Progressive to hire 72 for Springs call center [The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)]

Dec. 10--Auto insurance giant Progressive said Monday it plans to hire 72 by the end of the first quarter for sales and customer service positions at its Colorado Springs call center to support continued growth of insurance sold directly to consumers as well as policies sold to businesses.

Ohio-based Progressive is adding 300 agents at call centers in the Springs; Austin, Texas; Tampa, Fla., and its Cleveland area headquarters as a result of both growth and employee turnover at its call centers, said Connie Dingeman, recruiting director for the company's call centers. New hires go through up to 18 weeks of paid classroom and on-the-job training with classes beginning on Dec. 17; any unfilled slots in December training classes will be moved into classes that start Jan. 7 for the sales jobs or Jan. 14 for the customer service positions.

"We are looking for people with strong customer-service skills," Dingeman said. "We look for people who have worked in a call center before or those who want to work in a call center. We also are looking for those who want to make a career in this industry since we offer them upward mobility into training and management jobs."

All of the openings require a high school diploma. The sales jobs require a year of sales experience and either two years of experience in customer service or two years of post-high school education, while the customer service positions require two years of experience in customer service. The full-time jobs include benefit and annual profit-sharing payments of up to 16 percent of pay. The pay range for both the sales and customer service jobs is $13 to 15 per hour.

Progressive added more than 700 jobs at its call centers last year as a result of its growth, including more than 100 in the Springs. The company's local operations, which employ about 1,520, also include a data center and information technology, printing and mailing operations. Dingeman said the company hopes to add to its local information technology staff next year.

For more information or to apply for the jobs, go to www.progressive.com/jobs.

--

Contact Wayne Heilman: 636-0234 Twitter @wayneheilman

Facebook Wayne Heilman

___

(c)2012 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)

Visit The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) at www.gazette.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services