J Crew opening 200-employee call center in SA (Dallas, San Antonio: job market, college) - Texas (TX) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

L210 · 03-15-2011, 01:58 PM

I think it's a bad thing when it's pretty much all we're getting. How much effort is the city putting into attracting better paying jobs? If all we can attract are call centers, what does that say about the city? I read an article a few months ago saying that we are in danger of losing bio-tech companies because we don't have enough skilled laborers.

plwhit · 03-15-2011, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L210

If I have to, I will take my degree somewhere else which I see as a loss for San Antonio. I'm not going to college to work at a call center and it's certainly not going to pay off my student loans. San Antonio being a low-wage, poverty stricken, and uneducated city is a bad thing. Just look at that thread about the people on the south side. Why should we be so grateful we're getting another call center? Because we're in a recession? We have been pulling in call centers before the recession and we will continue to do so after the recession. This is what we do and it hasn't changed even while being in a recession. Not having a diverse job market is certainly a bad thing. I hope call centers will be forever needed in the U.S. or we'll end up like the factory towns that lost all of their jobs to other countries. We better pray that the Indians don't start to learn Spanish.

Well geez, I would hope that your college degree will qualify you for something other than a call center job.....

Moderator cut: off topic/personal unfortunately for you SA is not that type of city...

Bo · 03-15-2011, 02:07 PM

I doubt that many of the salaried AT&T corporate workers who chose to stay behind in San Antonio when AT&T bolted for Dallas 3 years ago will be eager to work in a call center. They probably wouldn't consider an hourly position answering phones to be a desirable gig.

What we need to keep those people around are more corporate HQ move-ins, like Whataburger. Those bring jobs for professionals, with salaries.

But Whataburger moved here ~2 years ago and AFAIK, we haven't had another move-in since. But we've averaged 10-12 call center announcements a year during that time.

skeet09 · 03-15-2011, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L210

If I have to, I will take my degree somewhere else which I see as a loss for San Antonio. I'm not going to college to work at a call center and it's certainly not going to pay off my student loans.

What is your degree in L210? Mine is in business and I work in non profit and I'm working on attaining accounting classes to prep for my CPA (Certified Professional Accountant). I may have to leave SA at some point in time unless I get a job at Petco corporate that is planning to come in sometime in the summer. There's a thread on Petco here in the forum but I haven't heard any updates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bo

What we need to keep those people around are more corporate HQ move-ins, like Whataburger. Those bring jobs for professionals, with salaries.

Yes! As I mentioned to L210 above, I'd like Petco to come in. Supposed to be in the summer...hope it still happens!

L210 · 03-15-2011, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plwhit

Well geez, I would hope that your college degree will qualify you for something other than a call center job.....

Moderator cut: off topic/personal unfortunately for you SA is not that type of city...

I can't see what you said. If you would like, you can send me a DM.

My degree would qualify me for something other than a call center job if the job is even here. The job will probably be in another city.

This is what was said when AT&T moved its headquarters.

Quote:

AT&T said it is making the move to get better access to customers and operations worldwide, along with technology partners, suppliers and talent.[LEFT]
Read more: AT&T moving its headquarters to Dallas | Dallas Business Journal
[/LEFT]

Should we be proud and happy that decent paying AT&T jobs have been replaced with CSR jobs?

plwhit · 03-15-2011, 02:22 PM

Sorry C-D is so politically correct..........

AT&T is moving because the tax breaks SA gave them have stopped and Dallas will give them tax breaks.

Has nothing to do with the education levels of SA.

Obviously SA is not your cup of tea, hope you find a job and a city that comes up to your expectations.

There is more to life than the all mighty buck....

L210 · 03-15-2011, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skeet09

What is your degree in L210? Mine is in business and I work in non profit and I'm working on attaining accounting classes to prep for my CPA (Certified Professional Accountant). I may have to leave SA at some point in time unless I get a job at Petco corporate that is planning to come in sometime in the summer. There's a thread on Petco here in the forum but I haven't heard any updates.

Yes! As I mentioned to L210 above, I'd like Petco to come in. Supposed to be in the summer...hope it still happens!

It is great that Petco will be bringing 400 jobs here and most of them will pay middle class wages. Too bad it's dwarfed by the thousands of call center jobs we've brought in.

I think you should be fine as a CPA. It's one of the fastest growing jobs in the country and hopefully that's true for San Antonio. I'm about to finish up a bachelors in psychology and criminal justice and I will be starting an MBA program next year.

Bo · 03-15-2011, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plwhit

AT&T is moving because the tax breaks SA gave them have stopped and Dallas will give them tax breaks.

Has nothing to do with the education levels of SA.

This has been well covered in another thread. The main reason AT&T moved is because Ed Whitacre, a native San Antonian, retired as CEO and was replaced by Randall Stephenson, a native of Dallas. Whitacre had moved the company HQ here to his hometown and his successor moved it to his hometown.

The public reason stated at the time was that Dallas has better airline service.

Nowhere were tax breaks mentioned.

Back to discussing J Crew and call center jobs.

L210 · 03-15-2011, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plwhit

Sorry C-D is so politically correct..........

AT&T is moving because the tax breaks SA gave them have stopped and Dallas will give them tax breaks.

Has nothing to do with the education levels of SA.

I doubt taxes were the only reason. It wouldn't make financial sense to move every time tax breaks expire. I'm sure the move was expensive.

skeet09 · 03-15-2011, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L210

It is great that Petco will be bringing 400 jobs here and most of them will pay middle class wages. Too bad it's dwarfed by the thousands of call center jobs we've brought in.

Yeah, stinks, huh?

Quote:

I think you should be fine as a CPA. It's one of the fastest growing jobs in the country and hopefully that's true for San Antonio. I'm about to finish up a bachelors in psychology and criminal justice and I will be starting an MBA program next year.

One of the reasons I'm doing a career switch is because funding for non profits so not so great right now because of all the cuts in state government so I need to do something else.
Good luck with your MBA, I thought about doing it but research papers are not my strong suit.