Labor supplies are growing tight for call centers, one of northern Nevada's fast-growing, but little-noticed industries.
"It's gotten harder in the last three or more months, significantly more difficult," said Pat Campbell, Reno-based regional manager of Hire Dynamics, a company that includes recruitment of call center employees among its specialities.
Like other employers across the region, call center executives find the pool of qualified applicants is scant in a local economy with a 3.1 percent unemployment rate.
Hire Dynamics, which last week sponsored a forum for call center executives, estimates that about 65 call centers operate in northern Nevada.
Together, they employ about 4,000 workers roughly two times the number of workers at International Game Technology in Reno.
Dan Campbell, chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Hire Dynamics, said wage rates are steadily rising in call centers, which are battling a reputation as low-paying employers of low-skill workers.
Wages now average about $9.10 among call center employees in the region, he says, compared with $8.50 two years ago.
While some of that increase reflects increased competition for workers, some also arises from the increasing skill levels required in call centers.
Outbound call centers those outfits that sell credit cards over the phone during the dinner hour are rare in northern Nevada.
Instead, most of the call centers in the region are in-bound centers that handle ordertaking or other customer service.
More than three dozen workers at Sierra Pacific Power's call center, for instance, take customers' orders for new service and handle complaints about outages among other duties.
The call center at Harley-Davidson Financial Services in Carson City,meanwhile, provides customer service to folks who borrowed to buy a bike and a few workers in the call center chase down borrowers who are late with their payments.
"The perception of what the call center industry is all about has improved," Dan Campell told industry executives last week.
The growth in call center employment isn't the result of any push by economic development officials who generally target higherskilled, higher-paying jobs.
Still, call centers come to Nevada to take advantage of the state's attractive business climate.
And they're drawn, too, by a telecommunications infrastructure that's above-average for mid-sized cities.
But the employment situation is growing tighter, and call centers are getting creative in the ways they seek employees.
"A year ago, it was a matter of writing the right newspaper ad, then screening the applicants," said Pat Campbell."Now you have to go out and get them."
One strategy taken by Hire Dynamics: Hiring an call center to keep in touch with potential applicants.
