That brings up a good question…do the railroads hire students for the summer? I would think that if they did they would be more along the lines of track maintenance than train personnel.
Summer employment was a staple of railroad employment during the 60’s, such employees were terminated at 89 days, as completing 90 days would have granted full employee status. As the cost of fringe benefits increased and the brotherhoods saw their members ‘overtime’ opportunities dwindle as the carriers have ‘right sized’ their properties, for the most part, it is no longer done. The carriers desire is to have a minimum employment head count and still handle the requirements of business. With entry level jobs now having significant responsibilities attached to them, hiring a individual for a summer only employment term would barely get them trained to the level of being a self sufficient employee by the time they left.
[quote user=“Ulrich”]
That brings up a good question…do the railroads hire students for the summer? I would think that if they did they would be more along the lines of track maintenance than train personnel.
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No, at least not on a class 1. This is a permanent career not a summer fling.
That’s too bad really… Getting started in anything these days is alot harder now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. They should have a program where summer students are selected to shadow experienced heads… pay them a minimum wage. The payoff for the railroad would be that in a year or three down the road some of those will come back with an education and with some idea of what the railroad is all about. Otherwise its a crap shoot…new hires have no idea what they’re in for and we get what we have now…a 60% washout rate for new recruits.
[quote user=“Georgia Railroader”]
Many careers start out as summer flings… It gives the person a chance to see what its all about before making the big commitment. My neighbour is a senior captain with Air Canada. He started out pumping aviation fuel at the local airport at 16, during his summers off. He tells me he worked his way up to sweeping out the hanger and taking out the trash by the following summer! Nowadays those opportunities are fading… you’ve pretty much got to shell out thousands of dollars before you really know if you’ll enjoy it.
Actually, I would argue that is is easier to get hired by a railroad now than 20 - 30 years ago. You no longer need to “know” someone to get hired.
The railroads do have internships in various departments for college-going kids.
Yea it’s a crap shoot, you either decide to leave and pursue something else or stay and make it a career. As far as train service goes there is no taste testing, you either hire on out here and stay or dont. There are internships for other areas but train service isn’t one.
Carrier viewpoint - every additional man on the ground is a potential injury. The more inexperienced, the more injury potential. In today world of litigation they don’t want any summer window shoppers on the property that have a high potential to turn into a injury and the litigation growing out of it.
Many decry nepotism that exists on the railroads - the fact remains that children of existing railroaders have some idea of what they are getting themselves into and are more likely to continue with railroading as a career. The high wash out rate is a cost of doing business in a form of employment that not everyone is cut out for, through either physical abilities, mental abilities or psychological make up.
[quote user=“Georgia Railroader”]
I always thought it would be nice to maybe to get hired as an amtrack conductor or somthing so i could travel around The country. But I think Platoon Leaders Course might get in the way of that. Two summers, six weeks each, don’t think the’ll hire me.
That’s a good point…I forgot about that one. Now that you mention it one of the first things I was asked back in 81 when I appliede at CP and CN was “do you have a relative who works for the railroad?” If the answer was NO then I was told “your chances of getting hired are “slim to none” and slim has already left town”.
Pennsylvania…
Why???
At the December session they told us that the Allentown Terminal had about 240 people on the board, and I presume Harrisburg is of similar size or larger. What with increased business that they also mentioned, pending retirements, promotions to locomotive engineer, time off for mandatory rest, training, recertification, wash-outs, quits, etc., almost any realistic percentage of turnover - 10 to 20 % - would be creating from 25 to 50 new openings per year at each location.
- Paul North.
Yea that’s what they tell people at hiring sessions to keep them interested. They wouldn’t tell you that you may only work a couple times per half. I understand that every location is different, some really need the extra manpower. Then you have other places that are stacked with people who get out maybe twice a week because the company over hires. These are the things they dont tell you at hiring sessions.
That may explain some of that initial hire washout rate. Most people can’t afford to sit around in hopes that next month will be better. I’ve quit jobs because employers expected me to sit around gratis until the work comes in. No thanks!