Hourly Update

Third Afni call center in Tucson could mean 500 more jobs

Afni Inc. will open a third Tucson customer service center in the Foothills Mall in January that could eventually provide jobs for up to 500 people, company officials said. The new call center expected to open in January will initially employ 225 people, said Alan Angelo, Afni’s marketing manager. Afni will offer starting pay of $9 an hour plus bonuses for inbound customer care services, Angelo said. “We’re not calling people at supper time,” Angelo said. “This is inbound. Say you have a cellular phone, for example. If you have a question about your bill, or your service, or your features, that’s the kind of service we’d provide." Afni opened its first Tucson call center in 1997 at 7810 E. Escalante Road. Four years later, the company opened a second Tucson center at 333 E. Wetmore Road. The new center will be situated in a 22,000 square-foot space in the mall at 7325 N. La Cholla Blvd. “The strong workforce in Tucson make it an ideal choice to expand our company’s operations,” said John Adams, Afni’s executive director of Call Center Services said in a press release. With the opening of the third center in January, the Bloomington, Ill.-based company will employ more than 1,600 people in Tucson by January, Angelo said.