AT&T Contractor Hiring Practices

Does AT&T really require applicants to give their social security number to third party recruiters in order to be considered for a contract position?

And why do the AT&T web sites suck so badly? The only contact information I can find is for sales and service, they seem to try hide their corporate contact information at all costs. What are they ashamed of, or trying to hide?

Can it be that they are ashamed of the fact that they can't mange their own telephones in their CORPORATE OFFICES!? I finally managed to dig up a telephone number for their corporate office and tried to call them to verify their hiring practices (to see if they really were so scummy that they required a SSN to be given to third party recruiters) and they disconnected me five times out of seven calls, and the other two I got dumped to a recording that didn't have anything to do with the reason I called . . . then at the end of the message, I got disconnected.

Why can't AT&T manage their own phones? And if they do such a lousy job of communicating with the public, why would anybody want to do business with them, or work with them?

My recruiter provided me with a phone number for AT&T. It plays a recorded message from AT&T on why they want your SSN. This site won't allow me to post a phone number.
The message says AT&T uses your SSN to verify your identity, and, to make sure a candidate doesn't have a negative history with AT&T. I understand that but, I still don't feel good about giving my SSN to a recruiter I never met. For all I know the person asking for my SSN may not be a recruiter at all. It could be a phishing scam.
If you were contacted by a staffing firm or recruiter about a position from AT&T, ask them to provide more information about why you have to give out your SSN. They should have a phone number at AT&T.

I have had more than 10 companies "representing AT&T" contact me with job offers. All requesting my Social. AT&T should be ashamed. Anyone can get a domain and pretend to be anyone of the companies on their approved vendors' list. Even if 80% of the companies that contacted me were legitimate, what about the other 20%?? This is a case of big business gone bad. AT&T basically facilitates identity theft with their business practices.

I have had more than 10 companies "representing AT&T" contact me with job offers. All requesting my Social. AT&T should be ashamed. Anyone can get a domain and pretend to be anyone of the companies on their approved vendor's list. Even if 80% of the companies that contacted me were legitimate, what about the other 20%?? This is a case of big business gone bad. AT&T basically facilitates identity theft with their business practices.

AT&T uses the SSN to blacklist people who left under retirement packages that said they could return. This is an unfair practice and the EEOC is suing AT&T for Age Discrimination because of this.

AT&T uses the SSN to discriminate against people who left on retirement packages that said they could return. These people are highly qualified for the work and con not apply. AT&T is being sued by the EEOC for age discrimination.

For our case also, there are numerous ATT representatives approached with a job offer, but asked for FULL SSN on the first spot (no need to blame these representatives at all, its ATT which is having this nasty practice). The ATT web page which explains why do they want FULL SSN is lame. They want to CLEARLY IDENTIFY the candidate with the SSN on their system. I have never seen any sensitive(including banks) business operation which uses the SSN as their database PRIMARY KEY..
ATT is really collecting the SSNs for Scamming the folks.. I dont even trust a single second ...Go to hell ATT

I was just contacted for the third time by three separate recruiters for positions with AT&T.
I spoke with "Paul" (Indian guy, could barley understand him) and he asked I email him a word document of my resume and references. Within 5 min he was calling me asking where the email was. I told him I was still working on getting the reference information together. Why are these people in such a hurry?
In this climate they should be swamped with candidates and have plenty of work on their desks. This guy kept calling me repeatedly (over 5 x in under 30 min!) If I did not answer he would just call again the next second. In my experience you have to be the aggressor with staffing firms and contact THEM. This raised some more flags with me. Nothing about this "feels" right.
If there is one thing I have learned it is that I need to listen to my instincts. If it looks like a cat....

So what can I do? I have already sent them my resume and authorization form and SS.

Seriously....something is NOT RIGHT!

You shouldn't ever give your SS # out. Never online or on the phone. Even to your doctor. You have no idea who that guy really is. He could have just sold it to someone else. You can make one up that is just one or 2 digits different than your own.

Fawn in Alpharetta, Georgia said: You shouldn't ever give your SS # out. Never online or on the phone. Even to your doctor. You have no idea who that guy really is. He could have just sold it to someone else. You can make one up that is just one or 2 digits different than your own.

No you shouldn't do that and AT&T should not be instructing houndreds if not thousands of third party employment recruiters from asking for a SSN. That SSN should be , if at all, at the very end of any job application. The Federal Labor department should be all over this one. Total disregard for personal privacy and of course current rampant ID theft. And that isn't the only thing they are doing. If you are over 40 years old and a former AT&T employee, they may not what you and they may be using this SSN to identify you. That could be discrimination. There is an EEOC lawsuit currently underway. Over 40, previously an AT&T employee, didn't get the job, sound fishy? You may be one of them.

In an era plagued with rampant identity theft and fraud and that the prolific use of the social security number should be found to be at the very core of this problem, clearly at a minimum, AT&T’s insistence on requesting SSN’s so early on in their current employment process by so many contracted agencies is irresponsible.
Why would a company of this caliber, with so many social security numbers in their databases for one reason or another treat this item with such a degree of disregard?

Now there's somebody who indeed seems to know what they are talking about!

W AT&T needs to be audited to verify that all the personal information they get from consumers and have from their past and current employees are properly protected in all their systems/processes. To be safe people should be able to request having their personal information deleted from systems like etemp.

I will add my experience to the pile... Same thing - got a call from "Bob' (difficult to understand since English was obviously not his first language) - answered a bunch of questions, discussed the role, pay (which was insultingly low), and then finally the kicker: "I need your FULL SSN!" My reply: "No way. And tell AT&T that they can..." .

I strongly suggest/request that all potential contractors put their foot down on this issue. Even though you may have been out of work for quite some time (like me) - we should not have to risk our identity data to a third party person whom you will never meet and is likely not even in this country just for a crappy, low paying job.

Ditto here.

At the very least, AT&T needs to post an SSN Policy FAQ.

Instead of a real FAQ offering a means to call or email to verify that a recruiter or a particular job is legit, AT&T posts one lousy statement:

"Why Does AT&T Need Your Social Security Number?

AT&T requires social security numbers for our non-payroll worker candidates who are submitted for contractor positions by an AT&T vendor. In order to give someone access to our buildings or systems, we require a unique identifier. A name alone without authentication does not uniquely identify an individual. In addition, we use the SSN to ensure our potential contractors do not have an unfavorable employment history with our company. We take privacy issues very seriously and appreciate your cooperation and interest in being considered for contract assignments with AT&T.

As an IT person, the SSN policy offends every security sensibility I have. First, they don't say WHEN in the process to expect such a question. Second, their Preferred Vendor list (of recruitment agencies), is not inclusive. So you could be contacted by an agency that is authorized to represent a certain job but doesn't appear on the list, or you could just as easily hear from a phisher who found your resume on a job board.

The other thing: Even if a recruiting agency provides a phone number to a canned message or a link to AT&T's policy statement, don't kid yourself for a second. Anything out there for the job seeker to find is also in plain view of a phisher. The identity thief can just as easily read this "official" AT&T policy and use it to lend credibility to a completely bogus job opening. It's easy because AT&T doesn't even offer an "Abuse" email to report potential fraud!

Don't let them use you! Nix AT&T and let them figure out why their recruitment process suffers.

One more thing: Unencrypted email --- your standard kind --- is not secure. Public wireless networks are not secure. Even if we assume no one intercepts your SSN-containing email to a legitimate recruiter, how long does the staffing agency hang on to that info.? For instance, does it reside in the recruiter's inbox indefinitely? Does the recruiter work from home, out of the country or on a laptop they take off company property?

AT&T cares about your privacy? Not really. I, too, have noticed that they can't even keep their normal customer service numbers from disconnecting. It's time for the FCC to come in and bust up the MEGA BELLS again.

AT&T, legally, should include a disclaimer in every recruitment email requesting the recipient to click some box indicating they understand the risks of providing an SSN over a non-secure network.

ALTERNATELY

AT&T should generate a secure form on their website and, at the recruiter's request, AT&T will auto generate an email asking the contract applicant to electronically sign for the background check (provide the SSN).

The point is, there are a lot of solutions to this problem. And like somebody else said, the retail and financial service industry has worked SO HARD over the past years to train the public NOT to provide sensitive account or social security information over email and non-secure websites. Then AT&T promotes just the opposite --- a backwards policy that violates every known "best practice".

Do you really want to work for this company? Maybe not.

connectwithatt.com/ContractorOpportunities

Write to etemp@att.com and make them aware of this practice.

I have no experience with AT&T, but have had several employment agencies ask for my SS# just for the "privilege" of registering with them. As soon as I hear that, I cross that agency off my list and walk away. There is no way I am giving an agency my vital information, when I even hate giving it to an actual company! At the end of the day, the agencies find you no work, or make you jump through hoops, and meanwhile they will have your SS# lying on their desk somewhere for everyone who visits their office to see. No way, Jose.

AT&T has put this process in place to block qualified people from applying. AT&T is being sued for age discrimination. AT&T claims iti s not a security issue because they encrypt your SSN in their system though they fail to acknowledge the security risks of forcing unemployed people to give their SSN to strangers to apply for contracting work.

If you apply for a contract job at AT&T, expect your SSN to be emailed between your agency and AT&T, and then emailed around AT&T with others copied, until it finally makes it to whomever does something with it. Unfortunately, I have personally witnessed this. They could not care less about securing this data. Have you ever seen the episode of The Office where Michael Scott accidentally emails a racy photo to a large distro list? That could be your SSN.

ricefa in Alpharetta, Georgia said: I have had more than 10 companies "representing AT&T" contact me with job offers. All requesting my Social. AT&T should be ashamed. Anyone can get a domain and pretend to be anyone of the companies on their approved vendor's list. Even if 80% of the companies that contacted me were legitimate, what about the other 20%?? This is a case of big business gone bad. AT&T basically facilitates identity theft with their business practices.

Well said. I got a call today from someone who would only identify himself by his first name, "Chandra", emailed me first from an email account belonging to Jawad Ahmed @ Pyramid Consulting and then from Chandra @ Pyramid and then told me that I *would* give him my SSN or else. He barely spoke English, but did communicate well enough to know the place he felt women should hold in relation to men. And honestly, I'm supposed to give this guy my SSN? Anybody stupid enough to give out this kind of information to somebody who calls out of the blue is too stupid to safeguard AT&T's information. Glad they're not my phone company.

I was contacted by CompNova asking me for a SSN# to be submitted to a position at AT&T. This is not the first time I received a request for a SSN for a AT&T job from a contractor. Also, be careful with the so call web site they provide claiming to be AT&T. It looks like AT&T but it is not an AT&T web site.

I got a call from an Indian fellow I could barely understand who left me a voicemail. All I understood was the phone number. When I called back, he answered hello (no company name or anything) and sounded like I just woke him up. After trying to talk to him about the position, I finally said I can't understand you, could you send me an email regarding this position? I got an email that didn't really say much and didn't answer basic questions.

I replied back to him asking pertinent questions. He answered them then asked for my full name (as on my ssn card) when available to start, how I would I get to the job. After I answered these questions, he came back with "you didn't give me your ssn, we need that to send you to AT&T." That wasn't one of the questions he asked BTW and I never answer it regardless.

I didn't answer his email right away since I was preparing for a phone interview with another company. He called during my preparations, and even after I told him I couldn't talk, he persisited saying it would take 2 minutes. I cut him off and said to email me. Then he said he'd call back in an hour, I said no, I'll be in a meeting then.

While on my telephone interview, my phone beeped several times to let me know I was getting another call. Naturally it was this idiot. What part of "I'm not available" didn't he get? This happened more than once during the 40 minutes I was on the interview.

After reading the comments here, I sent him a note saying this was my manager's name and his title when I temped at AT&T and here is his letter of recommendation for me. Unless/until I am actually hired to work at AT&T, I will not give my ssn.

Too bad it's a scam, I really need a job.

I don't think it is a scam......I got four separate e-mails from recruiters (3 Asians and 1 American - I checked out their staffing agencies and they're legit) regarding a position at AT&T within a few hours. Good pay, and yes, they do require a SSN for whatever reason. AT&T just has a weird way of hiring and some of these non-English speaking recruiters don't have the tact that most of us desire. Oh well - I'll give it a try.

The risk you are taking is that the person collecting your personal information might just be saying they are a recruiter for AT&T. No Though AT&T claims to encrypt your number in their system the process to get their number on their system is not secure at all. AT&T needs to improve their processes here. They have used the SSN to block people from applying for work based on the rules they make. For example people who left on certain retirement packages were blocked for years even though the packages said they could return. Granted if you apply you have a shot at a position though the likelihood of getting on is extremely low through one of these recruiters. Even if AT&T wants to change their policy it will take them a long time to figure out how to implement this software change. Though it is probably illegal in some states to knowingly allow the handling of the SSN this way it is not worth fighting such a big entity. Best of luck finding work and try using all the connections you have to work for a progressive company that aims to improve their processes quickly.

I received a call, or I should say 5 calls from an Indian firm looking to place me in a contract position with AT&T. I completely refused when the fellow that I was speaking with asked me repeatedly for my social security number!!! I have to say thank God for the postings here that I read regarding this company and their business practices! I really am appalled with AT&T!!! A huge company like this show know about protecting data, and the fact that identity theft is the number one crime going on in this day and age! Who can really prove that these staffing firms have any relationship with AT&T!!! Unbelievable!

I received an email stating I had the job and needed to complete a form pick an interview date and and orientation. They asked for my name address phone number last 4 digits of my social and a $5 deposit because ppl were scheduling appointments and not showing up to orientations and was told after orientation they will refund the $5. I applied through Indeed.com. I received an email from attrectuit@gmail.com

BOGUS-O-meter... pegged!

You state that "you had the job" and THEN you go for an interview?
Doesn't that sound a little... backwards?

Also, did you happen to notice that the email domain was "GMAIL"???
One would think that a large company like AT&T would be using their own email domain rather than sluffing off to a Google free email account.

I would forward all relavent correspndance to your state's Attorney General (or whatever office investigates fraud or employment related fraud) before responding to this. I have never heard of a company (esp. a large one like ATT) requiring a $5 "deposit".

Better to be safe than sorry. Of course, considering ATT's other hiring practices, I would not be surprised if they tried something like this.

Just a word of warning. Good luck.

I was thinking that it was simply a scam and why would at&t contact candidates from a ymail email address. I would think it would be an @att.com or something of that nature. What really threw me for a loop was the fact that I haven't been called in for an interview or even been approached for a phone screen or anything, but I supposedly got the job, lol. What company offers you a job before even meeting with or talking to you.

I received an e-mail today just like educated 86 in Indiana. Was told my resume was reviewed and I had been selected for the job. I too was asked to fill out a form and supply my credit card number for a refundable $5.00 fee that would be returned to me at orientation. How bogus!!! I have contacted AT&T as well as replied to the e-mail asking for verification of who they are and how I can verify with their identity with AT&T. My guess is they will send no more e-mails so it will be only the one that I will turn over to the Attorney General.

Here is the e-mail I received from somebody(just don't think it is at&t). I immediately started trying to verify this email and form!!! Thank all you guys for posting!!
*********************************************************************************
Hello and thank you for your interest in working with AT&T! After carefully reviewing your resume, we would be delighted to have you as a Customer Service Representative at our call center!

Please Click Here to fill out the appointment form to pick the date that you would like to come in to fill out all the paperwork. Training will begin on Monday, June 13.

If you have any questions, a representative will be contacting you to set a time for you to come in on the date that you select. At this time you can ask them any questions as well as get directions to our office if needed.

We're glad to have you on our team and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Jane Banks,
Hiring Manager, AT&T

Cstar in Chicago, Illinois said: Here is the e-mail I received from somebody(just don't think it is at&t). I immediately started trying to verify this email and form!!! Thank all you guys for posting!!
*********************************************************************************
Hello and thank you for your interest in working with AT&T! After carefully reviewing your resume, we would be delighted to have you as a Customer Service Representative at our call center!

Please Click Here to fill out the appointment form to pick the date that you would like to come in to fill out all the paperwork. Training will begin on Monday, June 13.

If you have any questions, a representative will be contacting you to set a time for you to come in on the date that you select. At this time you can ask them any questions as well as get directions to our office if needed.

We're glad to have you on our team and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Jane Banks,
Hiring Manager, AT&T

This email is illegitimate. Jane Banks is not an AT&T employee searched using employee search at work.

Yes!!!!! I received the exact email. Smh and knew something was fishy. I have worked for AT&T before through a third party, but everything was done in person. Yes they did need a 10 dollar deposit but it was after you signed your papers and accepted the job. The deposit was for the rental of the head phones. People are really down low!