Barclaycard expands Hamilton operations, adds hundreds of jobs

Barclaycard is expanding its facility in Hamilton, adding hundreds more jobs.

The international credit card servicing company opened its call center at 101 Knightsbridge Drive inside the Vora Technology Park in February 2016 with a promise to create about 1,500 new jobs in coming years.

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It’s grown from 50 employees then to currently more than 400 employees, the majority of whom work on the building’s fourth floor. With the recent renovation and opening of the third floor, Barclaycard has added 32,000 square feet and more than 380 desks.

That means hundreds of new jobs in four Barclaycard departments: collections, customer care, quality and training, and fraud detection, according to Elaine Levin, the company’s community relations manager.

“Customer care is our largest, so that’s where we’re going to be hiring the most, but collections is growing, too,” Levin said. “Right now we have 48 colleagues, but we’re going to get that to over 100 eventually.”

The positions are mostly entry level but some management positions are available as well.

The company also recently added an area dedicated to recruiting and training, updated portions of its fourth floor and rebranded some of its rooms, including an Apple/iTunes room, a nod to the company servicing calls for customer service on Apple’s credit card segments and iTunes.

“We’re the primary site for it … so we branded the theme to try and drive the engagement and recognition that this is what we’re doing with Apple,’” said Mike Rosser, assistant vice president of customer care.

Now, with about one-third of the company’s employees living in Hamilton, Barclaycard is looking to expand its workforce reach with a billboard along Interstate 75 in Norwood, radio advertising in August and a TV commercial in September, as well as job fairs and other strategies.

“We’re going to do an on-the-streets recruiting effort, where we’re going to be going out to other communities within Butler and Warren and Hamilton counties and starting to recruit from there,” said Christa Reece, Barclaycard’s lead resource partner.

There’s no timeline for growth and the company likely won’t fill the third floor until late 2018 or early 2019, company officials said. Once that happens, the second floor’s 32,000 square feet is available for renovation to include an additional 380 desks.

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Dimitra Griffie, a Hamilton resident born and raised in the city, said

coming to Barclaycard’s customer care division was “exciting” because of its diversity and its growth.

“I really like that we’re expanding and growing and have an opportunity to add jobs to Ohio,” Griffie said. “Being born and raised here, I’ve seen so many companies leave the area and not having a lot of employment opportunities. I think that Barclays coming here has shown our local community that companies are coming to Hamilton.”

“I think it gives hope to local folks that they’re going to be able to be closer to home and have more time instead of commuting as far.”

Dan Bates, president and CEO of the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, said its invaluable to Hamilton’s recruiting of medium to large-size companies that Barclaycard has not only planted roots in the city, but already is branching out via job growth.

“People start to look at that and say ‘I wonder what’s going on that they’re coming here?’” Bates said. “There must be some reason, because it’s not just about real estate. You can acquire real estate anywhere.

“Big companies like this kind of set the tone and give you credibility and viability in the marketplace for other big companies to come.”

For more information about jobs at the company, visit www.JoinBarclays.com.

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