Word of New Jobs Spreads: As Soon As Rep. Rick Boucher Said the Jobs Were Coming to Galax, People Started Calling.
By Angela Manese-Lee, The Roanoke Times, Va.
Jan. 9–Take it as evidence of an area hit hard by layoffs that immediately after Rep. Rick Boucher announced 255 new jobs were coming to Galax, the phones started ringing at the local office of the Virginia Employment Commission.
Word was there were good jobs to be had; jobs with competitive pay, benefits and paid vacation.
That was the news Boucher, D-Abingdon, brought Monday to Galax’s Crossroads Institute, when he said Florida-based Results Global Services would be bringing a customer service center to the community.
The call center will provide customer service to XM Satellite Radio users in a 9,500-square-foot space in the Crossroads Institute.
A large majority of the jobs — 225 — will be customer service positions, a media release said. Bill Webb, VEC office manager, said employees hired for those jobs will receive $8.50 an hour plus benefits after training.
The center’s remaining 30 jobs will be management positions with salaries up to $100,000 annually, plus benefits.
Training for the center’s first 50 employees is expected to begin Feb. 1.
And already, demand for the jobs is high.
“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing and people are coming in by droves,” Webb said.
By 4:15 p.m., Webb said he’d directed about 200 people to either come by the office later in the week or visit two job fairs to be held at Crossroads Jan. 16 and 17.
“It obviously helps the local citizenry — their perspective on the area, and hopefully gives them a little better outlook and more hope,” said Keith Barker, Galax’s acting city manager. “We knew it wouldn’t be a quick fix when we started looking at potential businesses and industries; it does take time to recruit them and we hope this is just the first of a number we will be able to bring to our area.”
Long dependent on the furniture and textiles industries, Galax and Carroll and Grayson counties suffered a series of plant closings and layoffs last year that left more than 840 people out of work.
In February, unemployment in the area hit 8.5 percent in Galax, 6.3 percent in Carroll County and 6.4 percent in Grayson County. The state average was 3.3 percent.
To help with the strain on local services, Gov. Tim Kaine traveled to Galax in March to announce the creation of an economic relief center.
“It was not a good year,” said Galax Mayor C.M. Mitchell. “People were down and they were anxious because they didn’t know what was going to happen next.”
The Galax center will be Results Global Services’ fourth customer service center in Boucher’s district. The others, located in Lee, Scott and Patrick counties, now employ more than 530 people. With planned expansions at the centers in Lee and Patrick counties, that number is expected to grow to a total of 615 people in coming months.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Roanoke Times, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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