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Monday, March 6, 2000

Kingsville call center plans expansion

Calling Solutions to add nearly 700 to its work force

By Jeremy Schwartz
Caller-Times
Staff writer Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 886-3779 or by e-mail at schwartzj@caller.com

David Adame/Caller-Times

Workers at Calling Solutions, a telemarketing operation located in Kingsville's Southgate Mall, make sales calls Friday night.

KINGSVILLE - In what was once a quiet corner of the Southgate Mall, large groups of college students and ex-homemakers now mill around on their lunch breaks.
   Inside the building, even more people walk briskly past a receptionist, who has a stack of job applications sitting on her desk.
   Past that desk, one enters a vast, high-ceilinged room filled with hundreds of computer cubicles and employees chattering into their headsets.
   Welcome to the world of Calling Solutions, a San Antonio-based telemarketing firm that has already become Kingsville's fourth-largest employer since setting up shop two months ago.
   With 780 employees, Calling Solutions is exceeding expectations held by economic developers. And the company plans to almost double the number of employees by May - for a total of about 1,400 - as soon as it adds another 120 workstations.
   When that happens, the company will trail only Naval Air Station-Kingsville, which has 1,800 employees, as the city's largest employer.
   "They have just exploded," said Dick Messbarger, executive director of the Greater Kingsville Economic Development Council. "Having 1,300 employees by the summer was our wildest dream."
   Corpus Christi loses

David Adame/Caller-Times

Calling Solutions sales coach Kimberley Brunsen (right) monitors a call between sales representative Ezequiel Gracia and a customer in Las Vegas on Friday. Calling Solutions plans to almost double the number of employees by May - for a total of about 1,400 - as soon as it adds another 120 workstations.

   In September, Calling Solutions chose to locate in Kingsville over Corpus Christi and Robstown. Corpus Christi economic development officials had, at one time, been nearly certain that the company would occupy the empty Albertson's building at the intersection of Staples Street and Kostoryz Road.
   But Calling Solutions President Louis Cooper has said he needed to close a purchase agreement more quickly than Albertson's corporate structure allowed.
   Kingsville prevailed because it had an available building and moved quickly to prepare it for the company, economic development officials in Kingsville and Corpus Christi have said. The Kingsville City Commission added $100,000 to its annual $27,000 contribution to the Greater Kingsville Economic Development Council specifically to recruit Calling Solutions, Mayor Phil Esquivel has said.
   That money was used to prepare the building for the company, Messbarger said.
   Good opportunity
   Employees say Calling Solutions has provided much-needed job opportunities.
   "Mostly, people around here have to go to Corpus to get a job," said Cylinda Nunez, 44, who has worked at Calling Solutions for four weeks. "The only other jobs around here are basically in restaurants or convenience stores."
   Nunez said working at Calling Solutions gives her more opportunity for advancement and higher pay than her previous job at a convenience store.
   With commissions, the starting pay of $6.50 an hour can jump to around $9, Messbarger said.
   Christian Allen, 25, has worked at Calling Solutions for three weeks and has already been made a telemarketing coach. "I worked at another telemarketing company in Corpus Christi, but I got tired of commuting back and forth," she said.
   Pepe Mirabent, Calling Solutions vice president, said about 20 percent of Calling Solutions employees are students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Company officials say students provide the flexible, part-time work force needed for telemarketing. In return, students say, Calling Solutions provides a well-paying, entry-level job they can use to help pay for school.
   "Calling Solutions is providing employment opportunities that just weren't available before," Messbarger said.
   Company officials say choosing Kingsville, population 26,557, over a larger city such as Corpus Christi for its expansion was a gamble.
   But Mirabent said several factors convinced the company that Kingsville could provide the labor pool he needed.
   He points to Kingsville's proximity to Corpus Christi and other cities in the area that can provide employees, as well as a large supply of potential workers at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, as factors in the company's decision.
   And when a job fair held prior to the company's decision to move to Kingsville drew 400 people, Mirabent said the company felt confident it could find workers in Kingsville.
   Mirabent said while there is some concern the company's high turnover rate (it's already hired 1,200 people) will make reaching full capacity difficult, he is counting on university students to fill its new workstations.
   "So far everything indicates we'll be able to do it," he said.
   Once the company expands, Mirabent said the company's monthly payroll will grow to more than $1 million.
   Kingsville officials hope that money will make its way to other city businesses.
   Messbarger said Calling Solutions employees - who are typically young, working a second job, supplementing family income, or attending college - are more likely to spend their income in Kingsville than in Corpus Christi.
   "For many, this is truly spendable income that will be spent on a new set of tires, a new car or eating out," he said. "Our profile of Calling Solutions employees shows they will spend more money in Kingsville. Their income is more disposable (than primary income jobs) and will be disposed of quicker."
   Messbarger said that's important because Kingsville loses more than $80 million a year in purchases to stores in Corpus Christi.
   Calling Solutions is having other, subtle effects on Kingsville, Messbarger said. For example, restaurants near the company are seeing entirely new groups of customers during the company's shift change at 3 p.m.
   Other consequences
   Messbarger said that Calling Solutions' success will not likely dry up the remaining pool of the unemployed in Kingsville, which is about 800 people. Despite their booming growth, there will likely be an available work force for other industries moving to the area.
   A large group of potential workers, such as students and homemakers, who are not officially registered as looking for work, will fill new job spots, he said.
   "When jobs are available, they want to work. They'll apply and go to work," he said. With such a population in Kingsville, Messbarger said, there is still more room for growth.
   In the meantime, city and company officials hope Calling Solutions' job applications will continue to fly off of the receptionist's desk.
  
  

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