Jobless benefits call centers a growth industry

Inside one of Seattle's fastest-growing businesses, phone lines hum with 6,000 calls a week, 20 new employees a month train in a converted classroom, and economic projections indicate a continued expansion and additional backlog of customers.

How unfortunate, employee Candy Wetmore thinks. How sad.

But this is the nature of the state Employment Security Department's call center.

Wetmore understands its economic paradox better than most. She's been taking calls from the newly unemployed for seven years now, first on the front lines and now as a supervisor.

She knows how to cut a path through a thicket of benefit regulations. She knows how to talk down a newly laid-off carpenter with a mortgage. She knows how to tell a person he or she isn't eligible for a check while gracefully steering the person toward other, more promising possibilities. She knows how to strike a balance between personal empathy and professional distance.

Read More Article...

Related Posts by Categories

Widget by Hoctro | Jack Book