Collection agency brings 300 jobs

Vicky Eckenrode | Saturday, July 14, 2007

ATLANTA - A national debt-collection agency plans to open a call center in Ware County next year and eventually hire as many as 300 workers, state and local economic officials announced Friday.

Jacksonville-based Enhanced Recovery Corporation intends to buy a former Winn Dixie store in Waycross and spend $5.5 million converting it into a call center.

Company officials said Friday they project the center will be operating sometime in the first three months of 2008 with 150 employees initially. The company expects to add another 150 workers during the center's second year.

"Expanding our business into Waycross, Ga., assists our company greatly in meeting our growth objectives," the company's CEO Mark Thompson said.

Thompson made the announcement with Georgia Economic Development Commissioner Ken Stewart and Okefenokee Area Development Authority Executive Director Regina Morgan.

"We are excited to welcome ERC to our community," Morgan said at the ceremony held at the Okefenokee Technical College. "The company's presence will benefit the community with good, high-quality jobs and significant economic impact."

The potential openings should be good news for some area job-seekers in the county, where the unemployment rate is 4.5 percent, which is slightly higher than the state's average.

ERC is a privately-held company founded in 1999 that recovers unpaid debts for credit cards issuers, telecommunications firms and retailers.

Several months ago, the expanding company announced plans to open another call center this year in Orange Park, Fla., and to hire 272 people.

The Waycross facility would be ERC's third call center in the United States, including an existing one in Jacksonville. The company also owns a center in the Caribbean.

Besides the state's economic development arm, the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education, Labor Department and Georgia Power also worked on pitching the Waycross site to ERC.

Labor Department officials said Friday afternoon they do not know yet if a job fair will be held to recruit workers for the center.