New career center opens in Kettering
There are 165 job openings at Synchrony Financial in Kettering.
Synchrony financial will serve as a one-stop shop for hiring and training,
— A new career KETTERING center opened at Kettering’s second-largest employer will serve as a one-stop shop for hiring new people and training its existing workforce.
Synchrony Financial, formerly known as GE Capital’s Retail Finance unit, grew its Kettering staff by nearly 15 percent in 2014 to more than 1,600 employees, according to the company. Approximately 200 jobs were added last year, and as it stands now, there are 165 job openings at the local consumer finance company, said President and Chief Executive Officer Margaret Keane.
“We’ve always had a good experience with the talent we’ve been able to attract in Kettering,” Keane said.
Hiring will continue as the company grows, Synchrony Financial officials said. Presently, Kettering employees work in a variety of roles such has marketing, sales, information technology, fraud and operations.
In fact, the Kettering operations on Forrer Boulevard are Stamford, Conn.-based Synchrony’s largest call center and office site, Keane told this newspaper in an exclusive interview Tuesday. Kettering is the headquarters of Synchrony’s Payment Solutions business, led by locally based executive vice president Glenn Marino.
“There’s two reasons why we wanted to do the career center. The first is we know we’re going to continue to add additional jobs here, we’re always looking for new talent,” Keane said.
“The second is really, one of the changes that’s going to occur, when we split up from GE, we won’t have the ability to pull talent from that big a pool, so we’re going to have to make sure we’re growing talent within.”
GE Capital spun off its retail finance business last year and an initial public offering was held for Synchrony. The business was spun off prior to — and is therefore unaffected by — the current sell-off of the remaining GE Capital assets, company officials said.
Synchrony claims to be the largest provider of private label credit cards in the United States. It offers lending and other financial services for customers, manages corporate credit card and loyalty programs, and provides customer service. Customers include Amazon, Guitar Center, Walmart and others including small businesses.