Bilingual service company moving in

An Illinois-based customer service company signed a lease Wednesday to rent the old ClientLogic building.

The company, SEI, is immediately looking to hire bilingual employees from the area for customer support positions, according to a press release from the Clovis Industrial Development Corp. In all, the call center is expected to employ 75 in the first year, said Chase Gentry, executive director for the CIDC.

“(The center) will provide additional career opportunities for bilingual individuals in the Clovis-Portales microplex,” Gentry said.

The 36-year-old company provides help-desk services, a press release from the CIDC said. Clients for the company include Microsoft, Sonic, McDonalds, Bobcat and Jiffy Lube, according to the SEI’s Web site.

“SEI worked closely with the New Mexico Economic Development Partnership to identify bilingual communities that could support SEI’s delivery of high-quality services,” said SEI Chief Executive Officer John Jasper in a press release. “Clovis offers a great basis for our expansion into the Southwest with a strong labor pool, great customer service skills and the necessary technical infrastructure.”

ClientLogic employed an estimated 230 workers when it closed in January 2002 after 14 months. It served as a customer service center for MCI.

Gentry said CIDC has been working with SEI intensively for the last three months. He wasn’t sure of the details of the lease for the 5,000-square-foot building across from Clovis Community College, but said the company should be in town for several years.

“They liked the environment, with our proximity to (Eastern New Mexico University), and with all that infrastructure in place,” Gentry said. “They really liked that facility. It was built as a call center, and it is a very nice facility.”

The Clovis operation will support inbound customer requests related to procedural and technical issues with computer hardware and software, according a press release from Gov. Bill Richardson’s office.

“They conducted a thorough search for the best location in the county, and thanks to the (CIDC), New Mexico was able to deliver both the high-quality employee base and high-tech infrastructure SEI required,” Richardson said in the press release.

SEI employs about 800 employees at four customer support centers. They also handle about 250,000 calls per month, inbound and outbound.

“A number of the jobs will be a good salary range,” Gentry said, adding that the center will offer bilingual workers another opportunity in town to use their skills to make a career move. “... if someone is looking for a different environment, it will provide that opportunity.”

SEI is currently recruiting bilingual speakers in Clovis with strong Spanish and English skills for a variety of help desk positions, the press release from CIDC said.