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  • General discussion about working in the railroad industry. Industry employers are welcome to post openings here.
General discussion about working in the railroad industry. Industry employers are welcome to post openings here.

Moderator: thebigc

 #1490196  by gp80mac
 
SlotCanyoneer wrote:
gp80mac wrote:So you've been with the gov't for 11 years. Why in the hell would you want to hire on with CSX? I'm genuinely curious.
I understand your questioning why. Especially with the recent changes in management and such. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to specifically work for CSX, however I live in New England and CSX is the only class one freight RR. So when I saw an opening I applied since job openings for them don’t come up around here very often. It was also within a reasonable distance from me. Only about a 45 minute drive. Which I don’t consider bad.
Fair enough. I still think you're crazy, though.
 #1490273  by SlotCanyoneer
 
gp80mac wrote:
SlotCanyoneer wrote:
gp80mac wrote:So you've been with the gov't for 11 years. Why in the hell would you want to hire on with CSX? I'm genuinely curious.
I understand your questioning why. Especially with the recent changes in management and such. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to specifically work for CSX, however I live in New England and CSX is the only class one freight RR. So when I saw an opening I applied since job openings for them don’t come up around here very often. It was also within a reasonable distance from me. Only about a 45 minute drive. Which I don’t consider bad.
Fair enough. I still think you're crazy, though.
Can I ask you to elaborate on your opinion?
 #1492772  by Engineer Spike
 
I think that the opinion is based on the fact that railroading has gone corporate. Common sense no longer dictates anything. As a new employee, you will be at the bottom of a seniority roster, which means little job security. With the Postal Service, it will never go away. You are likely vested in a government pension too. Just look befor you leap. The grass isn’t too green over here.
 #1494228  by Engineer Spike
 
The railroad corporate climate doesn’t make this field too good. With all the hedge funds getting their hands on the railroads, they have doubled down on the nastiness. I don’t care what they say, the Postal Service will be around forever. If your heart is set on giving the railroad a try, don’t sell the regionals short. Why not look at Guilford? I have several friends there, and they seem happy. Some leave there for even better pay at Amtrak, or commuter rail.
 #1494510  by slchub
 
At Amtrak the 3 person panel is usually made up of the HR rep, the local manager and the local union rep for hiring off the street. Internal app usually forgo the HR rep and usually have a phone interview or in person interview with the direct reporting manager and another manager on the same level as the hiring manager.

It took 2 tries for me to get picked up by the UP in 2004 as a cornductor. It only took 1 try for me to get picked up by Amtrak in 2007 as a re-entry engineer.

Good luck.
 #1501359  by AmtrakLocomotiveEngineer
 
As Engineer Spike said above, the railroad isn't what it used to be. Nowadays due to "equal opportunity" they hire just about anybody, but tend to chose "minorities" and women to meet quotas. Here at Amtrak they're more likely to take a retail store employee over a freight railroader basing their decision on customer service. I understand that trainmen will be dealing with the passengers, but far too often those chosen can't handle all that can go into the job when the shit hits the fan.

If you're in New England and you want to work for the railroad, apply to Amtrak or MBTA Commuter Rail, or Metro-North.....depending on where in NE you are. CSXT did me well during the beginning of my career and I never saw myself going to passenger service. However, once I saw how things were going, and the future not looking like it would turn around, I came to Amtrak and started all over as a new man towards the very bottom of the roster. That was the best decision I could've made.


By the way, not dressing up more was probably their first strike against you when you went to interview with CSXT. You have to realize that usually these carriers have hundreds of applicants for each individual position that is posted. You need to try to stand out, without going overboard. Unfortunately for you, you stood out by not buying a dress shirt and tie for the interview. Sometimes ya have to spend a little money to make money. If you get another interview, do yourself a favor and got to Marshalls or TJ Maxx etc and spend $20/30 on a pair of dress slacks, and another $20 or $30 on a dress shirt/tie combo. :wink:
 #1502133  by SlotCanyoneer
 
Well here’s an update to this thread I created back in October about my railroad job search and subsequent disappointment from not being hired. I was selected for another interview with CSX yesterday for the position of intermodal service employee at one of their terminals not far from me. I’m very familiar with what thisposition involves because I did the same exact job for another intermodal ramp nearby. We weren’t considered railroad employees however even though the same company that was a railroad payed us. This CSX terminal that I interviewed at had been operated by contractors for a long time but CSX decided to get rid of the contractors and hire RR employees to operate the ramp. This means RRB pension, TCU representation, health insurance, etc. 😀 Anyways I absolutely nailed the interview and today I received a conditional offer! I came in to the interview with a lot of confidence because I had prepared well in advance. I wrote a bunch of questions down in a notebook that I had been asked in previous interviews. After the questions I wrote down answers that I thought would be appropriate. I highly suggest anyone going for an interview do this!! It worked wonders. Also when it comes to previous advice on what to wear I definitely took some of that into account. Although I have always gone into any interviews AT LEAST dressed business casual I decided to go out and purchase a button up dress shirt. The kind that one would wear with a tie. I however didn’t wear a tie. In the past I have worn just a polo shirt. Other than that I wore the same attire I had previously. Khakis with a leather belt and a nice pair of leather dockers shoes. I’m extremely happy and even though I didn’t get hired into train service which I would have preferred, this allows me a foot in the door and I could always transfer crafts in the future. Thanks everyone for the advice.
 #1502354  by matawanaberdeen
 
SlotCanyoneer wrote:Well here’s an update to this thread I created back in October about my railroad job search and subsequent disappointment from not being hired. I was selected for another interview with CSX yesterday for the position of intermodal service employee at one of their terminals not far from me. I’m very familiar with what thisposition involves because I did the same exact job for another intermodal ramp nearby. We weren’t considered railroad employees however even though the same company that was a railroad payed us. This CSX terminal that I interviewed at had been operated by contractors for a long time but CSX decided to get rid of the contractors and hire RR employees to operate the ramp. This means RRB pension, TCU representation, health insurance, etc. 😀 Anyways I absolutely nailed the interview and today I received a conditional offer! I came in to the interview with a lot of confidence because I had prepared well in advance. I wrote a bunch of questions down in a notebook that I had been asked in previous interviews. After the questions I wrote down answers that I thought would be appropriate. I highly suggest anyone going for an interview do this!! It worked wonders. Also when it comes to previous advice on what to wear I definitely took some of that into account. Although I have always gone into any interviews AT LEAST dressed business casual I decided to go out and purchase a button up dress shirt. The kind that one would wear with a tie. I however didn’t wear a tie. In the past I have worn just a polo shirt. Other than that I wore the same attire I had previously. Khakis with a leather belt and a nice pair of leather dockers shoes. I’m extremely happy and even though I didn’t get hired into train service which I would have preferred, this allows me a foot in the door and I could always transfer crafts in the future. Thanks everyone for the advice.
Good job and good luck in the new job.
 #1503071  by SlotCanyoneer
 
AmtrakLocomotiveEngineer wrote:Congrats and good luck. Just curios, which auto facility did CSXT get rid of contractors??
Thank you! It’s not an auto facility. It’s the Worcester Intermodal ramp.
 #1503072  by AmtrakLocomotiveEngineer
 
Worcester? That's great to hear! That tells me that CSXT isn't planning on selling. We always figured that they would dump East Worcester & West Springfield asap. Most people expected CSXT to sell off anything & Everything east of the Hudson. Again, good luck.
 #1503101  by Lentinula
 
AmtrakLocomotiveEngineer wrote:Worcester? That's great to hear! That tells me that CSXT isn't planning on selling. We always figured that they would dump East Worcester & West Springfield asap. Most people expected CSXT to sell off anything & Everything east of the Hudson. Again, good luck.
even if they wanted to, Worcester is slammed busy all the time and it would be so silly to just hand over all of New England while its still printing money to someone else just to make things tidy.


Congrats OP
 #1503120  by SlotCanyoneer
 
Lentinula wrote:
AmtrakLocomotiveEngineer wrote:Worcester? That's great to hear! That tells me that CSXT isn't planning on selling. We always figured that they would dump East Worcester & West Springfield asap. Most people expected CSXT to sell off anything & Everything east of the Hudson. Again, good luck.
even if they wanted to, Worcester is slammed busy all the time and it would be so silly to just hand over all of New England while its still printing money to someone else just to make things tidy.


Congrats OP
I think this was discussed early in 2018 when CSX was selling off some of their lines. However I remember hearing that CSX had no interest in selling off the B&A despite rumors. I think it would be crazy for them to sell it. They’re the only class one freight with trackage in New England. And I believe their intermodal route is superior to Pan Am/NS because of their having the double stack clearance.