Just like much of the South, people in the North Eastern Strategic Alliance (NESA) Region of South Carolina are known for their friendliness. Combine that natural trait with customer service skills, education and work ethic, and it’s no surprise the region is a magnet for call centers for global companies like Monster.com, Assurant, Sykes, BlueCross BlueShield, ADP, JP Morgan Chase, Safe Auto, and others with national and international clients.

In 2009, leading global online career and recruitment resource Monster.com invested $28 million to locate a customer support center in the Florence region. The company currently employs 250 and has plans to expand to 750 jobs over the next several years.

Suited for Service

“We were outsourcing a portion of our North America services overseas,” says Jeremy Curley, director of global services for Monster.com. “The initial reason we began to look for a new location was to bring these jobs back to the states to improve quality and scalability. We looked at more than 3,000 locations, but there are some key assets that made Florence stand out.”

Specifically, the region offered:  

•Skilled, available workers: Along with graduates of the region’s seven technical schools, colleges and universities, companies can pull from 52,000 workers in the hospitality industry who are trained in sales and customer service and retention. South Carolina is also located in a right-to-work state, and its ReadySC program offers free job training through the South Carolina Technical College System. The Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology (SiMT) in Florence also offers workforce training.

Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology (SiMT)
in Florence also offers workforce training.

•Exceptional infrastructure: Reliable, efficient electricity and telecommunications networks give this region an edge. An array of existing buildings can be easily adapted to call centers. Key sites for call centers include the West Evans Call Center building in Florence County and the Compass Center in Horry County.

•Business-friendly incentives: Job development credits, job tax credits, sales and use exemptions, fee-in-lieu of property taxes and special source revenue credits are offered to qualifying investments.

Those assets are bringing more businesses to the region's burgeoning call center industry, which currently employs about 3,000 people at more than 20 companies, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield of South Carolina and Assurant, a Fortune 500 company that handles specialized insurance products nationally and internationally. BCBS operates two major customer service centers in the region, with 825 employees in Myrtle Beach and 1,000 in Florence, and Assurant recently grew its service center by 200 employees, bringing its total employment to 800 in the region.

People Make the Difference

“The workforce is really something that sets this community apart,” Curley says. “The workforce here has the skill set that we need to continue to build and expand the capabilities of our site.”

Sykes Enterprises Inc., which has brought more than 500 jobs to the region, also cites the workforce as instrumental in the company’s choice of location. Sykes’ client base consists of Fortune 1000 companies from around the world, primarily in the communications, financial services, health-care, technology, and transportation and leisure industries.

“The labor market (in the region) is filled with hardworking and intelligent people,” says Andrea B. Thomas, corporate communications director of Sykes Enterprises. “As a people-intensive, customer-care business, this type of labor market is important to our success.”

Curley says the region offers a lasting partnership for businesses. “Leaders here are not just committed to getting you here, but also to integrating you into the community and ensuring your long-term success," he says.