Provo home-alarm company is expanding — and hiring

A Provo-based home alarm company is growing — looking to fill more than 200 permanent, newly created positions and building a new headquarters in the Riverbottoms neighborhood of northeast Provo.

Perhaps the same recession that is causing companies to lay off employees and post negative earnings is helping APX Alarm Securities Solutions Inc., which has 230,000 customers in all 50 states and in Canada. Law enforcement in several cities across the United States, including Providence, R.I., and Boston, have blamed the contracting economy for an increase in crime in 2008. In other cities, including Salt Lake City and Chicago, law enforcement expects an increase in crime in 2009.

Homeowners are increasingly buying alarms to protect themselves from crime, said Stuart Dean, the company's director of media relations. "We're probably on track to gain an additional 185,000 customers this year," he said. In September, APX Alarm broke ground on a new 125,000-square-foot building. The company currently leases two different spaces in the Riverbottoms. The new building will be finished in 2010.

The 200 available jobs are mostly in the Provo area. Most are hourly positions in customer support or administrative support. Dean declined to reveal salaries. Details are at www.apxalarm.com.

APX Alarm is about 10 years old and uses a sales staff to travel door-to-door. Some sales positions are permanent, while some involve college students who work only in the summer. APX Alarm has recently hired 4,000 seasonal employees, many in sales, to work throughout the United States and Canada.

"I know there's a stigma toward door-to-door sales," Dean said. "But that's a model that's worked very well for us."

The company also has telephone customer service sales.

E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com