West Corp., an Omaha, Neb.-based call center operator, says the company will be adding more than 200 new employees to its downtown Spokane call center beginning this month.

The additional workers will boost the workforce at its downtown center to more than 700 workers, and will increase its overall Spokane-area employment to about 1,000, counting the workers at a Spokane Valley call center it also operates.

The company began hiring the first group of new employees July 1, with additional rounds of hiring and training scheduled to occur July 22 and on several dates later this summer.

David Pleiss, an Omaha-based West Corp. spokesman, says the new positions are all full time and based only downtown, in the Holley Mason Building at 157 S. Howard. The company's Valley call center is located at 9317 E. Sinto, and employs about 300, Pleiss says.

The new employees will handle inbound customer service calls for a leading wireless services provider, he says. Pleiss says the Spokane-area call centers also represent two other West clients, which include a large grocery chain and a financial institution. He declines to disclose the names of the companies.

West Corp. plans to hire the new call center associates at $11 per hour, along with benefits such as health care insurance and retirement savings. Some industry experience typically is required, the company says.

Founded in 1986, the company has offices in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

Nationally, it operates offices in 21 states, its website says.

The company says it serves Fortune 1000 companies and other clients in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, retail, financial services, public safety, technology, and health care.

In April, it reported that its first-quarter net income was $44.5 million, down 2.8 percent from the same period a year earlier.