MORGAN HILL
– Comcast, the cable communications company opening a new
customer service support center on Madrone Parkway this fall put
out a call for résumés. It got them in droves and is moving right
along with hiring.
MORGAN HILL – Comcast, the cable communications company opening a new customer service support center on Madrone Parkway this fall put out a call for résumés. It got them in droves and is moving right along with hiring.
In April, the company announced it would have 500 jobs to fill and would begin the hiring process this summer. To date more than 100 people have been hired in the first round, according to Andrew C. Johnson, vice president for communication and resumes continue to arrive.
“We’re in the final stages of hiring about 125 people,” Johnson said. “We want to be fully staffed and totally operational over next 60 to 90 days, and that’s for certain.”
Résumés are submitted only through the Comcast Web site at http://careers.
comcast.com/.
The company is investing $17 million including costs to purchase the structure, add a parking area and buy new equipment for the state-of-the-art call center.
At the local facility expected to open in October, callers from Comcast franchise areas in the South Bay will be able to sign up for service and receive technical support.
Residents of South Santa Clara and San Benito counties have Charter Communications cable television service.
Comcast is hiring for customer account executive positions, customer service jobs, supervisory staff, operations staff and human resource employees. He said, as of Friday, a search for Comcast jobs in California showed 75 job titles with a second page devoted to recruiting employees for the Morgan Hill jobs.
Johnson said the hiring is done in “rounds” to keep the human resource system from overload and training manageable.
“We want to bite off good-size pieces, but not more than we can handle,” he said, referring to paperwork, background checks and drug testing that accompany the 21st Century hiring process.
“We’ll start training as soon as the hiring process is complete, when they are officially employees,” Johnson said.
Groups of 125 are easier to train, too, he said.
“With four or five teachers and classes of 20, new employees have a better chance to succeed,” he said.
Training will take place on the Morgan Hill campus, he said, as long as the construction schedule holds.
“We should begin within the next two to four weeks,” he said.
The goal to complete outfitting a 60,000 square-foot building at 18665 Madrone Parkway, north of Cochrane Road, is the end of September or beginning of October.
“We should have the major work completed by then,” Johnson said.
Johnson had two tips for job seekers: keep checking the Web site on a regular basis because the job openings change frequently and, for those who have already submitted a resume, “be patient.” It takes time to get around to everyone.
Johnson said they have not only seen a large number of resumes coming from South Valley residents but elsewhere besides.
“They are also coming from Silicon Valley and the Monterey Peninsula,” he said, but wants to encourage people from Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Hollister to go to the Web site and submit their resumes. “Working where they live helps with that home balance we all try to have in our daily careers.”
“We want to take advantage of the talented job pool there,” Johnson said. “We made a commitment to the city (of Morgan Hill) and are trying to live up to that commitment.”
Comcast Cable serves more than 1.6 million customers in the San Francisco Bay Area and employs more than 4,000 people locally. It became the leading cable provider in the Bay Area in November 2002 when it bought AT&T Broadband bringing together cable assets serving more than 21.4 million subscribers in 41 states including California. In 2002, Comcast’s operations in the Bay Area contributed more than $55 million in franchise fees to local cities and counties and an additional $20 million to the State of California.
