us on many levels,” Shook said. The center will bring new money into Douglas, thus sparking growth in the economy.
Douglas Mayor Michael Gomez, who visited the Recreation Center Wednesday morning, said he was impressed with how well things were developing for the center.
“We’ve needed something like this for a very long time,” he said. By mid December the permanent call center on 10th Street is scheduled to open, Shook said. The 250 to 300 employees will all be transferred to that location.
Comments
Stanley Tucci wrote on Sep 2, 2008 4:56 PM:
Why do you think they opened it here in Douglas?
think they could hire these people at these wages in LA or NY or even Tucson?
Hey at least they didnt outsource overseas. "
Resident wrote on Aug 30, 2008 8:05 PM:
HJackson wrote on Aug 29, 2008 9:41 AM: