Phone center to start hiring

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 15, 2001.

By ANN WISHART
Valley Press Business Editor

LANCASTER - Attracted by the Antelope Valley's educated labor force, Interviewing Services of America Inc. plans to open a new market research telephone center at 639 West Ave. L-14 on April 16 and possibly enlarge within the year.

The Van Nuys-based company announced Monday it plans to employ more than 100 when the facility is fully staffed. Michael Halberstam, ISA's president and CEO, said the Lancaster center will bring ISA's employee count to more than 800, with other centers in Alhambra and Sherman Oaks.

Tom McNiven, ISA's vice president of business development, said the hourly pay rate begins at $6.50 and can go as high as $12 under an incentive program where a caller is paid according to the number of calls he or she completes. Average wage is between $7 and $8 an hour, he said, adding that the company is not a telemarketing firm.

"Our business is conducting legitimate survey research and processing the data," he said. "We provide meaningful information to companies and other organizations." The staff does not sell over the phone, he added.

Minor cosmetic improvements are being made to the 4,015-square-foot building, McNiven said. ISA took a one-year lease on an additional 2,000-square-foot space next door. It is likely ISA will expand into that space within the year, essentially doubling the number of employees at the center, he said.

Job interviews are scheduled to begin April 9 with training seminars to begin soon after, he said.

"This facility will allow us to better serve our growing client base," Halberstam said. ISA's decision to expand into the Antelope Valley was made because "it appears there is a significant number of well-educated people in the Antelope Valley who just don't want to commute to L.A. or the Valley," he said, "so we'll bring the jobs to them."

"This is exactly the kind of company we like to attract," said Larry Grooms, president and CEO of the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance. ISA worked with a broker to find the Avenue L-14 location, but was attracted to the area because of the labor base, he said. ISA is similar to the research firm used to collect information for the Labor Base Analysis done on the Valley last year, he said.

"It provides us with a service folks may actually use" locally, said Vern Lawson Jr., Lancaster's marketing and economic development manager. ISA has talked with the city about taking advantage of the Enterprise Zone benefits, particularly the $29,000 state hiring tax credit, he said.

"We'll begin with consumer work, which is done evenings and weekends, and add day shifts as the Lancaster management team gains experience," McNiven said. The ISA telephone interviewers will conduct market research studies with consumers and business people. The Lancaster site will also need some technical and clerical staff. Many high school and college students work for the company, and the professional staff has come "up through the ranks," McNiven said.

Since 1982, ISA has collected market research data for a wide range of industries, including financial services, packaged goods, travel and health care. Besides conducting market research interviews over the telephone, ISA conducts Internet surveys, political polls and other data-tabulation services.