LEWISTON – Increasing business for its clientele has prompted ACS to post job openings – 200 of them.

The call center operation that occupies the former Ames department store has about 300 employees now.

But business has been booming for some of its biggest clients – a large home-improvement retailer, a large pharmaceutical retailer, and some credit card companies – prompting the need for more workers.

“We’re good at what we do,” said Tammie Geis, senior recruiting manager. “So good, we need more agents. We’re ramping up for June and July.”

The company has been hosting job fairs to get the word out about its openings. The jobs are full and part time, with flexible hours, benefits, tuition reimbursements and 401(k) plans. Geis said wages start at about $8.50 per hour for training, but rise quickly and are coupled with bonuses and incentives.

“About 20 percent of our agents are in the $13-per-hour-plus range,” she said.

The agents handle in-bound customer service calls for clients, acting as an intermediary between the customer and the retailer.

As an example, Geis said if someone purchased a window from the home-improvement retailer and detected an air leak, the customer would call the customer service number on the window’s packaging.

That call would go to an agent in Lewiston, who would troubleshoot the problem, then contact the retailer to work out a resolution.

Geis said ACS has a relatively stable work force (67 of its 300 agents have been there for more than five years) and expects to accommodate the new hires in its existing space.

ACS took 20,000 square feet of the former department store after leaving its home in Bates Mill in 2007.

But she said she’s had an initial conversation with city officials in case they need to scout a new location.

Lincoln Jeffers, city economic development chief, said he’s pleased ACS is growing.

The company purchased LiveBridge, a call center that had been operating locally since 1998, in 2005.

LiveBridge began as Telemark in 1988.

The city has helped ACS and its predecessors expand over the years, by offering financial assistance and helping it relocate.

“We’ve had a long history with them,” said Jeffers. “It’s neat that they’re growing again.”

ACS President Lynn Blodgett announced a strategy in May 2007 to bring the Fortune 500 company to the $10 billion-revenue mark by 2010.