With great fanfare, cable TV giant Comcast officially opened its
doors Saturday for the new Morgan Hill call center.
With great fanfare, cable TV giant Comcast officially opened its doors Saturday for the new Morgan Hill call center.
“This was the culmination of a mass hiring effort by Comcast to hire more than 400 people from the South Bay community,” said Erica Eusebio, communications manager for Comcast.
“We’re thrilled to be here,” Laurie Giammona, vice president of customer service said. “We searched all over California and there was so much that attracted us to Morgan Hill.”
According to Giammona, the demographics and facilities particularly drew Comcast to Morgan Hill.
The company has been committed to community outreach. The firms has tried to hire from the area, and plan on using community business for any services.
There was a carnival atmosphere complete with food, prizes, entertainment and games for the kids, mainly from Morgan Hill vendors.
On hand for the opening was Mayor Dennis Kennedy and council members Larry Carr, Hedy Chang and Greg Sellers.
“It’s a wonderful event,” said Kennedy. “What’s so amazing and nice is Comcast is a very family-centered company. They’re good jobs and a good fit for Morgan Hill.”
One of the major issues facing California today is a downturn in the economy. In that light, Comcast is offering 500 jobs to the area.
“I’m glad to have these jobs come to our city during this time,” Chang said.
“The number one issue facing us is loss of jobs,” Kennedy said. “To have a company offer 500 quality jobs is wonderful.”
The center began taking service-related calls Oct. 13. Jobs will be filled by December, according to Giammona. The full 500 will be phased in over the course of the next year.
The new 60,000-square-foot facility is located in the Madrone Business Park across from Cochrane Plaza. Jobs offered include customer account executive positions, customer service training and supervisory staff, operations staff and human resource employees. Salary ranges were not announced but are consistant with the area, according to Andrew Johnson, vice-president of communications for the Bay Area market.
Raul Castro, a resident of Los Banos, was pleased with the opportunity provided in Morgan Hill. Castro’s wife was recently hired, and he is happy with the opportunity.
“It’s great,” he said. “It’s closer to home for my wife.”
Tours were offered to introduce the public to the new facility.
“It’s a beautiful, well- designed building,” Sellers said. “This was a significant commitment.”
The public at large was invited, and many turned out to support family and friends who have been hired.
“They are a nice company who invested in Morgan Hill,” Carr said. “They want to do a first class job, and that’s important.”
Comcast is the cable provider to the greater Bay Area. Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin currently receive cable services from Charter. Officially, there are no plans by Comcast to buy out the company.
“They are a friendly company and all the people they’ve hired are pleasant,” Celia Krippeme, whose sister-in-law was recently hired. “They did a good job; it’s a terrific building.”
The event was catered by the Golden Oak. They featured imported cheeses, meatballs, sausages and sandwich fixings. There were also nachos, complete with all the fixings.
Operating in 17 of the United States’ 20 largest metropolitan areas, Comcast is one of the leading communications, media and entertainment companies in the world.
Comcast Cable provides basic cable, digital cable and high-speed Internet services. The company’s 55,000 employees, in six divisions, serve more than 21 million customers. It serves more than 1.6 million customers in the San Francisco Bay Area and employs more than 4,000 people.
In 2002 Comcast’s operations in the Bay Area contributed over $55 million in franchise fees to local cities and counties and an additional $20 million to the State of California.
Local residents interested in learning about future job openings at Comcast’s Morgan Hill facility should visit the website at http://careers.comcast.com/
