Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(music)
The recruitment of veterans is a key component for AT&T.
Long-term they are looking to bring on the best and brightest,
and they recognize that the military has kind of the same approach.
AT&T's looking for those kind of folks.
We're speaking now with Chris Norton.
He's an Iraq war veteran in charge of talent acquisition strategies
for AT&T's military and veterans program.
Thanks for being with us.
Gigi, thanks for having me.
So AT&T is looking to hire veterans. What kinds of jobs?
Ah, well thousands.
At the end of April, AT&T made a commitment to hire 5,000 veterans
over the next five years in conjunction with the White House.
And so we're very excited about that. I could tell you, you know,
AT&T overall represents a great opportunity for a veteran to come on board.
What kind of roles that people had in the military
do you think translate best into jobs at AT&T?
Well, you know, my initial pitch when I first started this role
was we’d hire everything from cooks to pilots and everything in between.
And that's really a true statement.
Really it comes down to what is it you want to do?
You know, just because you were a truck driver in the Marine Corps,
doesn't mean you have to be a truck driver on the outside.
If that's not what you want to do, well we can get there.
And you've got aptitudes and skills and experiences that you've developed
as a, say marine truck driver, that translate to other business skills.
So it's very aptitude driven.
You know, where we see, really again I mentioned this earlier,
but our biggest area of opportunity, just because of the way
AT&T is evolving right now, is in the field in our technician program.
And there’s about 200 military occupations that just the aptitude scores
and the background you bring to the table - just from that,
never mind your additional duties - is just a home run
when you come through and try and join us.
Alright, thank you for this very helpful advice. Chris Norton from AT&T.
Thanks, Gigi. Appreciate it.
(music)