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Riverview call center gets 2,000 applicants for 200 jobs

Tribune photo by JIM REED

The ceremonial first call to the Vangent Inc., call center is recieved at the new facility located in Riverview. Employees attended a ceremony officially opening the new call center Tuesday.

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By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 30, 2009

RIVERVIEW - Telephone call center jobs sometimes get a bad rap for low wages and high stress, but in today's recession one call center company received 10 applications for each open job.

Vangent, an Arlington, Va.-based company, opened a customer service center on U.S. 301 in Riverview this morning. About 150 customer service representatives began fielding calls on behalf of the federal government's 1-800-MEDICARE program. Roughly 50 more employees work in support roles at the Riverview call center, said company Vice President James Gordon.

The company reports receiving 2,000 applications for the 200 jobs it has filled so far. During more normal economic times, Vangent might expect between 100 and 1,000 applications for 200 open jobs, Gordon said.

The company isn't finished hiring yet. By the fall, it expects to ramp up to about 1,000 employees in Riverview, about 800 of whom will be customer service representatives. The company's Web site, www.vangent.com, has information on how to apply.

Vangent's Riverview operation is not a stereotypical "outbound" call center, where sales representatives place unsolicited calls to people's homes and businesses. Employees in Riverview will field "inbound" customer calls from Medicare applicants and recipients. Customer service representative wages start at $11.43 an hour with benefits and rise to about $17 to $18 an hour, Gordon said.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

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