Florida-based PRC's clients include travel and cable TV companies; hiring is under way for North Austin office.

By Lori Hawkins
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, September 01, 2006

A Florida company said Thursday that it is opening a call center in North Austin that will create 500 jobs.

PRC, a division of IAC/InterActiveCorp, handles customer calls for Fortune 500 companies in telecommunications, travel and cable TV. Its customers include Expedia, Hotels.com and British Airways.

"Austin's a great little city with a nice work force, including a good base of college students," said Alicia Miyares, PRC's vice president of marketing and communications. "Thanks to the availability of a building, it just timed out right."

PRC will be at 9001 N. Interstate 35. Verizon Communications Inc. operated a call center there until June, when it shut down the Austin center and three others across the country.

PRC is hiring for positions in management, customer support and technology.

"Our call centers receive calls; we don't make them," Miyares said. "Customers contact us with questions about products, or to make an airline reservation or subscribe to a service."

The call center is PRC's first in Texas. The company also announced plans to open a 500-employee call center in Denver.

Austin has 34 major call centers that employ between 15,000 and 18,000 people, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

IAC/InterActiveCorp is a media conglomerate focused on e-commerce. Its holdings include the Home Shopping Network and the Internet dating site Match.com. Barry Diller, former chairman of Paramount Pictures, is the company's chairman and CEO.

PRC will accept applications from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. next Tuesday through Friday at the Austin site. For more information, go to www.prcnet.com.