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VXI Calls On Valley
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Photo by Robert K. Yosay
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, left, and Tobias Parrish, vice president of U.S. operations for VXI Global Solutions, pose after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. VXI opened its new downtown call center, which handles calls for DirecTV, with 40 employees Thursday.
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Photo by Robert K. Yosay
NEW HOME: Chris Butcher, senior operations manager at VXI Global Solutions, stands among new operators at the company’s downtown call center. Butcher, a Mahoning Valley native, was working in Los Angeles when he suggested VXI consider Youngstown for a call center.
Hard workers, competitive spirit draw telemarketer to Youngstown
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN — Officials with a call-center company that hopes to create at least 500 jobs downtown first heard about the city from a trusted source — its employees.
Chris Butcher, who started with VXI Global Solutions two years ago in Los Angeles, said he and a few others talked up Youngstown when they heard the company was looking to locate its first call center in the Eastern time zone.
“I said, ‘If you want more people like us, and if you want to get the results we’re getting, come to Youngstown, Ohio,” said Butcher, 35, a Howland native who now lives in Hubbard.
Tobias Parrish, vice president of U.S. operations for the Los Angeles-based company, said executives looked at the area based on employee recommendations and liked what they saw.
VXI began operations Thursday at its call center in the city-owned 20 Federal Place.
Butcher is overseeing the call center as senior operations manager. He had been an operations manager for a VXI call center in Los Angeles.
The local center kicked off its day with 40 workers selling packages for DirecTV, but employment is expected to swell to 250 by the end of the year. A new group of workers is to complete training every three weeks.
Parrish said at least 100 more workers will be added early next year as the call center begins handling calls for a cellular phone company.
VXI intends to fill up the fourth floor of the building with 500 workers and has talked to the city about adding more workers on the fifth floor as business grows.
“If things go well, the sky is the limit,” said Mayor Jay Williams, who participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Butcher said the people of the Mahoning Valley are a good fit for VXI, which operates a high-energy sales floor. Supervisors shout out encouragement to the operators and clap when a sale is made.
“Youngstown has a competitive culture. A lot of people play sports, and with that comes the pressure to perform at a high level,” Butcher said.
Hourly pay for workers starts at between $9 and $10, but Butcher said sales incentives can push annual pay to more than $40,000.
VXI has moved into a space that three other call centers have used. Infocision Management was the most recent tenant, but it relocated its work to call centers in Austintown and Boardman.
VXI is spending $4 million to prepare the 31,000-square-foot space for its operations, including the installation of new cubicles, telecommunications equipment and computers. The city gave VXI a $400,000 grant using federal stimulus money to help with the renovations.
The company is paying $111,000 a year to lease the space.
T. Sharon Woodbury, the city’s development director, said 20 Federal Place will be about 80 percent occupied if VXI expands to cover the entire fourth floor.
VXI has 11 call centers with 7,000 employees. Youngstown is its third one in the U.S.
shilling@vindy.com
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Comments
Let me start off by saying, "THANK YOU CHRIS BUTCHER!!!"
Finally, a company moving into Youngstown! I know, I know, the nay-sayers will complain that the jobs are low paying, but low pay is better than no
pay and it is a start. Hopefully the city and county can form an economic development task force and use VXI as an example to attract more companies to the area. I just wish they would not JUST think about attracting manufacturing companies, but tech, research, bio-med and other professional companies. Then, maybe the 16,000 plus YSU students could remain in the valley after graduation, and former residents could relocate back to the valley where they belong.
The mayor should try to use this as a blueprint to attract more companies to Y-town. Contact former valley residents that hold executive positions with companies around the U.S. and see if they can help promote Y-town for future expansion of their current companies. Just think, if he contacts 1000 people and has a failure rate of 99.5%, that would equate to five more companies adding jobs to the Y-town area.
I am happy they brought the jobs to town, but nobody should be 'cheering' over this. Is this all this valley is good for nowadays.... Telemarketing Jobs!
We have 14,500 students at YSU that will struggle mightily to find a job when they graduate.
The people calling the shots in the Mahoning Valley should be enticing those types of jobs, that require a college education, to the area. Those jobs would require some skill, pay well, and be a lot more beneficial for our area than a call center.
Again I am happy they brought the jobs to town, but we need to start working for the college educated crowd as well. They are the ones that will be able to raise their families in this town and hopefully slow down the rate of people leaving to go to other areas of the USA.
GOOD LUCK !!! GALD YOUR HERE
Youngstown has come down to this - non-union, near minimum wage jobs with lousey benefits. If your young, get the heck out of the valley and move to where the jobs are unless your satisfied with the miserable life such jobs bring. How low can we go?
I agree with Red on this one.
These are low wage, high turnover call center positions. The city should be working with technology and biomedical firms to bring those types of jobs to the valley (look to Pittsburgh as an example). YSU should also be utilized to foster spin-offs and collaboration efforts. It's tough to support a family on a call center wage. I would be surprised if a call center worker could actually afford the DirecTV packages they are selling.
Again, all new jobs are good jobs but these are not 'community sustaining' careers.
Union...just a note. It is "you are or you're", not "your"
I have to agree with Unionforever, these "fly by night" call center jobs cannot be the hope for Youngstown's future surely! Who can pay bills and survive off of these 9 and 10 dollar and hour jobs. As most call center jobs go once you don't hit a certain quota you're toast.
Joat,
You hit the nail right on the head. YSU should indeed be fostering spin-offs and helping bring top notch post-docs and others to start businesses. Call center jobs are both abusive and low paying.
Blind ignorance on the part of those that don't view this as a good thing. My compliments to those involved in bringing new business to the area; I wish them the best of luck.
i always wondered what Milton Waddams from office space looked like when he was younger... now i know.
plus keep this in mind, infocision hires non educated people all the time and fills their head with republican referendum propaganda, but because the youth of youngstown are so desperate for a job they will work their and get brainwashed.
at least this place will hopefully not be a propaganda derived network.
It's hard to figure out what the people of the Moaning Valley really want. All the county and city workers, union auto workers, union nurses, police, fire, teachers etc. are over compensated with wages and benefits and this company that is at least providing something is criticized for a low wage and benefit package.
If a company moved to the valley and paid a living wage with benefits these same posters would be complaining about them being overpaid?????
cambridge, I completely agree with your statements.
Folks, Wake Up! Our entire Country is a heart beat away from a major Depression that is very likely to take place in the near future, and we here in the Mahoning Valley are among the few areas in the Nation to be at this time, blessed with receiving jobs that pay a livable wage.
THANK YOU, VXI Global Solutions, for locating in the Mahoning Valley. ..."Good Luck!!! Glad you're here,"
Union forever wake up !! The high paying union jobs are long gone,from the valley,just be thankful that,VXI has opened up in the valley,that's 500 jobs,that weren't here yesterday.We have to be positive and thankful that companies are at least willing,to locate in Youngstown.If you keep waiting for the big union money job's,my grandchildren's,children will be waiting.Never ever going to happen,take what you can get.
GLAD YOU ARE HERE VXI.
The Youngstown/Warren area has one of the lowest percentages of citizens with a college degree. Every year thousands of YOUNG people graduate from YSU and the leave the area because of a lack of jobs. If that doesn't change this area will die. Right now we are surviving on the money of pensioners and retirees in this area. Once the older generation dies out the tax and spending base will decline precipitously. Low pay/little-to-no benefit jobs will not reverse that situation.
WELCOME VXI Thank You for coming to the valley
We need the jobs. There are a lot of people here that can not do the work of some of the high paying jobs or hold a good union job for different reasons .
Most of these people are the DOOM and GLOOMS who are commenting above . We need all kinds of JOBS the more the MERRIER .
And I for one SAY THANK YOU FOR THE JOBS
where are all the nasty comments about a profitable company taking tax incentives from the state and the city to create barely livable wages?
RIGHT
This company is going to put at least up to 500 jobs. Thats at at least 500 people that will have some money which is better than no money at all. Stop complaining it could be that some jobs will breed other jobs.
Contrary to what some of you cynics say, starting pay at $9 - $10 an hour is above minimum wage, then they get commission on top of that with the potential to make $40,000 a year! That's NOT some meager minimum wage job. Since it's a non-union company, the dedicated, hard workers might have the opportunity to advance and make more $$$. This is a fantastic opportunity for our city!
it does amaze me that people are praising vxi; a company that is getting tax breaks and pays little better than minimum wages.
a company that will be gone in a few years after the tax breaks expire; but they rant and rage about delphi, who has had a presence in the mahoning valley for almost 100 years. gm, who has had a presence in the mahoning valley for over 40 years. both companies pay far more than minimum wages.
i keep asking: where is the outrage?
Just be friggin' happy people in Ytown have some kind of job opportunity.
People in Detroit are on a waiting list for a job at McDonald's, and they pay less than VXI.
You people are unreal!! Here is a company willing to come into your city, which is already economically depressed, and employ 500 people. Do you realize that is 500 people who need to eat lunch in the city every day, buy gas to get to work, pay for parking, I could go on and on. Instead of being negative all the time, just try to be happy for those people who do want to work there, even if you don't. Put your negative comments somewhere else. This is a good story for bad times...