Just finished up 1st week @ NARS

Just wrapped up week one at NARS, it's pretty cool so far, alot of work, reading, writing, studying, etc..

Lectures have been informative, I've got a great instructor, he explains everything really well. But, as has been said before, the instructors do move at a pretty brisk pace in terms of covering the materials, so if you're foggy on something you better ask, otherwise I can promise you, it would be very easy to get lost quickly...

To those who are slated to come later this year, or who are considering it, I'll simply say this... It's 100% on you to ask, and you paid alot of money to be here so you may as well spend the $$ wisely, and ask when in doubt or if you are unsure about something the instructors cover.

Anyway, gotta run, gotta get to class... If anyone has any questions, etc.. ask or PM me and I'll try ot get back to you ASAP...

Late,

JuKayes

jukayes, who is your instructor?

narsgrad,

Week one was Jeremy Hammett, but he's out this week.

So during Week 2 we've had Bill Parks... I'm told he (Bill) is one of the founders of the NARS program along with Nacho... So I guess if you're gonna have a substitute, he's probably not a bad one to have...

Next week we'll be back with Jeremy though, and we'll have him until we go out to Chigger for our yard training...

Like I said so far, so good... I'm digging it, but I also know that with only 1.5 weeks down, I've still got a long road ahead...

The only real complaint I'd say I have so far is the weather... I'm from Houston, so needless to say it's a little colder up here than I'm accustomed to... But even so I probably shouldn't complain too much about it, especially since it's only snowed once.. knock on wood!!

Well gotta get, got 9 pages of homework calling my name..

Late..

Save your homework youll need it if you come over to BNSF! Which btw I got in my hot little hands a letter that states we are hiring a record number again this year! 160 in my terminal alone and we only had 75 come through last year.

Well we're nearing the end of Week 4....... Wish me luck y'all Friday is our final..... I've been studying my tail off...

All in all I feel okay, I've put in alot of time studying, reading, working through different situations / scenarios, etc..

I've still got the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow to bang the books one last time... But overall I feel confident, not cocky, just confident.... We'll see come Friday...

We've got a practice test tomorrow, and today I took a mini mock-up on the GCOR and got a 98%... If I can do that come Friday I'll have ZERO compalaints...

Anyway, gonna get back to the books...

Late,

-J

I just graduated from nars dec 23. I really dont think that you will have anything to worry about taking the final, if you have been doing well on the quizes than you will do fine on the final. The hardest part is after you get out of the school and waiting for the email that you have a conditional offer of employment. It takes weeks just to get that then you might have a start date months after that (which is the situation i am in). But hopefully going to this school will work out for both of us. good luck

I passed!! We did the GCOR final today, got 95% (1st try)...

Not what I was shooting for, but all things considered I'm pleased.. .. It's good enough to get me to the next phase....

I have a quick question for you, since you had your interview did they mention to you how long it would be before you were contacted? They changed the testsince you guys had it. Some guy got ahold of the answers for the then current final and screwed it up for my class. I have my final this thursday and will see how it goes.

Mike

I was told it would be sometime in the next 2-3 weeks give or take... Specifically that if they were not interested in you. That you would get an e-mail from them letting you know. But that in this case if you do not hear from them, you can consider youself, "still under consideration"... In other words in this case no news is good news...

I heard about the test being stolen... They came into our class before we headed out for our yard training at Chigger, and told us they were aware of it, were still investigating, and that they would be changing the test... I can't believe someone would be stupid enough to pull something like that! Not to mention being a real jerk to those who either had yet to take the test or who have to re-take it...

I worked my tail off to make the grade I did... But just as with anything in life I guess there'll always be someone who rather than put in the work wants to take a shortcut... It just sucks for those who go out and make the effort, put in their time banging the books, only to have one jerk-off screw it up for everyone else.

Not to mention the issue of the whole object of taking the course is so that you learn this stuff... I don't want to be the guy who runs into that jerk out on the rails a year from now only to find that he/she cheated and doesn't know what the hell their doing and ends up causing an accident that puts my safety, and the safety of others at risk.

Anyway, good luck with the test... If you put your study time in, you should be fine..

"I was told it would be sometime in the next 2-3 weeks give or take...Specifically that if they were not interested in you."


Can you clarify that for me, I dont really understand what you mean?

Mike

Meaning they will be notifying you within the next 2-3 weeks if they've elected not to hire you.

And that if you do not get an e-mail to that effect that you should still consider yourself a viable candidate...

Now you may also get an e-mail extending a conditional offer of employment during that time as well... But the way the guys I interviewed with made it sound was that the first round of e-mails will be to notify anyone whom they've elected not to hire...

Just the way it was explained to me, take it for what it's worth...

Have you applied for anyplace in specific, or did you just appply to the "Z File" like the instructors told us? If you applied for someplace specific, then perhaps I could see getting that conditional offer within the next 2-3 weeks...

But for me they don't have anything opened up yet where I am looking to hire out so I just went "Z-File" for now, and am waiting for a posting to show up for the area I am looking for....

Hope that helps some... Maybe one of these other guys that's already been through the whole process with NARS and then hiring out can shed a little more light on things than I can though, especially since I am kinda in the same position that you're in... Just playing the hurry-up and wait game....

Later,

Justin

Everybody in my class just applied for the Z file. At the interview, they ask you your top two choices of where you'd like to hire out, so there's no need to resubmit your application online when the location you want to hire out at shows up on the Internet.

The waiting certainly is the hardest part. For me, waiting on the conditional offer was not nearly as bad as waiting for the final letter after going through the strength test and medical exam.

What bnsfjordan said is correct, in fact after i left nars i came home and saw the location i wanted posted on the board, so i applied for it, it came back and said you have not been chosen for the interview, go to nars! LOl But about a week later i got the conditional offer for employment for that location. It took almost a month after leaving class to get that.

Bnsfjordan: before you got the hire package did you recieve anything from them letting you know about your background check or physical. The waiting here is driving me nuts.

JuKayes wrote:Meaning they will be notifying you within the next 2-3 weeks if they've elected not to hire you.

And that if you do not get an e-mail to that effect that you should still consider yourself a viable candidate...

Now you may also get an e-mail extending a conditional offer of employment during that time as well... But the way the guys I interviewed with made it sound was that the first round of e-mails will be to notify anyone whom they've elected not to hire...

Just the way it was explained to me, take it for what it's worth...

Have you applied for anyplace in specific, or did you just appply to the "Z File" like the instructors told us? If you applied for someplace specific, then perhaps I could see getting that conditional offer within the next 2-3 weeks...

But for me they don't have anything opened up yet where I am looking to hire out so I just went "Z-File" for now, and am waiting for a posting to show up for the area I am looking for....

Hope that helps some... Maybe one of these other guys that's already been through the whole process with NARS and then hiring out can shed a little more light on things than I can though, especially since I am kinda in the same position that you're in... Just playing the hurry-up and wait game....

Later,

Justin

Now Im just worried that after my interviewer mentioned " I would know something in about 2 weeks". I feel I may have screwed up and I lost any opportunity at getting a job with BNSF.

He did ask me however what my two choices were as to where I would like to work. I mentioned my two and also I am willing to work anywhere.

So, now back to studying and worrying my head off.

Mike

Wannertant wrote:Bnsfjordan: before you got the hire package did you recieve anything from them letting you know about your background check or physical. The waiting here is driving me nuts.

Wannertant, I received my final letter from BNSF about 2 1/2 weeks after my strength test. During that time I heard absolutely nothing about my background check or physical. The email you get from BNSF will notify you that you've passed the background check and physical.

ADP will also email you regarding the results of your physical. However my email from ADP didn't come until seven weeks after I got my final letter from BNSF!!

I know what you mean about the waiting. For those 2 1/2 weeks, I was a nervous wreck, LOL.