Springfield-based telemarketing firm Gold Mountain Communications LLC has committed to adding 140 jobs and investing in the local economy to the tune of $540,000.
Gold Mountain President Hank Seevers attributed his company’s expansion to a need from its major vacation-industry clientele, which he declined to name.
“The vacation industry took a big hit, and now it’s making a comeback,” he said. “They’re having to rebuild things that they had torn down. One of the ways they’re rebuilding that is through outsourcing.”
Seevers started Gold Mountain in spring 2009, bringing with him a host of contacts from his 10 years with Wyndham Vacation Resorts, which had closed its Springfield call center earlier that year.
Another avenue of growth for the two-year-old company was ushered in through state tax credits, facilitated in part by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s economic development arm, the Springfield Business Development Corp. SBDC was instrumental in Gold Mountain’s startup in downtown Springfield – where it started with only a handful of employees – and guided the company toward approval of $376,000 in enhanced enterprise zone tax credits in June 2010, helping to fund a $960,000 investment in additional staff and a lease in the Elfindale Center, 1701 W. Sunshine St., Ste. K.
SBDC President Tom Babik said the fact that Hank and his team were able to pull together a new company quickly after Wyndham pulled out is a testament to the city’s work ethic.
“I think that just shows the entrepreneurial spirit that’s alive and well in Springfield,” Babik said, adding that customer service centers are a target market for SBDC, but he wasn’t aware of any similar tax-credit deals coming down the pike.
Gold Mountain, which handles inbound and outbound calls for its clients, would employ 320 after adding the new jobs, for which Gold Mountain plans to begin hiring immediately.
Seevers said the available jobs are primarily telemarketing sales positions, but supervisory and administrative positions also are available.
Gold Mountain is seeking employees with at least six months of telemarketing or sales experience. Applications can be submitted through
www.workatgoldmountain.com, and Seevers hopes to fill the positions by September.
The telemarketer also is leasing additional space adjacent to its current office, bringing the company’s square footage up to 12,000 from 7,500, Seevers said, noting the company leases the space from Davis Properties for roughly $11,000 a month, about a 75 percent increase from its pre-expansion lease rate.
The additional jobs and office expenses represent a portion of Gold Mountain’s more than half-a-million-dollar capital investment, with technology and infrastructure development also adding to the local economy, Seevers said, noting Protel Systems & Supplies Inc. provides cabling, access and video surveillance work for the company.[[In-content Ad]]