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Articles / Majors & Careers / A Day in the Life of an AT&T Employee

A Day in the Life of an AT&T Employee

Michelle Reed
Written by Michelle Reed | Aug. 30, 2018
A Day in the Life of an AT&T Employee
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As you near that internship or full-time job, you're probably wondering what you'll do from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. If you're anything like I was in college, you're running around from class to club to dining hall to library to coffee with friends, rinse-repeat, all day, every day. Now, you're going to be focusing all your time and attention on one job for around eight hours a day. Here's a glimpse into what a typical day looks like for me as a senior manager on AT&T's Corporate Social Responsibility team.

6:58 a.m.


iPhone alarm rings -- immediate SNOOZE, #SorryNotSorry. One of these days I'll be that good person that leaves their phone in the other room charging to eliminate evening screen time.

7:07 a.m.

Alarm part two -- wake up, shower, listen to the morning NPR news briefing on my Alexa. Scan through Twitter, Instagram, etc.

7:40 a.m.

Coffee (used to be green tea, but my husband makes a really nice pot of coffee) and into the office for my first call of the day. These calls are often with counterparts in Dallas and on the East Coast. Since I'm in Seattle and on Pacific Time, I am on point and ready for calls as early as 7 a.m. — those I definitely take from home!

8 a.m.

Weekly Corporate Social Responsibility communications call. We discuss calendar events and initiatives with our external and public affairs team members across the states, share news about our latest charitable contributions, etc.

I typically spend the rest of the morning on calls with my team and the nonprofits in my portfolio.

Noon

Lunch with a fellow Women of AT&T member to discuss the Annual Health & Wellness fair we put on for AT&T employees and how we can get more participation than the year prior.

12:45 p.m.

Head back to my desk to prep for my 1 p.m. one-on-one weekly check-in with my boss.

1 p.m.

Review contribution strategy and nonprofit successes and opportunities with my boss as we get ready for Q4 budget proposals.

2 p.m.

Social break — Get on Twitter and LinkedIn to spread the "likes," scan through posts and retweet leading sources across a variety of industries: CSR, philanthropy, plus a few event planner and organizational development/human resources bloggers to mix it up, and of course AT&T business leaders to see what they are interested in and talking about.

2:30 - 4:30 p.m.

More calls! One of the things I love most about my job is the interaction I get to have with the nonprofits we fund, as well as with internal groups at AT&T that help amplify our work. Whether it's our sponsorship team, our diversity and inclusion team, technology operations, corporate communications or human resources, there are so many personalities and projects that I get to touch.

4:30 - 6 p.m. (varies)

Emails and online reporting, quick impromptu calls (I love throwing in an unscheduled call or two when I can) to a nonprofit contact who we have an AT&T employee event with next month.

6 p.m.

Take a board meeting call for a nonprofit I work with outside of AT&T as I transition into the evening.

7 p.m.

Dinner, light social media perusal, news updates.

8 p.m.

An episode or two of the latest binge worthy series (Jack Ryan currently has my attention), maybe some work emails if I have urgent projects underway.

9 p.m.

Get ready for bed -- magazine or book reading.

11 p.m.

Lights out (Usually more like midnight because one or two of the above was stretched out, but trying to be better about that!)

I grew up working in a restaurant and was later an event planner before graduate school and my #LifeatATT -- never a dull moment. I like to keep busy and be involved in a lot of work and personal endeavors. One of the reasons that I love my job with AT&T's Corporate Social Responsibility team is that, just like in hospitality, no two days are the same; I'm always doing something new, whether that is reviewing a new nonprofit's proposal, crafting a social media activation with our marketing team or researching new areas of education philanthropy that AT&T should invest in. With more than 250,000 employees worldwide and thousands off business unit groups and departments, there are endless opportunities for people with a variety of interests and skillsets at AT&T. Explore the #LifeAtATT at www.att.jobs/.

Written by

Michelle Reed

Michelle Reed

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