Becomming a Freight Car Repairman

I reciently was contacted by a friend that is a supervisor in the locomotive shop. His father in law is the head of the car shop and he was telling his father in law about me and that i would make a great employee. My friend knows that i got a dui 5+ years ago and i have it listed on my application even though it asks for traffic violations in the past 5 years. The reason i still wrote it down is that i don't want it to come back on my background check and ruin my opportunity on getting hired. My friend told me that his father in law put me down on a list for an interview and said that if i do well on the tests i should be able to get the career. I don't drink anymore and that mishap changed my life for the best. atleast it did in me not drinking anymore hopefully it don't ruin my chance of becomming an employee. I am wondering if anyone can tell me what the policy is on how far back they will require my record to be clean. I have had no mishaps since the incident and i intend to keep it that way. I am totally honest on my application and listed the info about my dui eventhough i didn't need to. Can someone clear this up? I have many friends that are employees at NS that have told me that i would be ok after 5 years. TRUE?

Hi Cramer. I applaud your honesty and your apparent life-style change, but I don't know if it was the wisest thing to give information that was seemingly unecessary. I think that the best rule of thumb in a situation like this is to carefully go by their book as regards to disclosure. If they want your history for five years, give them your history for five years. It can be a roll of the dice if an attitude is taken positively by a prospective employer who may gain negative information that he didn't ask for, in spite of the fact that you were acting in good faith. Is there any chance of retracting this application, and renewing it with one that doesn't have this information ? There is an old saying. "Don't wake up the sleeping giant." You made a mistake five plus years ago, you paid for it, it's over, now don't let it continue to be a negative force in your life, especially when you don't have to revisit it. I hope that you get a boss with good common sense and get hired, but just in case, you might want to familiarize yourself with any rights that you might possibly have for an appeal, if any, if you are denied a job based upon this information. Keep that part to yourself right now. Maybe if you get wind that things are getting dicey, approach your friend and his father in law with your side of the story? I would wait however before I made that move. The ball seems to be in their court now. See what they do with it and then roll with it.

Hey guys. I just recieved an e-mail stating that i have an interview this week. everyone that i talked to told me that i would be ok with the DUI charge and that it is the best thing to let them know ahead of time. I talked to a supervisor there and he said that i'll be ok as long as i pass my tests. Is there anything i should know about the tests going into them? Thanks for the help

Yes -it will be a pre employment drug test----if your not clean---dont take it---if your clean you have nothing to worry about. As far as your past mistake-----if the railroad did not hire people that have made past mistakes like your-------there would not be anybody working here----let the past go---you have learned from your mistake-good luck