The company takes pains to help the 1,100 employees it's laying off to find new jobs. A job fair Wednesday is one early effort.
By JEFF HARRINGTON
Published September 2, 2004
TAMPA - Forty-two-year-old Linas Verba of St. Pete Beach has a rather eclectic resume: mortgage banker, auctioneer, marine lift operator; antiques salesman.
But his latest 61/2-year stint in customer service at Capital One sticks out - not the job but the way the company is treating him as he is let go.
"I feel very fortunate," said Verba, who is in the first batch of 350 employees being laid off next month as Capital One shutters its credit card call center operation in Tampa.
"I've been in this world long enough that I've seen companies that say, "You're laid off and out the door you go.' Here, there's nothing negative I could say," Verba said as he strolled a company sponsored job fair. "I've got no complaints."
Capital One endured a flurry of negative publicity in July when it said it was eliminating 1,100 jobs at its sprawling Tampa center. Some objected to the company receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks for bringing the short-lived jobs to the bay area; some workers complained their jobs were being shipped to locales outside the United States.
But in the weeks since its decision, the Virginia financial services powerhouse is showing a gentler, more caring side to laid off employees. With each layoff comes paid time off to search for a new job, one on one career counseling, the string of job fairs and in-house seminars on such topics as productivity, interviewing skills, dressing for success and "negotiating your worth." One full-day seminar, which employees can attend on company time, offers tips for entrepreneurs.
Wednesday, the company staged the first of several job fairs it's hosting for soon-to-be-former employees such as Verba. Twenty-eight companies came to interview and take resumes from about 800 job seekers throughout the day.
Every employee is allotted four hours a week of paid time to use for a job search on top of a two-day class on careers. And if managers don't free up workers to take part in classes, a job fair or counseling, it can come back to haunt them during their own review. "The managers are accountable for giving their people paid time off," said Mark Becker, Capital One human resources director.
Workers receive severance payments as soon as they leave, but they have two years to tap up to $3,000 more to use for education, retraining or vocational programs. "Our goal is to get everybody a job before the actual severance period begins" in October, Becker said.
Inside the Renaissance Center, the centerpiece of Capital One's 71-acre complex in Tampa, a second floor career center is staffed by 17 representatives of out-placement firm Lee Hecht Harrison.
In one small conference room Wednesday morning, consultant Joy Griggs dissected outgoing account manager Mike Pedlow's resume on a computer screen. "In a resume, you want it to flow in a way that they get the point," Griggs said, snapping her fingers.
Pedlow, 29, a five-year employee at Capital One, hopes for a job in financial services, perhaps as a stockbroker, when he leaves the company in the December wave of layoffs. He's holding off on his big push, though, until he finishes the resume polishing.
Sweet and greet at job fair
Wednesday's recruiters at the job fair came from Verizon, Amscot, Talk America, Medco, AAA Auto Club and Certegy Credit Card Processing, among others. A different set of 28 companies will be represented at a followup job fair Friday.
Many of the companies were hiring customer service reps, some in call center operations similar to Capital One's.
At the Bank of America booth, Chris Lewis was aiming to hire up to 60 workers to bolster the 1,200-employee small-business unit he oversees at the megabank's Gandy Boulevard call center. Like many of the booths, he had the lure of a basket of candy on his table.
Down the aisle, two recruiters at the GE Consumer Finance booth upped the stakes, passing out goodie bags filled with chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter crackers, and other sweet sundries.
One of the more popular booths was manned, or moused, by employees of Walt Disney Co.
"It's that Disney magic that draws people," said Alex Edgemon, human resources manager for the Disney Reservations Center in Tampa, which aims to fill about 200 sales agent positions.
The pay: up to $11.50 an hour depending on experience, with bonuses that could increase base pay 60 percent to 100 percent depending on how well agents at the call center meet "revenue per hour" goals.
Prospects dropped off resumes, chatted privately with a Disney rep in five-minute interviews to pass the first stage, then grabbed Mickey Mouse-eared pens before leaving.
