By Tim Leeds
Karen Jensen, operations manager for the new Advantage Line telemarketing center in Havre, said Advantage Line President Mark Hardy expects the new center to be open by Nov. 10.
Jensen said that the date is still tentative, but is fairly firm. She said unless something unforeseen happens, that should be the date the center starts operations at the Holiday Village Shopping Center.
Jensen said they will probably start hiring the local personnel for the center right about the start date. She said the new workers for the center will probably start training the morning of Nov. 10, and start working that afternoon. She said they might possibly start training them the day before the center opens.
Jensen said they will be hiring 75 people to work in the center by Dec. 1. The center will initially have 49 work stations, she said. Hardy has stated previously that he intends to eventually upgrade the center to 100 work stations, with up to 300 positions created by the center.
Jensen, who was in Havre Monday and Tuesday, said things have been fairly hectic in her training, with delays and unforeseen problems arising. She said she has been training for the position, and would probably go back to the centers in Glendive and Billings for additional training this week.
Triangle Telephone Cooperative Association, Inc., which has been hired to provide the high-speed telephone service Advantage Line needs to process the incoming calls, began work this week to lay in the equipment to provide service to the business. Robert Pleninger of TTC said they began laying the necessary lines in by the TTC buildings Monday, and they are "progressing and migrating over to the mall."
TTC began work in the shopping center parking lot today. Pleninger said they will probably get the trench open tomorrow to get into the Advantage Line suite.
"It's progressing along," he said.
Clawson and Sons has also begun the remodeling process on the Holiday Village suite leased by Advantage Line from Ocwen, the owners of the shopping center, to prepare the suite for their telemarketing center.
Advantage Line uses incoming call centers to process orders and communications for clients. The workers at the centers process orders and calls for catalog companies, magazines, non-profit organizations, and other businesses.
Hardy and his wife started the business in Wolf Point, moving the operations to Williston, N.D. later. The new Havre call center will be in addition to existing operations in Williston, Billings and Glendive.
Hardy said earlier this year that he needed the new center in operation before the busiest part of the Christmas season, which is also the busiest time for Advantage Line.
