Prudential to hire 300 people for El Paso technology and call center, company announced Tuesday

April 29--Prudential Financial Inc., is opening a technology and call center in El Paso with 300 jobs within the next three years, executives from the giant financial services and insurance corporation announced today.

Prudential selected El Paso to locate the center, only the second such center in Prudential's global operations, because of Fort Bliss and the quality of the labor force here, John Strangfeld, Prudential chief executive officer, said after a press conference at City Hall today.

The company also will get $1.15 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, which is administered by the Texas governor's office, and unspecified local incentives, the governor's office reported.

Prudential's goal is to hire about 150 military veterans for the El Paso center, and a large number of spouses of Fort Bliss soldiers, Strangfeld said. The El Paso center is part of Prudential's years-old initiative to help military veterans get jobs, he said.

"Fourteen years ago, we did a similar center in Ireland, and we had 200 people. Today, we are over 1,000 employees" in the Ireland center, Strangfeld said. The Ireland center is not tied to hiring military veterans, Prudential officials said.

Prudential's El Paso center will be housed inside an HGS USA call center located in far East El Paso. HGS has been contracted by Prudential to help with the new center's months-long training program and center operations.

The center will help create and test computer programs for employee-used systems and handle technology-tied calls from Prudential employees, said Barbara Koster, Prudential chief information officer. About half the jobs will be technology jobs and the other half will be call center jobs, she said.

The jobs will pay an average of $35,000 per year.

Prudential is looking for people with a knack for technology, but only a high school diploma will be required, Koster said. Prudential will put people through a six-month to 18-month training program, which will be operated with the help of the University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College, she said. Trainees will be paid a stipend until they complete the training program, she said.

Military veterans can apply at wforce.org, and click on the veterans tab; others can submit their resume at prudential.com/careers, or hgscareers.com, Prudential officials reported.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421.

___

(c)2014 the El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas)

Visit the El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas) at www.elpasotimes.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services