ALLTEL INFORMATION SERVICES

"Our mainframes and client/server environment handle more than one million by one million per second."
– Greg Comstock, Vice President,Senior VP, Strategic Planning, Sales, and Marketing

• IBM ES9000, HP 9000s • COBOL, IMS, C++ •
• Professional services • Large shop •

ALLTEL Information Services, Inc. (ALLTEL) provides outsourcing services and software products to the banking, mortgage, health care, and telecommunications industries. Based in Little Rock, Arkansas, ALLTEL runs 11 data centers. It owns Systematics (banking services provider), CPI (mortgage services provider), and TDS (health care services provider). Its parent company is ALLTEL Corporation, the second largest independent telephone company in the United States.

Founded in 1968, ALLTEL is publicly held, has revenues of $867 million, and employs 7,900 people. ALLTEL Corporation, the telephone service provider, also based in Little Rock, Arkansas, has revenues of $4.7 billion and employs 16,000 people.

Technology

ALLTEL has an IBM 3090 and an IBM ES9000, running under ESA. The company is online in Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, and Europe. Software development is in COBOL, DL/I, CICS, and IMS DB/DC and includes the use of Arthur Andersen's Foundation One CASE tool. The client/server environment includes HP 9000s, Sybase, UNIX, C, and C++, 18,000 tape mounts a day, and 43,000 terminals on the network.

Job families for ALLTEL's 1,700 computer professionals include programming, business analysis, telecommunications consulting, and facilities management. Pay grades range from 13 (Programmer Trainee) to 20 (Senior Technician). Recent projects have included the development of wireless cellular billing and, in C++ under UNIX, a wireless cable switching equipment system.

Culture

Computer professionals work in cubicles and private offices in a non-smoking environment. There is a need for travel; the company owns a fleet of private jets. At corporate headquarters a typical work week is 42 to 48 hours. Business dress is business formal. No overtime is paid. For those working on client sites, holidays observed, dress code, and hours worked depend on those of the client. ALLTEL offers computer professionals extensive training opportunities in a complex, transaction-oriented technical environment.

ALLTEL observes 10 holidays. Employees earn two weeks of vacation to start, three weeks after eight years, and four weeks after eighteen years. The company pays the majority of the costs of medical, disability, dental, vision, and life insurance and pays for tuition reimbursement. There are 401(k) and profit-sharing plans and a stock-purchase plan. A restructuring in 1995 affected fewer than one percent of the employees, who were provided severance packages, outplacement services, and continuation of benefits during the severance period.

Candidates

ALLTEL looks for computer professionals with matching technical experience. A Bachelor's degree is preferred. Candidates should be self-starters and able to see a project through to completion. Current staff members have an average of 8 to 12 years of experience and at least a Bachelor's degree. ALLTEL does hire entry-level computer professionals. The company hires Information Systems majors and Music majors who quickly make the transition between musical notation and programming.

The company's 300 to 500 new computer professionals a year are found through its own Internet Web page and job postings, advertisements, campus recruiting, unsolicited resumes, job fairs, contacts, and occasionally, employment agencies.

Contact

Letters are preferred.

Ms. Doris Krain, VP, Human Resources

ALLTEL Information Services, Inc.

4001 N. Rodney Parham Rd.

Little Rock, Arkansas 72212-2442

(501) 220-5100

alltel.com/jobs-fin.html

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