State Farm’s job fair in Valley starts today

Insurer State Farm will host a two-day job fair starting today in a continuing effort to expand its Phoenix-area employment.

The nation’s largest auto and home insurer will hold the event from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Doubletree Suites by Hilton Hotel at 320 N. 44th St., near Sky Harbor International Airport.

Most of the new positions eventually will be housed at the new Marina Heights lakeside complex in Tempe that State Farm will occupy when the development is completed.

In early August, State Farm employed more than 2,600 fulltime workers in metro Phoenix but will have capacity for 8,000 when the 20-acre, $600 million Marina Heights complex is fin- ished in around 2017.

State Farm also is the top provider of homeowners and auto insurance in Arizona. The company has been growing in both of those areas, as well as in life insurance, banking and other business segments.

State Farm plans to hire about 800 people in metro Phoenix in 2013. The company filled some of those positions after a couple of previous job fairs earlier this year.

Job seekers can explore opportunities at statefarm.com/ careers.

Many of the new positions will deal with claims filed by customers around the country, along with sales support and other customer-service needs.

State Farm is seeking people with customer-service or sales experience, though not necessarily from a call center, who enjoy working in a fast-paced environment.