AT&T chief says firm can’t find qualified call center workers in the good ol’ USA.:
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:35am Chuck Sweeny
I’m interested to see what you think of this piece, about AT&T chief Randall Stephenson.
The company pledged in 2006 to return 5,000 call-center jobs to the U.S. from India. But Stephenson said the company has only managed to return 1,400 of those jobs so far. The problem is, Stephenson says the firm is having an extremely hard time finding qualified Americans, not to be engineers, but TO WORK IN CALL CENTERS !!!!!!!
In the linked story, he put the blame squarely on the country’s education system. He condemned dropout rates that reach 50 percent in some communities and among some groups.
“If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn’t put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down,” he said.
In the world economy, jobs can be done practically anywhere, witness Hamilton Sundstrand’s moving of manufacturing jobs from Rockford to Singapore. At the same time, the firm is boosting its research and development and testing here in the Forest City. I’ve been over there recently, and it’s truly impressive.
I wish the presidential candidates would talk about how the U.S. will fit into the world economy. As I heard someone say on the radio this morning, we obviously aren’t all going to be white collar workers.
Is it true that most of us will be selling hamburgers or insurance to one another? Because there’s no wealth being created in Strip Mall America — only existing wealth being moved around.
Chuck Sweeny
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
6 Comments Add your own
1. RodneyB | April 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
The problem is they are bing to picky when it comes to hiring. If you have a felony on your record, like most places, they will not hire you.
I know of some places in the south that would LOVE to see these kinds of jobs come their way. Sure they may have a southern drawl, but at least its English!
He is flat out lying when he claims this.
2. Tracey D. | April 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Let’s be honest, Sweenster. Those people in India are mostly unqualified, too. Communication is flawed because of language issues and their sense of culture, geography, etc. is also sketchy. I believe in what this guy is saying…but it is not as if those working in Inida are doing a tremendous job. They just can be paid 30 cents an hour, while he’d have to pay the dumb people in the U.S. minimum wage with benefits.
3. Barbara | April 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Randall Stephenson obviously doesn’t want to bring those jobs home. I try to listen harder to understand the accent, but the real problem with foreign customer service is that the people have no idea what they are doing. They just read a script, or read the FAQ off of their monitor. There is no chance of resolving a problem that isn’t covered in their manual. You don’t have to be a high school graduate to be at least that competent.
Call centers are big business in Rockford. Maybe he should come here if he is serious about bringing those jobs home.
AT&T is desperately struggling to remain relevant to the public, and apparently they just don’t have the budget to pay even minimum wage for anyone who doesn’t absolutely have to be in the US.
4. AugustW. | May 12th, 2008 at 6:23 am
RodneyB U have got to be kidding me. “The problem is they are bing to picky when it comes to hiring. If you have a felony on your record, like most places, they will not hire you.” the people that work in these call centers have acces to vital records. Did you know that most felons continue with old habbits or did that pass you by. now I am not saying that felons should not get jobs just not around sensative materials. That is not being pickey that is being smart.
I do agree with him that it is our educational system that has messed up. If we keep letting the polotition continue what they are doing it will only get worse.
Tracey D. “Let’s be honest, Sweenster. Those people in India are mostly unqualified, too. Communication is flawed because of language issues and their sense of culture, geography, etc. is also sketchy.”
You need to rember one thing in India there average person out of school is more educated than a US high school graduate sorry but that is a fact.
I do trully wish we could get alot of these jobs back to the US but some how I don not think it will happen for a while. Maby when our dollor is so weak that no other countries are using ones for wallpaper then the jobs will come back.
Sorry if my grammer is not perfect I was one of the people pushed through the school systems in CA.
5. Nancy Clark | May 27th, 2008 at 5:38 am
When AT&T became the new AT&T they messed up my account (7 months ago). Since then, I have been trying to get it straightened out. On March 1, I wrote to Mr. Stephenson for help. Now, almost 3 months later I am still getting billed for services as a result of their mistake. After months of trying to understand their customer service representatives, I will no longer talk with anyone who addresses me as Miz Clock (Clark) or Mum. I believe they have forgotten what AT&T stands for — AMERICAN Telephone & Telegraph. As far as how smart they are, in one of my bills, they use the word insure rather than the correct spelling ensure. For one of America\’s best companies, they should know better.
6. Shaun Smith | July 8th, 2008 at 3:13 am
I personally think this is a moron article. The truest thing is that rather than having the jobs in the USA and paying the rate the law requires to just ship all jobs internationally where you only have to pay them a jar of penuts and a slab of bread for a salary. I would like this man to jump on the phone and do the call center work i personally promise he would not last longer than a week!
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