Working at AT&T — Reviews by Employees

Even after many years of working for much better companies, after working at AT&T for a decade, I still have nightmares!!!

When Complete morons were quickly lifted up the Corporate Ladder - I should have seen the writing on the wall...(if you've got half a brain, do yourself a favor - go work for a company where the IQ is over 0.5)

Don't let 'em fool ya...there is NO SUCH THING as COMPETITION when they paid for their Capital Equipment LONG before the markets took a big dump :)

The only respect you get from AT&T is NO respect

I wish I had known about this site before wasting 5 months of my time working in the call center for this company. They tell you in the interview "you just show up, we'll give you everythinhg you need to succeed".......What a LOAD OF BULLSHIT!!!! The pay is good for where we live, but there is more focus on "WOW'ing the customer.....that means that on the post call survey's you have to get a 5 across the board.

Respect: nonexistant. You are just a piece of meat..........the prevailing attitude is, get it right the first time, suck up to whomever is in charge and you will be okay. Do not ask quesions, you will either get the wrong information or you get blown off, because you should automatically where to find the information that you need. Their database was built by and for rocket scientists. You have 500 seconds from the greeting to the close to solve whatever problem the customer has..........BUT it takes 300 seconds for them to explain why they are calling.......

The are real big on the "we are a team" feel good speech, but bottom line is, Receivables Management will transfer a call to you so they do not make te customer mad, The COR( corporate Owned Retail) store will lie to the customer to make the sale and then you get to deal with the backlash..........you also get to deal with the people that have not paid their bill in 3 months and they are mad at you because they cannot understand why you turned their service off!!!!! You have to deal with whatever bullshit the supervisor's serve you, cut it up politely and eat it with a knife and a fork..........
If you ever get the chance to work for them, you're gonna wana pass on that..........

I work in Utility Operations. The hours, pay, and benefits are all good. The manager is a complete idiot with absolutely no supervisory or management skills. He is a vindictive, spoiled rotten jerk. Everything is blamed on someone else. We can't get the tools we need to do our jobs and we always feel threatened. I wish it were still good ol Bellsouth, ahhhh the good ol days!

If you want to see a company that truly abuses the IT work visa program, look no further than AT&T - If they can replace you, they will. If the outsourced consultants were better, I'd not bring up this issue.

I have been with the company 10 years and it has been all downhill since SBC took over. I know we have good pay and benefits but if you are so sick and can't enjoy those benefits, what's it all for????? I had major health issues (brain tumor) and the company could not wait to deny my disability so they could continue on their journey to fire all of the hard working employees who made them a billion dollar corporation!!!! I think it's a shame that the customers are only thought of as dollar signs and to service them is not even a part of the service reps job description anymore.....SELL SELL SELL or prepare to be fired by any means necessary and you better start looking for a new job. The only thing I look forward to is my co-workers....they are great and we try to have eachothers backs because we are all on the Titanic and sinking fast!!! All I want is for the CEO to go on the new CBS show undercover boss and see what we go through, but then he would be forced to address all the BS and do something about it. So I guess that will never happen. I completely hate and loath this low down dirty jail..,oops I mean company I work for and yes I'm looking to get the hell out to keep my sanity!!!!! Would never recommend the company to anyone (job, products, wireless or landline) It all sucks

I am in total agreement with the sad state of affairs voiced about at&t. I have been an outside tech for 13 agonizing long years, and have seen a tolerable job working for southwestern bell, turn into a nightmare here at at&t. That started after we became SBC and rolled downhill faster after we took the at&t name (and their overbloated, incompetent, and hostile management styles) The pay is good but that is theee only thing good about this evil company anymore. Do the words "zero tolerance" or "up to and including dismissal" ring a bell? I could go on for hours about the$$$ this company pisses away because of clueless upper(and lower) level mngt decisions. Seriously, dont these people need to know just a little bit about the jobs that their workers perform? Obviously not! Why dont we just get a janitor to do Randells job, because it makes as much sense as putting in managers that know nothing about how things work in the real world. If it cant be tracked, put in a report, listed in a spread sheet, shown on graph, well, THEN IT DONT EXIST. Ive seen the worst outside techs over the years vault to the top because of their quick clearing times. Sure, they fix nothing, put a bandaid on it, or convince the customer that "we dont fix that", but thats what looks good on that report. We just arent allowed time to fix this old outside cable properly, and trust me, its being barely held together out there. Technology is changing but there is plenty of dsl,dial tone and uverse keeping the cable capacity filled, but with our "new" repair polices, customers are being forced away from at&t. Once that customer gets a bad taste in their mouth, they dont come back and worst, avoid at&t services all together. Ive had numerous customers just cancel service because of delayed repairs/installations. Its very sad to see this once great company being destroyed by the Stalinistic and incompetent management we have now. CYA is the the only thing they are good at, but i blame that on upper management. Lower level managers are not allowed to manage, they are just clerks trying to get the numbers to line up right so their jobs aren't threatened. What i would give to be able to do my job the way i know how again! But if you are into long hours, horrible disrespect, job threats, micro-management, never being good enough and sheer dred getting up to go to work, then at&t is for you. Just remember, as soon as they hire you, they are looking for a way to fire you, and their incompetence is only outweighed by their rudeness. But if you are a human being, have a little common sense, have respect and trust in employees and see past short term thinking, I know a corperate presidents job you might be interested in.

FACT #1
The AT&T Advertising & Solutions ('IRWS-In Region White Space", "New Media Sales Rep", "Hunter Sales Rep", "Interactive Sales ") is a "trial" sales position. Our General Sales Manager has told us that we are not a temporary "trial" sales division, but he cannot give us this in writing. He says, "Trust me." Our computer systems labels our IRWS as a "trial."

FACT #2
Last year, AT&T Advertising & Solutions (which includes Yellowpages.com & Yellow Page Directory Advertising) LOST $500,000,000 in Net Income last year! Ahem. $500 Million Dollars in Net Income!!! Look up AT&T's 4Q 2009 Earnings Report under the Segmented Income for Advertising & Solutions.

FACT #3
You must set 16 appointments a week in order to avoid punishment, err...sales training. I know the #1 earning sales person in AT&T Advertising & Solutions (Southern California) and he doesn't and is not capable of setting 16 NEW sales appointments every week.

FACT #4
We were hired and told (and in writing) that our targeted earnings for this position, based on achieving 100% to objective, would be $145,000+ a year. They "miscalculated" our objectives and now we don't know if we'll make $60,000. From July 2009 to January 2010 only 3 people have hit their monthly objective.

FACT #5
If you're a seasoned sales executive and you get this position, you'll be very disappointed.
If this is your first sales job, enjoy the $35,000 base salary , car allowance, Blackberry, and laptop. You'll feel like a big shot until you realize you're selling overpriced mediocre online advertising products.

FACT #6
AT&T management actually tells us, day in and day out, that the direct mail service we offer to our clients is valuable. The fact is this...they say this with a straight face!!! Direct Mail? Junk mail? This fact validates that our Senior (Executive) Management Team is truly out of touch with local online ecosystem.

FACT #7
Direct mail is a ripoff service from us. Our clients pay anywhere between $0.75 to $1.00 per mailed piece!!! When we tell mgmt that Money Mailer, Val-Pak, Clipper Magazine, et al are cheaper, management says, "Yeah, well you must sell it and it's part of your objective." Nice mgmt skills!

FACT #8
Yellowpages.com is not able to make up for the revenue losses by the yellow page division.

FACT #9
If you join our LA division, you will be (eventually) micro-managed. "Where are you?" "How many calls did you make?" "What are you doing?" "Why didn't you put this in your calendar?" Calls at 7:30 am Call in meetings everyday. Meetings on Monday. "Training" meetings. Weekly ride-alongs with our manager.

FACT #10
If I find another sales position in the next month, I'm outta here!

... the Red Flag should have been ... U cant give ur employer a 2weeks notice or U will lose Ur spot... after going to training finding out I didnt realy have a job until I passed all the grooling test ... ( and i gave up a job with 15 years seniority / 3weeks paid vaction) .. Yes they dangled the Golden carrot of how much $$$ I would make ... So I accepted it with expectation of improving my family income ... its been down Hill every since ... No sick days at all ..massive overtime with no family life ..at complany will ... I once seen a woman throwing up in a garbage can she was given by her manager quarateened her from the staff .... BUT U BETTER BELIEVE SHE WASNT GOING HOME... 5miutes late a right up .... impossible sales goals.... if not met ur fired ... and customer service is only inportant if the customer complains.... Lie Lie Lie to get the Sale .... and make sure U do the job of 3or 4 people becz productivity is the Bottom Line .... No job security....Ur only employed as long as the Last Sale or wedget!!!!! .... and I've been there for nine years and I Curse the Day I was hired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had high hopes 3 years ago about moving to corporate. My hiring manager said once i completed one year of sales, coupled with my degree, i would be able to move quickly. She was then fired for a series of lies and fraud. Great, so i was stuck with all her empty promises. the truth is that you have to move thru asst mgr and mgr before corporate is a realistic dream. My commissions have been altered 5 times in those 3 years, none to my benefit. speaking of benefits, when i started they were great. beginning this year the monthly premium more than tripled and the out of pocket sky rocketed. With times the way they are, having a job is a blessing, but to be driven mad by upper management on a power trip is no fun. the top sellers tend to also have the lowest customer service scores, but that wont get you fired. those of us who have excellent customer scores and are not considered top sellers will be however. with this company, it truly pays to be an asshole.