An SSR's Hiring and Training Experience (With Updates!!)

Hey all!
So I've been lurking the boards here for a few weeks while going through AT&T's somewhat tiring process of hiring. I thought that like the thread below, I would share my experience with AT&T as I was hired as a Sales Support Representative and will be going through training from Monday, October 9- Friday, October 28. I also plan on updating throughout to answer questions based on the training process.
Now a little about me: Although I'm young, 19, I have 3 years of customer service, managerial, and clerical work under my belt working at a movie theatre, managing a pizza place, and working as a secretary for my family's business. Although I have no experience in retail or sales whatsoever, I was easily able to use my experience working with customers in the past to better qualify myself for the position.
I began by applying online for the position after it was posted on a local internet job board. When I was through with the application, it took me about two weeks before I recieved a call from the local recruiter to schedule an interview with the regional manager.

The interview consisted of sitting down and discussing the position I had applied for and the required training it entailed as well. During the interview I was asked questions based on my experience. Certain questions included:
-Give me an example of a time in which you have been overwhelmed on the job and what did you do in response to the situation.
-Name a time when you had to deal with an unhappy customer and what did you do to better their experience.
-What does customer service mean to you?
I should stress the importance of using your own experiences in the workplace to answer these questions as opposed to hypothetical situations.
After the interview I was told to await a call from the in-store manager within the next few days.
Sure enough after the weekend, I recieved said call and was scheduled for another interview the following day. The interview consisted of being asked almost the exact same questions as the previous one.

After my second interview, I sent emails to both the regional and instore manager thanking them for the opportunity to be interview as a prospective candidate and waited through another weekend.
I was emailed once more by the regional manager to be told that I would be scheduled for yet another interview with another professional from the regional office.
This interview was extemely brief. I brought a couple copies of my resume, explained my experience, a little about myself, and went on my merry way.
Soon enough I was being contacted by the recruiter from a few weeks ago and was given my information to get onto HireRight and submit my background check and take my drug test.

After about 5 days of waiting to be cleared, I was contacted again by the recruiter and offered the job. I immediately accepted the postion and was then sent several emails regarding more documents that needed to be filled out and some brief information on my training.
The amount of time between when I applied to when I was offered the job took a little bit over a month and then a month between the time of accepting the offer to my given training date.
As far as training goes, about a five days before I was expected to leave, I was emailed by the area's coordinator for new hire training. He described to us the training process for SSR's which consists of Monday-Friday 8:30-5:30 for 3 consecutive weeks. Dress for training is business casual: Men khaki or black pants with a collared, button down shirt. Women khaki or black pants or skirt with a collared, button down shirt or blouse. No sneakers or flip flops!
We will be receiving two of our own "team-colored" long sleeve shirts during the training.

For those who are traveling:
-$42 a day for food and food only-issued on first day of class-
-Hotel Room
-Compensation for traveling/mileage.
You are strongly advised to keep reciepts.
I should also mention that you should be prepared to bring your own debit card for hotel room incidentals.
I'll update more as soon as possible to let you know all about training!
Thanks
-CEN

i appreciate you posting this. I have applied for the ssr position and my status just says resume acknowledged. I am not certain if that is good or not as i have not heard anything from a recruiter. I was offered a position in May but i declined it because i accepted a position with another company thinking my interview went terrible. ever since then its been hard as heck trying to get another interview. I should've accepted the retail position then. I'm regretting that now.

Hi,

hope to hear more from you I just got hired as an ssr and will be starting in a new boca raton, fl store i will be going to training in atlanta,ga on oct 31st..look forward to reading more about your day to day experiences etc.

Thank you

Hey all,
So checking back after my first day of training to let you know how it's going.
Checked into the hotel yesterday and I have to say that I am very impressed! The place is much better than what I expected to be placed in. I have a nice room to myself as well as a continental breakfast.
Luckily the hotel offers a shuttle for all those who need to get back and forth from training.
We recieved our meal cards and they are indeed for $42 a day with a $25 spending limit for a single purchase.
There are 9 people in my class although sizes apparently vary with each training group.
We are given two 15 minute breaks and a single hour lunch break during each day.
The training is mostly online using e-workbooks as opposed to physical workbooks.
The company is able to give each new employee their own company phone that they pay for: texting, data, etc. We are promised that it will be a smart phone but it's up to our managers to decide on which phone we will be receiving. We will be probably getting our phones next week.
I'll continue to keep updating and answering questions. So far, so good!!

Gladly gone,

I'd have to assume that the status of your application would have to mean that it has been already looked over.
However, depending on how long it takes before you can reapply for a position, you might have to check up on that.
Try calling the store in a few days and telling them that you interviewed in the past and were unable to accept the job offer at that time but are still extremely interested in becoming a part of the team. Also let them know that you have a new application up so they can easily pull it up without assuming you were referring to the one in the past.

Thank you CEN I checked the status today and it looks like they are not considering me for the position. Oh well. Good luck with everything

Where are you training?

How far is your training center from the hotel? Was it easy to find?

What do you do after training? and on the weekends?

What hotel are you at? What airline did you fly on?

What exactly are you learning? Is it instructor based training or mostly all on the computer?

Did they explain any of the benefits to you? Probation period? Discounts etc.? Overtime? Holiday pay? Sick days?

Look forward to hearing back from you thank you so much

Anthony,

Right now I am training in Metuchen, NJ about 2.5 hours from my home. I do have others in my group that have traveled even farther away from their home in places like DC and Virginia.
I am staying at a hotel in Edison which is only 10-15 minutes away and was relatively easy for me to find as it was on a main road when I first traveled down.
The learning is a mix of instructor based, PowerPoints, videos, and web coursework. Some of the courses can take up to 1.5 hours so far.
The instructor I have is unable to fill us in on a lot of our benefits we have as he is not exactly qualified to do so.
We have taken some courses based on the overtime policy, holidays etc. Overtime is paid time and a half!

I'd also like to add that my COU (company issued phone) was just shipped out. I will be recieving an HTC Inspire 4G with a Bluetooth as well.

Very nice look foward to hearing more from you... Do they give you a notebook and pen to take notes or? How do the people that don't have cars get to the training?

So far I haven't been in need of a notebook but I keep a pen on me regardless.
The hotel has been able to offer us a shuttle to get to and from the training facility.
Review my past posts to see if they can answer any more of your questions :)

Thank you..when do you get your shirts? phone? I heard you get business cards as well as other things

My shirts were ordered almost a week ago now and I am to assume I should be getting them possibly sometime next week.
My phone should be arriving some time next week as well.
I've yet to hear anything about business cards but I'll ask my trainer tomorrow and then let you know....

Anthony,

Asked my trainer about the business cards and was told we do indeed get some.

very good..how was you day? seems that you have been getting out early is that true? what hotel did they put you at like a hampton inn or something? ..keep sharing thank you so much

No we don't get out early. We have an hour lunch and two 15 minute breaks. We were put in a nice hotel- Crowne Plaza.

No we don't get out early. We have an hour lunch and two 15 minute breaks. We were put in a nice hotel- Crowne Plaza.

very nice..what is the dress code? long sleve collared shirts button down with tie? or no tie? how about polos? with khaki pants and shoes? are you learning a lot of information? do you know anything about the discounts? when you will be working? training is monday to friday? 9am-5pm or? and you are paid 8 hours

No we don't get out early. We have an hour lunch and two 15 minute breaks. We were put in a nice hotel- Crowne Plaza.

No we don't get out early. We have an hour lunch and two 15 minute breaks. We were put in a nice hotel- Crowne Plaza.

ANTHONY,
I will also be going to ATL for training have you heard anything as far as travel arrangement's i have yet to hear anything about my flight or anything else what about you?

I will also be attending training in ATL on Oct 31st. I have not recieved any information about the flight or anything like that I was told I would recieve an email 48 hours before I was scheduled for training and that would have all my flight information and what I would need to bring the first day of class.

Side note Greg from Pikeville- My boyfriends uncle manages the radio station WPKE

CEN in Brooklyn, New York I would like to thank you for all the comments you have posted that have really helped a lot. If you could ask your trainer if we get a allowance for company logo shirts and if so what the amount is. Thank you again for taking the time to post comments daily on here its very nice to have an idea of what to expect. :-)

Janelle I just got all my information what part of Atl will you be staying in i will be in Alphretta at the Staybridge. And its a small World what is his name

Greg......Did you receive an email with all your hotel information? I checked mine today and didn't have any info. I believe his name is Dan P'Pool or Dave (he is a twin and it is hard for me to keep up with them. lol)

Yes i got an email with everything my hotel, my airline , and everything and the crazy thing is thats my next door neighboor small world.

WOW....what a small world after all!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is pretty wild. I didn't get an email hopefully I will get one tomorrow. Where are you flying out of and what time is your flight?

I'm.flying.out of Lexington Sunday at 2 and you should get your info soon where in GA are you going to be I'm.going to be in alphretta

Im not sure where I will be Greg.....my staffing agent said that I would be near Atlanta but no real details. I really hope I get my email tomorrow. I'm so impatient. lol All I was told is I would be attending training from 10.31 to 11.18. If I don't get any notification by Monday I am call my staffing agent.

I wrote about my experience of interviewing for a sales position with AT&T on my blog: www.sankofa-me-lately.com/2011/10/todd-pennington-at-oklahoma.html

I was wondering who all is going to ATL on the 30th and if everyone has already recieved there hotel and flight arrangements. I have not received mine as of yet and I don't want to call and harass my staffing agent if they haven't just had a chance to an email out. I am just impatient and would like to at least know where I will be staying ya know. Thanks so any advice and help it is greatly appreciated.

I'm starting as an SSR tomorrow! I'm originally from Connecticut, so I drove about 2 and half hours to NJ. I was wondering, how much later did you get paid? Was it exactly two weeks after you started working? For example, I start tomorrow, 11/27. Do you think i'll get paid on 12/9 or 12/16? I asked my manager and he isn't sure yet... just wondering haha

CEN in Chaplin, Connecticut said: After about 5 days of waiting to be cleared, I was contacted again by the recruiter and offered the job. I immediately accepted the postion and was then sent several emails regarding more documents that needed to be filled out and some brief information on my training.
The amount of time between when I applied to when I was offered the job took a little bit over a month and then a month between the time of accepting the offer to my given training date.
As far as training goes, about a five days before I was expected to leave, I was emailed by the area's coordinator for new hire training. He described to us the training process for SSR's which consists of Monday-Friday 8:30-5:30 for 3 consecutive weeks. Dress for training is business casual: Men khaki or black pants with a collared, button down shirt. Women khaki or black pants or skirt with a collared, button down shirt or blouse. No sneakers or flip flops!
We will be receiving two of our own "team-colored" long sleeve shirts during the training.

I have made an interview, and the next day i received a few emails for hireright info for background check, and an email welcoming me as a new member of their team,an email to other information like S.S.,first day at job info, accepting terms etc., did you received that same emails? If so, after received that emails, whats next? expect a call to final step in the proccess? an email? I will aprecciate your help. Thanks

Hey, so I am goin gto Sacramento, CA on May 21 for this same position, I come back on June 8th. I was wondering if you could kinda sort of tell me what to expect while I am there. For example, what type of clothing to bring, should it all be business casual? I would need to go shopping if so. Will they provide internet access in the rooms? What days off will I have while I am there? Do they pay your full wage while there? Also, did they send you back on the date promissedd? I have a very important appointment the day I come back so I need to know that lol.

Thank you in advanced.

Is the training paid for?

CEN in Chaplin, Connecticut said: Hey all!
So I've been lurking the boards here for a few weeks while going through AT&T's somewhat tiring process of hiring . I thought that like the thread below, I would share my experience with AT&T as I was hired as a Sales Support Representative and will be going through training from Monday, October 9- Friday, October 28. I also plan on updating throughout to answer questions based on the training process.
Now a little about me: Although I'm young, 19, I have 3 years of customer service , managerial, and clerical work under my belt working at a movie theatre, managing a pizza place, and working as a secretary for my family's business . Although I have no experience in retail or sales whatsoever, I was easily able to use my experience working with customers in the past to better qualify myself for the position.
I began by applying online for the position after it was posted on a local internet job board. When I was through with the application, it took me about two weeks before I recieved a call from the local recruiter to schedule an interview with the regional manager.

I just got hired for that position can you answer some questions for me if so emai me at increase4vee@live.com

LosMatix in Las Vegas, Nevada said: Hey, so I am goin gto Sacramento, CA on May 21 for this same position, I come back on June 8th. I was wondering if you could kinda sort of tell me what to expect while I am there. For example, what type of clothing to bring, should it all be business casual? I would need to go shopping if so. Will they provide internet access in the rooms? What days off will I have while I am there? Do they pay your full wage while there? Also, did they send you back on the date promissedd? I have a very important appointment the day I come back so I need to know that lol.

Thank you in advanced.

How was training in Sacramento? They are sending me there on July 15th for training for SSR

I applied for AT&T Full Time Sales Support Rep on Saturday, November 10th, 2012. On Monday, November 12th, 2012 I received an email stating to call the Hiring Manager if I was still interested in the position. I called them immediately and was asked when I could do an interview. I was scheduled for an interview that Wednesday, November 14th with another Hiring Manager. He asked general questions and how did I deal with rude customers and so on and so forth. It ended well. He told me within the next 2 weeks I would receive a phone call for a 2nd interview. The very next day I received said phone call to come in that day which was Thursday, November 15th for my 2nd interview. This was a more formal interview, she wanted to get to know me and things like that. The next week on Tuesday, November 20th I received an email to fill out my Tax Credit information. Being that it was the Thanksgiving holiday I heard nothing. But today, Monday, November 26th, 2012 I was offered the job. I start January 14th, 2012 and training will be held in Chicago for 3 weeks.

Jade in Sterling Heights, Michigan said: I applied for AT&T Full Time Sales Support Rep on Saturday, November 10th, 2012. On Monday, November 12th, 2012 I received an email stating to call the Hiring Manager if I was still interested in the position. I called them immediately and was asked when I could do an interview. I was scheduled for an interview that Wednesday, November 14th with another Hiring Manager. He asked general questions and how did I deal with rude customers and so on and so forth. It ended well. He told me within the next 2 weeks I would receive a phone call for a 2nd interview. The very next day I received said phone call to come in that day which was Thursday, November 15th for my 2nd interview. This was a more formal interview, she wanted to get to know me and things like that. The next week on Tuesday, November 20th I received an email to fill out my Tax Credit information. Being that it was the Thanksgiving holiday I heard nothing. But today, Monday, November 26th, 2012 I was offered the job. I start January 14th, 2012 and training will be held in Chicago for 3 weeks.

Did they mail you that maybe you will start work in the shop before training? I was informed i would start my training at Jan.7th 2013. but they tell me to start work next monday.

Lori Fan in Brooklyn, New York said: Did they mail you that maybe you will start work in the shop before training? I was informed i would start my training at Jan.7th 2013. but they tell me to start work next monday.

Hey Lori, I actually received a phone call yesterday from the HR manager. She changed my training to Jan 7th and I'll be going to Dallas, TX. No, they didn't ask me to start working yet :( I wish they did. They probably are very busy at the store you are at. I wish you the best. Where is ur training? Did they tell u?

JadeDemona in STERLING HEIGHTS, Michigan said: Hey Lori, I actually received a phone call yesterday from the HR manager. She changed my training to Jan 7th and I'll be going to Dallas, TX. No, they didn't ask me to start working yet :( I wish they did. They probably are very busy at the store you are at. I wish you the best. Where is ur training? Did they tell u?

I don't know any details about the training.T^T How did they tell you where r u going to training? by mail? or call?

Lori Fan in Brooklyn, New York said: I don't know any details about the training.T^T How did they tell you where r u going to training? by mail? or call?

By phone call. They've always just called me directly.

I've been called and always received a follow up email. I begin training on Jan 7 also but in New Orleans for RSC.

Any updates to this?

Any updates?

Also: For anyone who trained in Atlanta for SSR, could you answer:

What hotel did you stay at?
Did you need a car during the week?
Can you bring a pet (small dog)?
Do they pay for you to come home on weekends? (If I can't bring my pet then I need to come home on weekends)
What phone were you given?
Anything else you'd like to add?