Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

OP, it's not you, but it's the job market. There are two sides to this coin. My situation is different, my skills and experience are something that can be used in virtually any company in US, but this skill set is also so common, that every position I apply to has hundreds of other applicants. Everyone will tell you right now it's a numbers game, and all we can do it keep applying and networking until we find something. It might take a while, but there is this one great company somewhere out there, that is looking for exactly the type of employee you are, and eventually, you and them will find each other.

@epd+1nVNlXZY "Nobody’s gonna hire IHX"

Thats an obvious lie. Tmo and Verizon heavily try recruiting IHX. Many internal sales departments, especially Fiber and Business Mobility actively recruit/hire IHX.

It honestly sounds like you're just bitter?

How is that Att's fault? Lets face it, Att is at fault for a ton of things, but your skills track is your responsibility. Are you one of the turds that Stankey was referring to?

no surprise - att lets cr-p like uam exist when all it is is a rewrite of ldap. but security says it is secure because it is in house and the code is secret lol.

company is so screwed up in thought and actions it isn't even funny.

If you’re a technical coding person with 20 years “telecom” experience here it might be a little harder working in oil/gas or banking even though the tech skills are similar. Most of them are giving preference to candidates within the same industry. Moreover tech favors younger or h1b. Like another poster said get some project manager experience and certifications if you’re older.

" The skill of navigating corporate structures to get things done is always in high demand."

100%. All big companies are always looking for people like this. Cross functional PM skills are HUGE.

If, like so many at T, you were placed into some weird kind of "tech eng PM" title at some point, when they didn't know what to do with you or your group, and you're not really a project manager, and hold no certifications (PMP, CAPM, etc)...then you're going to have a harder time.

Nobody’s gonna hire IHX used car salesman.

To the OP,
Did you work on proprietary T applications? Was your keyboard layout different than other keyboards? Did you use a computer(s) that ran some off-the wall T specific Operating systems instead of Windows, Linux, MAC OS? Did you use Microsoft office suite or did you use T specific word document? How is it that your skills are not transferable?

Hopefully you learned the impressive skill of navigating through the red tape to get things done at ATT. The skill of navigating corporate structures to get things done is always in high demand. If you were one of the always ‘no’ and process people that served as constant roadblocks, then no, that’s not a good transferable skill.

“My ATL & DLS based team is sad for the forced move situation”

This statement alone shows a low level of comprehension. No one is being forced to move.

I used to think this way too, but then I moved around, volunteered for project, and learned skills that can translate into virtually any company.

I don’t know what you do, but I have to assume you’re narrowly focusing on your skills. Sales, marketing, administrative, leadership, and technical skills are all transferable. Sure many companies may not have 5E’s, Dacs, Cisco mix’s etc, but these people know how to trouble shoot to solve problems. That’s needed everywhere, you just need to learn to sell yourself, and that’s certainly not going to happen when you have such little confidence. If you don’t believe you can do it, how do you expect employers to believe it? It’s all in how you portray yourself.

Are you a person that doesn’t have any skills that they want?

Or can you do anything you put your mind to?

It’s the attitude, not the skills.

I’ve been with T for a long time in IT and feel like I learned a lot of skills easily transferable to other companies, but the pay scale would suffer greatly with a new job. T compensates their technicians very well and would be hard pressed to find another employer willing to match the pay. So, I stay with T until I’m forced out!

To the OP - I think you are underestimating yourself.
Remember - Knowledge and skills are 2 different things.
You surely learned some things at AT&T that were specific to your job but those things were not what made you a high performer. Whatever character strengths you have that made you excel at your job are the skills that ARE transferrable to any job you go to.

Yes, working at AT&T was a waste of your skills and your time even if you got paid fairly, because AT&T did not value you and poor leadership did not take advantage of yours and many other employees skills to make the company successful because they didn't know how to. And here they are right now laying off tons for the sake of quarterly reports. They don't even respect you enough to give you a designated place to work at the office they force you to go to. All talent and skills are wasted at this company.

Don't be sad, you WILL find yourself in a better, more rewarding situation after you leave AT&T.

Speak for yourself, genius.

I am not sure what your job skills are but I know many folks who have left T and were able to pivot into other external positions. It took them all some time but they landed positions at Amazon, Google and some are consulting through various contract companies. Good Luck.

You're having a rough time Op. Too bad you squandered too many years at T. What org were you in?