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VXI to Hire 175 by Jan. 1 for New Positions
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Rashida Benning was laid off from her job with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and looking for an interim job when the opportunity to work at VXI Global Solutions Inc.’s call center here presented itself.
That was two years ago.
“It turned out that it actually was lucrative for me,” she said. Starting out as an agent, taking sales support and customer care calls for the downtown call center, today she is a team lead in sales support.
“The opportunity for advancement was really good for me,” she said. “It really is a good opportunity for growth.
VXI, which celebrated the fifth anniversary of its call center here in October, is adding 175 new positions downtown to meet increased demand by the center’s biggest client.
Today is the final day of three days of open interviews at the call center in 20 Federal Place. VXI wants to fill the positions by Jan. 1. The open interviews run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“Our clients have asked us to expand. Their business is increasing so they’ve asked us to increase our business,” said Wendy Rogers, a VXI talent acquisition business partner.
The center’s main client is a “premier satellite provider” that accounts for 700 of the 1,100 employees now working at the downtown call center, she reported.
The client is widely acknowledged to be satellite television provider DirecTV.
“So far we’ve been pretty busy,” Rogers said of the open interview process. VXI is looking for people with at least six months of customer service or sales experience, “people who can talk to people well or can communicate well,” she said.
The new hires would bring employment here to nearly 1,300. VXI occupies more than 2½ floors of 20 Federal Place, as well as a ground-floor suite where it operates its recruitment and testing center.
“Youngstown has proven that VXI can succeed here and our clients are seeing that,” Rogers said. She anticipated that VXI would not need additional space with the wave of new hires.
The city is having what officials characterize as “preliminary” discussions with NYO Property Group to sell 20 Federal Place, formerly the Phar-Mor Centre, to the downtown developer. NYO submitted the sole bid -- $1.7 million – for the city-owned building by the Oct. 3 deadline in its request for purchase proposals.
VXI submitted a letter requesting that the city retain ownership of the property. The city has provided favorable rents to tenants as an economic development tool.
As of this posting, city and NYO officials had not returns calls seeking comment.
Copyright 2014 by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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