Two-hundred new jobs are coming to Brunswick this spring.
The customer service and tech support company SaviLinx announced Friday that it’s tripling its workforce in response to increased business. And when combined with another company’s staff expansion announced in February, the community is anticipating a total of 700 new jobs.
Last summer, a prospective client asked SaviLinx founder and CEO Heather Blease to run a pilot program to demonstrate the quality of her company’s work.
“And out of four of five contact centers, we came out on top,” she says. “Truly a testament to the quality of our workforce here. As a result, I’m proud to announce that we’ll be adding 200 jobs here in Brunswick, in support of that client.”
SaviLinx is a contact center that provides customer service and technical support for both commercial companies and for the government. It currently holds service contracts for the federal student financial aid program and military insurance benefits.
Since opening SaviLinx in 2013 at Brunswick Landing, the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, Blease says the company has seen triple-digit revenue growth annually.
“Brunswick is indeed a great place to establish and grow a business,” she says.
Other companies seem to agree. Just last month, Boston-based e-commerce company Wayfair announced it plans to create 500 positions at the Brunswick Landing when it opens a call center this spring.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, who lives in Brunswick, was on hand for the SaviLinx announcement. He says the area is finally on the rebound, after the closure of the base and the recession.
“And it has been really a tough road,” he says. “But I think now we’re on a roll, and this is one more example. This is 700 jobs that have been announced in the last two weeks.”
It’s a lot of jobs to fill, but Blease says she thinks the two companies complement each other.
“We are different enough from the type of jobs that Wayfair is hiring for,” she says. “They are more sales-oriented. And we hire people that are more problem solvers.”
Blease says the starting pay at SaviLinx is $16.50 an hour, and it will begin hiring in May.
