Just finishing at NARS, any GCOR, or job advise?

Hey Rock,
Good giong on the test, but remember one thing. This is advice from my uncle, who is also an engineer: " It's not the 97% that you have to worry about, but the other 3% can get you in trouble out there."

hey gojoe i thought of a couple more questions. I found out the name of the hotel that they say just opened up it is called value place, it is about 15 minutes away from the school. Just wanted to know if you heard anything about it? And what week were the interviews conducted, and did they do your background check while you were at the school? Also have you have been to hiring sessions off the street,and if so was the interview at the school any different? thanks again for all of your help. Good Luck

Sorry, Wannertant, never heard of Value Place. You should ask Jody Myers about it, she probably has detailed info on it. Just remember, if you go outside the list they give you, try to hagle the best you can for cheaper rates, or extra ammenities at no additional charge, I got free in room high speed internet. Just let them know that you have done you research, and know other places you can go if they won't bend a little bit for you. Our interviews were done on the 5th week, and as far as I know, they dont do the background check untill after the interview and only if they want to hire you. I could be wrong on that, but thats how I understood it. You have a one hour, resume class at about your 2nd week, then you have a week or so to finish it and turn it in, the school creates a book of all the resumes for the current class and sends those books out to the railroads. I haven't been through an interview yet, but I didn't expect to right away, the jobs I've applied for don't close untill Dec 31. I am currently looking around at the shortlines, and trying to put in as many resumes as possible. UP seems to be doing the most hiring right now, but like I said, job posting near me isn't finished accepting resumes yet. I'll let you know how it goes. The BNSF interview was pretty quick, I can give you the standard questions that they asked all of us if you want.

thanks gojoe i think i pretty much know what type of questions they ask. I am wondering if bnsf during the interview gives you kind of a wish list of opening you would like to fill? Or if they do decide to hire you they just say we have opening here do you want it. thanks gojoe

They ask where you would like to work, but don't really give you a wish list. Also, when you turn in your resume, they have a sheet where you put your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice down. But, the way I understand it, is that they prefer to hire people who live near the city they want to work in. The reason for this, what i've been told anyway, is that alot of the places have a five year recall that if hired you must agree to, Meaning that you can go to another station but, if they need you in the original station, you must go back. If im wrong on this, someone please let me know. They do have places that are hard to fill, and may offer those to you, like Mandan, ND, Or Richmond, CA. This hiring stuff is hard for me to answer, being that I'm not quite there yet. Hope i've answered your question.

So gojoe how many more days do you have left?

Well I can tell you for one thing that 3% was my own fault for not reading all the answers Oh well even if you get a D in med school your still a doctor!
Didnt mean anything by the NARS stuff, just saying its a hot button out here. We got people getting hired off the streets with no RR experience whatsoever. Now when we got hired those that were told they had to go to NARS or ELSE are mad. No one in my class had any RR experience unless you count the guy who is a family RR'er.
Now Primary recall is another thing. BNSF might implement this more in the future who knows.Some cases Primary recallhas the 5 years listed like you said other times it can go longer or be permanent. This is to discourage someone from lets say LA coming to Galesburg to get in the door and then after class going back to LA. This is the big problem with system seniority. So heres the deal you hire out and sign a primary recall agreement and in the next 5 years they get short on people they will just go through all those papers and bring back those that are still employed in that class of service.(not sure if you can craft transfer under this or even go to engineer job) But anyway pick close to home if you can.
Oh yeah and if you had/have Lukas for your HR guy be good and polite. He thinks he is god.Dont call him bud or you wont get hte job ( this is no lie)

Wannertant, I'm all finished and home now. Now I'm ready to find work. I'm crossing my fingers that more jobs will open at the first of the year like they said. UP has a few positions that I applied for, but they don't close untill DEC 31st. Route_rock, thanks for clearing up the primary recall bit, does Galesburg have a recall? I keep debating whether or not to go back to galesburg, it used to be such a sh*t hole, but I have family there. I can understand why some may get upset over having to go to NARS when others didn't, but I don't care one way or another, we all just wan't the job doesn't matter how you get it, once youre in youre part of the team. It will be a nice change to get my hands dirty again.

well i wish you all the luck in the world, keep us posted!

I got a conditional offer of employment from BNSF yesterday.

congrats gojoe!!!!!!!!! I just finished my first week of the program, it is going good. Was it one of the places that you put down on your preffered places to work?

yes, of course it's also the closest one to me. Glad to here the course is going well. Who's your instructor?

Joe G town isnt too bad. I am not there anymore I am in Rock Island now ( not bad right out of class eh) but hey come on down! They will take you . Youll do just fine my man hope to hear when your in training here.

Hey route_rock, not bad at all. I got hired for Denver, so it looks like i'll stay here for a while. Maybe someday i'll try to transfer to g-burg.

Gojoe, I believe I was attending NARS during the same time you were. The class ended Oct. 28, and I got a conditional offer of employment from BNSF last Thursday. Did they give you a start date? My offer just states they'll put me in the next available class for my location.