PARIS – CCS Companies, a debt collection agency that plans to open in Oxford in early June, is offering free training to potential employees.

The company wants to have 20 new hires in place when it opens in back of the ICT Group building on Route 26. The building is owned by John Schiavi.

The company, which employs 500 people in Newton, Mass., and Portsmouth, N.H., plans to offer wages in the $9-to-$10-an-hour range and eventually expand the operation in Oxford to at least 100 people, said Barb Olson, vice president of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills.

The training, offered free through the Maine Quality Center program administered through Central Maine Technical College, includes instruction in workplace communication, math, customer service, phone courtesy and basic computer skills.

“This is a fantastic training program, and it’s because of CCS that we’re able to make this training available to people in the community,” Olson said.

The first cycle of training began May 6 in the Paris Town Office and continues May 9, 13 and 14. Olson said the training cycle will repeat itself as more people seek the CCS jobs, known as customer service representatives.

The representatives need to know the art of graceful communication and negotiation, said Olson, as they are trying to arrange payment on debts owed to CCS clients, such as America Online and GEICO.

Representatives, a flier states, use “their interpersonal skills to achieve a balance between the maximization of payment and the continued maintenance of customer goodwill.”

Olson said the skills learned in the training program can be applicable to many fields, but this training is specifically tied to potential CCS hires. There’s no guarantee the training will lead to employment, and people can also apply for CCS jobs by going to the Web site, ccsjobs.net.

For more information, phone CMTC local program coordinator Joanna Backman at 743-8914, extension 1143.