U.S Cellular keeping jobs local
Company announces 100 new jobs in Customer Care Center
There will be no sending jobs away to India, Thailand or Bangladesh when it comes to U.S. Cellular's game plan in Bolingbrook, the company's chief executive officer said Tuesday as he announced 100 new jobs for the Bolingbrook Customer Care Center.
John Rooney, president and CEO of U.S. Cellular, made the job announcement at the recently expanded Bolingbrook facility.
(Jonathan Miano/Staff photographer)
"We want to have a highly effective customer service organization. That means we have to have people that are based in the United States and familiar with issues in the United States," Rooney said. "Our customers expect first-class customer service. We believe very, very strongly in basing our customer service here in the United States, and that helps us give back to the communities we serve."
The Bolingbrook facility has state-of-the-art equipment, including flat-screen televisions to project the names and tallies of the top sales people of each day, Rooney said.
Most jobs at the facility are full time, with a starting salary of about $30,000 a year, depending on the position. Turnover is about 25 percent, but that is the "gold standard" in the industry, Rooney said.
The center, off Route 53 just south of Interstate 55, has 600 employees.
"A large number of call centers have gone to other countries. All those great jobs could be handled by people in this country," said Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar. "We really appreciate what you have done here and are pleased to have you as a key member of or community."
Chicago-based U.S. Cellular is the sixth-largest wireless service carrier, providing wireless service to 6 million customers in 26 states. The firm employs 8,000 people in all.
When the Bolingbrook U.S. Cellular facility opened in 2005, there were 150 employees. The new numbers represent exceptional growth, said Rudel DeCastro, director of the Bolingbrook Customer Care Center.
The company recently completed a $2 million expansion that added 10,000 square feet to the facility, allowing the Bolingbrook Customer Care Center to enhance its services with the addition of an internal sales team and multilingual employees. Spanish is the focus now, but Rooney said Chicago has the largest Polish speaking population outside of Poland.
Contact Louise Brass at lbrass@scn1.com or 815-439-7557.
