Collection Agencies Add Scarce Jobs in Hard-Hit Region



Debt collectors working the phones at the Northstar Companies near Buffalo, one of 108 collection agencies that have proliferated in western New York.

By KEN BELSON
Published: March 21, 2008

BUFFALO — In an unremarkable strip mall in the south end of this city, workers were installing 144 new desks last month at Capital Management Services. About 50 feet away, a dozen fresh hires were taking a two-week training course.

The company is rushing to double the staff, to 400, by next year and fill the additional 10,000 square feet of space in the building, which still smells of new carpet. The need for workers is so acute that the company leases billboards that say, “Call Today. Start Monday.â€