Jeff Swiatek

jeff.swiatek@indystar.com

Interactions Corp. plans to hire an additional 1,000 people at its Indianapolis customer service center by next year.

The Massachusetts company, which opened the center, 2525 N. Shadeland Ave., in 2006, said the new jobs will primarily be data entry positions or customer-service assistants, who listen in on calls to interactive voice-response systems.

The hiring surge is needed to support Interactions’ expanding customer base, the company said. The new jobs will be both full- and part-time positions, paying $12 to $18 an hour for most jobs after some experience, said company spokesman Robert Capo Jr.

Interactions calls its employees “intent analysts.” They direct the computer when it can’t understand customer responses or runs into a glitch. Interactions’ customers include retailers that sell online and health insurance companies that do sign-ups and maintain online customer accounts.

Indianapolis is “an extremely inviting climate to grow a business” because of its central location and skilled workforce, said Mike Iacobucci, CEO of Interactions.

The company’s facility, called an iCenter, has hundreds of employees.

The company said it’s also hiring at its Austin, Texas, facility. The hiring website is www.interactions.net/careers/ intent-analyst.

Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317)444-6483. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffSwiatek.