Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour visited Meridian Thursday to announce the opening of a customer service call center that will bring more than 250 jobs to Meridian.

N.E.W. Corp., the Virginia-based company opening the center, provides over-the-phone customer service and technical support for a variety of companies. In Meridian, the call center will service DirecTV. The Meridian call center will be N.E.W.'s 10th call center.

The call center will provide DirecTV with technical support and customer care services. They will not make sales calls.

Ray Zukowski, senior vice president of customer experience for N.E.W. Corp., said the company will hire 250 customer care representatives and more than 20 managers and supervisors during their first year of operation. Of those jobs, 92 percent, Zukowski said, will be full-time and eligible for benefits.

The call center, which will be located near the Lauderdale County Agri-center, is scheduled to open Oct. 20.

N.E.W. currently has a call center in Tupelo, and Barbour said he believes the success of the Tupelo location contributed to N.E.W. Corp's choice of Meridian for the new call center.

"I believe the key was the extremely positive experience in Tupelo," Barbour said.

The Tupelo plant was announced about a year ago. Since its opening in October, it has expanded from 250 to more than 460 jobs.

The starting pay for customer care representatives at the N.E.W. call center in Meridian will be $9.25 an hour. The company provides full benefits, which include, among other things, health insurance, a retirement matching program, and a tuition reimbursement program.

With the help of Meridian Community College, N.E.W. will start recruiting employees right away. The company will hold seven hiring programs there over three days, Aug. 12-14. They will initially hire for positions in customer care, information technology, human resources, and management.

Zukowski said the hiring will be phased throughout the year. They will initially hire 66 customer care representatives and 5 managers and supervisors, later increasing the numbers to 180 and 10, respectively, ultimately hiring 250 customer care representatives and more than 20 managers and supervisors.

Zukowski said MCC and the MSU-Meridian campus were strong factors in their decision to locate the call center in Meridian. MCC's Tuition Guarantee program, they said, was an especially good recommendation.

"It really made me proud to hear him mention MCC," said MCC President Dr. Scott Elliott. "Any time a company locates in the community one of the biggest factors they look at is their educational facilities."

MCC will assist N.E.W. with pre-hire programs and said they will be available to assist with training "as the need comes about."

New hires at the call center will undergo six weeks of paid J.D. Power and associates training. Zukowski said the training and experience provided by a job at the call center can help to propel a worker's future career, especially if they seek a career in technology.

"It looks really good on your resume," he said. He also said that N.E.W. tries to hire management through promotion in order to give their customer care representatives opportunity to advance.

N.E.W.'s management philosophy, talent acquisition director Jean Weightman said, is to encourage good performance by treating employees right.

"The better you take care of people," she said, quoting N.E.W. CEO Tony Nader, "the better the outcome for everyone."

Zukowski said Meridian was chosen as the call center's location based on a long process. The company hires consultants to find the 15 most eligible locations in the country. The company then have people representing various departments narrow the list down to five.

Once the list has been narrowed down, company representatives will visit the possible locations, talking to area business people and visiting local restaurants. They then have a real estate agent determine which towns offer the best call center sites before making a final decision.

Zukowski said the number one reason Meridian was chosen was its well-educated workforce. Another very strong factor, he said, was the town's positive attitude.

Barbour called N.E.W. "the standard setter in their industry" and said he thought the location of a N.E.W. call center here could attract more companies.

"N.E.W. is a world leader in its field," he said. "Any time you can attract world leaders it gets other people to take notice."

"More important, though," he added, "This company will create a lot of good jobs, not just for unemployed people, but for people who are underemployed."

Zukowski said he was impressed that the governor took an active role in the recruitment and announcement of the call center.

"To have the governor here personally supporting our efforts speaks volumes for the state of Mississippi," Zukowski said. "Every state should do this."

Barbour said job creation is his top priority as governor. "I see my principle job as being Mississippi's main economic development and job development officer," he said.