Car insurance company adds 100 jobs, opens new facility

McALLEN — A national car insurance company plans to host a job fair Saturday, attempting to fill more than 100 positions at a new call center.

Infinity Insurance Co. is slated to open the center at 900 E. Laurel Ave. in McAllen this week, an expansion the company expects will add close to 250 jobs to the Rio Grande Valley over the next two years, according to an Infinity representative.

"We shopped around a lot of different areas, but McAllen has the boosting economy," said Megan Fenstermaker, a spokeswoman for the Birmingham, Ala.-based insurance company. "It has the kind of people we want. We're a bilingual company."

The added jobs are a welcome sign as the Valley nears the double-digit unemployment rate of decades past. But bucking national trends, the area has actually continued adding jobs as the recession deepened and unemployment in Hidalgo County soared to 9.1 percent in December, a dramatic rise from 6.8 percent a year ago.

"In today's market, I'm glad that a company like Infinity is able to find success and bring new economic opportunities to McAllen," Mayor Richard Cortez said in a news release.

Infinity is looking to attract bilingual candidates to fill the positions. The company is heavily invested in the Hispanic market in California.

Infinity employs 2,100 people and targets high-risk drivers who have difficulty obtaining insurance.

The job fair is set to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the new call center. Job seekers are asked to fill out an application at www.infinity.jobs before attending the fair.

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Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.