Sonic Automotive now hiring for new call center in Lowell [North Carolina]

The Gaston Gazette ^ | January 10, 2019 | Michael Barrett

[2ndDivisionVet]

Hiring and recruiting has officially begun for what is set to become the largest office development in Gaston County’s history.

Sonic Automotive has committed to creating and maintaining 500 new jobs over the next 12 years at its new complex along Interstate 85 in Lowell. While all of those positions won’t be created at once, the company will move as fast as possible to fulfill its own vision and its promise to the local community, said Rachel Richards, Sonic Automotive’s vice president of retail strategy.

“We are now filling positions based on need,” she said Thursday, adding that the Lowell hub will open in April. “We’re presently leasing space in Ballantyne, and while that’s been great for us, we think this new building will offer state-of-the-art technology that will be ideal for our Guest Experience Center and Marketing Resource Center.

“We are very much looking forward to moving into our new home in Lowell.”

Interested applicants can apply for those initial open positions online at jobs.sonicautomotive.com. Approximately 80 percent of the 500 new jobs to be created will be for “guest experience center agents.”

Guest experience center agents will take telephone calls, respond to internet leads, engage in online chats, and participate in outbound marketing campaigns, while also making appointments on behalf of the company’s dealerships throughout the United States. They will also help customers understand Sonic’s goal of changing the traditional vehicle purchasing process, by making it more simple, fast and enjoyable, Richards said.

“Our teammates will be co-located together, so there is the marketing team and guest experience center leadership, along with the agents,” she said.

Big investment

Sonic Automotive is one of the largest automotive retailers nationwide. Its dealerships provide comprehensive services, including sales of new and used vehicles, vehicle service and the ability for customers to sell used vehicles to Sonic and EchoPark Automotive stores.

Sonic Automotive has already completed work on a large commercial complex at the intersection of South Main Street and I-85 in Lowell, near the eastern border of Gastonia. The company bought the land two years ago with the intention of establishing one of its Echo Park used vehicle dealerships there. But it shifted gears and decided to make the facility into a major call center that will handle customer needs from all over the country.

It came with a promise of 500 new jobs and an $11.2 million investment for land improvements, machinery and equipment in the area over the next five years. In response to that last month, state leaders approved a Job Development Investment Grant that authorizes Sonic Automotive to be reimbursed about $6.8 million if it carries through with everything between now and 2030.

Local county and city tax incentives have also been offered.

The jobs are expected to pay annual salaries averaging about $53,000 — about $15,000 above the average annual wage in Gaston County.

Richards said that 85 existing Sonic Park marketing and management associates will be transferring to Lowell from an existing office in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte.

Training beginning soon

Employees who are hired as guest experience center agents will first have to undergo three to four weeks of training. The first workers to be brought on board will go through that training in February at the Ballantyne office, though future employees will be trained in Lowell.

“We have made some offers to fill the first training class, but there are still open positions,” Richards said.

Anywhere from 12 to 20 employees will go through that first training class. The next class will likely be held in April or May, she said.

Sonic requires its guest experience center agents to have a high school diploma, and preferably a college degree. Experience in customer service or sales is also a preferred qualification, along with experience with computers.

“What we’re looking for is people who have a desire to join a company and an organization that has a very strong family-like culture, and that gives flexibility based on work life needs,” Richards said.

Agents will be working at the Lowell complex whenever dealerships across the country are open, which will generally equate to 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. local time. Richards said they have adequate parking to accommodate the hundreds of workers that will eventually be there, and Sonic may eventually add on to the existing building, which sits on 8.3 acres of land.

“That is yet to be decided,” she said. “The area we own is large enough to expand, so we could have another building to support any future growth needs.”

Richards said Sonic will also forge relationships with Belmont Abbey College and Gaston College to open up pathways for employment with graduates of those schools.

[17th Miss Regt]

Sonic Automotive? Is this the parent corporation of Sonic drive-ins?

[Pelham]

“Sonic Automotive is one of the largest automotive retailers nationwide. Its dealerships provide comprehensive services, including sales of new and used vehicles, vehicle service and the ability for customers to sell used vehicles to Sonic and EchoPark Automotive stores.”