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Hiring Question

  • OK.. u need to be a conductor before u can be an engineer... unless u want to go work at a grain elevator for 15 an hour. End of story.
  • You know about that Will........JK
    Try to get your engineers card at a small shortline, then if you desire to work for a larger RR, they will almost for sure hire you if you have a engineers card prior to be being hired.

    Mechanical Department  "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."

    The Missabe Road: Safety First

     

  • QUOTE: Originally posted by coborn35

    You know about that Will........JK
    Try to get your engineers card at a small shortline, then if you desire to work for a larger RR, they will almost for sure hire you if you have a engineers card prior to be being hired.
    why bother to try and geton a class 1 if your get a job with a short line... short lines are almost always better to work for... and have to keep in mind..the later you hire on a big railroad..the lower you are on the senority rostor..meaning the crappier jobs you have to work... becouse you cant hold anything else...
    csx engineer
    "I AM the higher source" Keep the wheels on steel
  • QUOTE: Originally posted by Red04StangGT

    Only place you can hire off the street as an engineer is Amtrash

    WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again, more incorrect info. The IC hired me as an engineer, off the street, in 2000. Most railroads will not hire you off the street as an engineer. However, Amtrak IS NOT the only exception to this practice.
  • QUOTE: Originally posted by jg greenwood

    QUOTE: Originally posted by Red04StangGT

    Only place you can hire off the street as an engineer is Amtrash

    WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again, more incorrect info. The IC hired me as an engineer, off the street, in 2000. Most railroads will not hire you off the street as an engineer. However, Amtrak IS NOT the only exception to this practice.
    very few places will hire off the street right into engin service.. alot of times if they realy need engineers...they will hire you..push you through the conductor program..get you promoted to a conductor...and then rush you right into engin service... very very few places will hire off the street into engin service..and if they do..odds are they are realy realy hard up for man power and need bodies fast..
    but it ALL boils down to the union agreements that dectate how manpower is to be hired and how they are to be sent to engin service...
    csx engineer
    "I AM the higher source" Keep the wheels on steel
  • One thing these posts have not considered is family. IF you already have family working at the railroad then your chances of being hired become much, much greater. The railroads are still a family orientated workplace. During hiring sessions the interviewer will almost always ask if you have family working there. Railroads do like people who have college classes. They have recruited at places that teach engine maintenance. When I was hired over half my class had a degree of some sort. Most everyone in my class had either a degree or someone who already worked at the railroad in their family. Now is a very good time to try to get on with a railroad. They are hiring in many of the crafts now. One thing that is very true is senority. Senority means everything. If you change crafts then you start over in your senority.

  • QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

    One thing these posts have not considered is family. IF you already have family working at the railroad then your chances of being hired become much, much greater. The railroads are still a family orientated workplace. During hiring sessions the interviewer will almost always ask if you have family working there. Railroads do like people who have college classes. They have recruited at places that teach engine maintenance. When I was hired over half my class had a degree of some sort. Most everyone in my class had either a degree or someone who already worked at the railroad in their family. Now is a very good time to try to get on with a railroad. They are hiring in many of the crafts now. One thing that is very true is senority. Senority means everything. If you change crafts then you start over in your senority.


    knowing someone that works for the railroad or haveing family working for the railroad holds NO PULL now a days...back in the old days it did..and that was almost the ONLY way to get on back then... but anymore... knowing someone dose very little to help your chances out... since most of the large carrieres are going to farmed out training programs at colleges around the country... what it comes down to know is if you have the money to get into a training program at a college..and if you meet the basic requirements to get hired aka... no DUIs..criminal record... pass the school...pass the drug test... pass the color blindness test... as well as other hoops that you will have to jump through... like i said befor..knowning someone or haveing family is no more help to getting on anymore... the only thing it dose is give you a little inside track as far as what the railroads are like... so you know what your about to get into..nothing more...
    csx engineer
    "I AM the higher source" Keep the wheels on steel
  • QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98

    QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

    One thing these posts have not considered is family. IF you already have family working at the railroad then your chances of being hired become much, much greater. The railroads are still a family orientated workplace. During hiring sessions the interviewer will almost always ask if you have family working there. Railroads do like people who have college classes. They have recruited at places that teach engine maintenance. When I was hired over half my class had a degree of some sort. Most everyone in my class had either a degree or someone who already worked at the railroad in their family. Now is a very good time to try to get on with a railroad. They are hiring in many of the crafts now. One thing that is very true is senority. Senority means everything. If you change crafts then you start over in your senority.


    knowing someone that works for the railroad or haveing family working for the railroad holds NO PULL now a days...back in the old days it did..and that was almost the ONLY way to get on back then... but anymore... knowing someone dose very little to help your chances out... since most of the large carrieres are going to farmed out training programs at colleges around the country... what it comes down to know is if you have the money to get into a training program at a college..and if you meet the basic requirements to get hired aka... no DUIs..criminal record... pass the school...pass the drug test... pass the color blindness test... as well as other hoops that you will have to jump through... like i said befor..knowning someone or haveing family is no more help to getting on anymore... the only thing it dose is give you a little inside track as far as what the railroads are like... so you know what your about to get into..nothing more...
    csx engineer



    Sorry but I respectfully disagree.

    Over a third of those hired in my class had railroad relatives. It makes a HUGH difference here. Our training was done locally by railroaders who we now work with. NONE of my class had taken any railroad classes. Two of my class already have been promoted into other crafts and several (including myself) are being considered to move into other crafts also.

    It may be different out east but here family makes a big difference in getting on with the railroad. Many of the people I talk with have brothers, fathers, and uncles working here. Family is a big deal here. We even have a husband wife team.

    I have talked with several classes that came in after my class. Many of them too have relatives already working here. Don't be fooled, here family does matter. Almost every interviewer will ask if you have family working for the railroad. If you answer yes, then the next question is, "Who?" It also makes a big difference in being promoted here, either into a different craft or up the lader.

    As far as management goes, they are looking into those with railroad related degrees BUT they are still very much promoting those who already work for the railroad.

  • QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

    QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98

    QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

    One thing these posts have not considered is family. IF you already have family working at the railroad then your chances of being hired become much, much greater. The railroads are still a family orientated workplace. During hiring sessions the interviewer will almost always ask if you have family working there. Railroads do like people who have college classes. They have recruited at places that teach engine maintenance. When I was hired over half my class had a degree of some sort. Most everyone in my class had either a degree or someone who already worked at the railroad in their family. Now is a very good time to try to get on with a railroad. They are hiring in many of the crafts now. One thing that is very true is senority. Senority means everything. If you change crafts then you start over in your senority.


    knowing someone that works for the railroad or haveing family working for the railroad holds NO PULL now a days...back in the old days it did..and that was almost the ONLY way to get on back then... but anymore... knowing someone dose very little to help your chances out... since most of the large carrieres are going to farmed out training programs at colleges around the country... what it comes down to know is if you have the money to get into a training program at a college..and if you meet the basic requirements to get hired aka... no DUIs..criminal record... pass the school...pass the drug test... pass the color blindness test... as well as other hoops that you will have to jump through... like i said befor..knowning someone or haveing family is no more help to getting on anymore... the only thing it dose is give you a little inside track as far as what the railroads are like... so you know what your about to get into..nothing more...
    csx engineer



    Sorry but I respectfully disagree.

    Over a third of those hired in my class had railroad relatives. It makes a HUGH difference here. Our training was done locally by railroaders who we now work with. NONE of my class had taken any railroad classes. Two of my class already have been promoted into other crafts and several (including myself) are being considered to move into other crafts also.

    It may be different out east but here family makes a big difference in getting on with the railroad. Many of the people I talk with have brothers, fathers, and uncles working here. Family is a big deal here. We even have a husband wife team.

    I have talked with several classes that came in after my class. Many of them too have relatives already working here. Don't be fooled, here family does matter. Almost every interviewer will ask if you have family working for the railroad. If you answer yes, then the next question is, "Who?" It also makes a big difference in being promoted here, either into a different craft or up the lader.

    As far as management goes, they are looking into those with railroad related degrees BUT they are still very much promoting those who already work for the railroad.


    i still dont think so... a few people that hired out where im at... you can count them on 1 hand that have family that is working on the railroad..eveyone that came out to the railroad with me and people that hired out after me....all came out from a choo choo U school ..including the ones that have family already working...and haveing family working already gets NO speical addvantages over eveyone else when it comes to being called to engin serive... they take people here on a senoirty bacies by termial to engin school.....and when i hired out they never asked me if i knew anyone or had any family that worked for the railroad... the only advantage here of haveing anyone that is a close family memeber already working for the railroad is that the new hire that has the dad already working for the railroad..... is that he/she knows the lifestyel already..and that IS IT... as far as being trained...i too was trained localy by the people i work with now... but the family ties still dont have any pull to getting promotions or anything like that here....
    csx engineer
    "I AM the higher source" Keep the wheels on steel
  • well i went to NS hiring session yesterday it was fun but only made it halfway through. more info on this going to be on my website. http://ztrainman.tripod.com/
    I like NS but CSX has the B&O.
  • to CSXengineer a question for you...where do you work out of im a CSX conductor working out of philly
  • I'm a newly hired conductor for CSX.. everything csxengineer says is right but school is tough i was in a class with 20 people and we lost 4 before school ended and another 5 before we marked up as conductors from a trainee...you have to study all the time before you even get your feet on a car or in a yard
  • Where is the question?
  • QUOTE: Originally posted by sphillyconductor

    to CSXengineer a question for you...where do you work out of im a CSX conductor working out of philly
    im on the other side of the state bro...
    csx engineer
    "I AM the higher source" Keep the wheels on steel
  • I hired straight out of high school (though that was ten years ago).......go to work for a shortline and get experience, dont pay to go to school unless you are just bent on getting hired on with CSX only. Although, when I hired out....I hired on CSX just fresh out of high school, and they paid me to go to school, what a difference 10 years makes[:)]