Call center to provide up to 120 new jobs

By Diane Saunders, staff writer

A new call center that specializes in taking surveys and providing data to clients will open Wednesday in Thatcher.

The company, Western Wats, is based in Orem, Utah, and expects to hire up to 120 local people, Rob Chernish, the local site manager, said.

The hourly wage will range from $6 to $9.50, with the average interviewer earning about $7 an hour. Most jobs will be part time, which will likely attract college and high school students, people who want a second job or senior citizens.

"There's no telemarketing; there's no sales at all," Chernish said in a recent telephone interview.

Instead, the company hires people to take telephone surveys on a variety of topics and issues requested by its clients.

For example, Western Wats employees make calls for customer service follow-ups, political surveys, federal government projects and business-to-business clients.

"We are a very diverse company. We gather the research in an unbiased manner," Chernish said.

Although the telephone is used to conduct surveys, employees do not let their fingers do the walking through telephone directories.

Employees are trained to use a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system that is connected to an automatic dialer. Data resulting from survey questions are entered into a computer system.

"It's really convenient for our interviewers and our clients," Chernish said.

Mike Fox, director of Eastern Arizona College's Small Business Development Center, said Western Wats officials met with him in November 2005.

He said company officials indicated they needed a 6,000 square-foot building to house the call center.

By December 2005, EAC was able to put Western Wats in touch with local businessman Dale Blan, who said he could have a building ready for it within 90 days, Fox said.

Western Wats committed to opening the call center in Thatcher in March. Blan constructed an 8,000 square-foot building, and Western Wats leased 6,000 square feet of it. The remaining 2,000 square feet is available for lease, Blan said.

"It's a clean industry. There's no noise, no pollution," Blan said. Chernish said Western Wats was attracted to Graham County because of a plentiful labor pool of students and other potential employees.

Fox said the center is expected to provide an economic boost to the community.

"We're excited about it. Our job is to bring businesses to the community," Fox said.