I’m possibly considering a career change from what I’m doing right now - and with my interest in RR’s and because I love to do outdoor work I’m possibly looking at doing getting a Management Trainee position.
The only thing for me is that I am located in Chicago and I would need to stay in this area - I know that CSX and I believe NS with their trainee programs require you to relocate to wherever in their system.
Is that true of all RR’s or do other RR’s have management trainee programs that would allow me to stay in the Chicago area?
If you go into railroad management, get a suitcase ready, keep it packed and close to the door.
Teach your wife or significant other how to buy and sell a house, and how to deal with movers.
Buy Christmas, birthday and graduations gifts ahead of time, wrap them and hide them, tell your wife where they are hidden and when to give them to your kids, because you will not be there to do that yourself.
It’s a long shot, but you could try the Belt Railway of Chicago. As they only operate in the Greater Chicago area, there probably wouldn’t be that much out of town travel or relocation to another city.
But as noted above, if you’re in transportation, generally, keep a suitcase ready and packed… The way things generally work in transportation, if they know you like Chicago, you will be sent to anywhere but Chicago… [(-D]
My suggestion would be to hire out as someone who actually does the work. You have to come in with a high-school diploma, pass a physical, pass a pee test, get trained by the company, and pass a rule test. If you’re management material, keep an eye out for good openings, keeping in mind that they prefer a college degree for management types.
If you go directly into a management trainee program, be prepared for the derision of most of the people who know that they can do their job and strongly suspect that you can’t. And be prepared to have the bosses dump the least inviting tasks on you, and to blame you when things go wrong.
(And, if you’re like most managers who hire out on the UP, you’ll be begging for the day when you can leave Chicago! Be very careful what you ask for!)
So what do I think a RR management trainee does? Hmmmm…
Works long, weird hours including holidays…
Cleans up other people’s messes…
Gets all the flak when something goes wrong…
Does that sound about right? Yes I’m aware of all those things, and I have a strong wanderlust about me and that doesn’t phase me. Getting back to my original question what is a concern of mine is that will ALL railroads move you around at their whim or will some let you have a permanent station (like Chicago) - and by that I don’t mean that I expect to be home every night but I expect Chicago to remain my permanent residence, so what I don’t want is one day UP telling me ok you need to move out to Reno NV or someplace or you lose your job.
It’s really a nasty job. You will go where they want you to. So yes, if you work for UP and they tell you to go to Reno, you either go or brush up your resume.
But Carl offers wise advice. If you really want to be a railroad manager - hire out in the ranks and learn how to be a railroader first. Plus you will work less and earn more.
If you hire on as a management trainee first, then when things go wrong(and they will) it will be your head on the chopping block. If you have seniority then you can always fall back on that. If you decide to do this(we tried to warn you), then you will always be on call, you will get up in the middle of the night and go to derailments, crossing accidents, fatalities, and all the other million things that happen out here.
When the men break their boots off in your arse(and they will) and really start to drag things out, you will have to answer for all the overtime those guys are making. Sure you’ll tell them they really need to pick things up, and they will in turn throw the rulebook and smack you in the face with it. We have the same thing going on right now. The big boss is giving the TM hell because the guys are making 12 everyday, but guess what, they cant find any rule violations.
If you treat the men with respect, you will get some of that back, and they will help you. If not, your career will be a short one, as the men will make or break you, make you look good or look like a fool.
Ok getting back on track, you will go wherever they tell you to. Want to stay where you’re at? Dont go into management. You either go where they tell you or you go find another job. It’s that simple.
“If the job’s as bad as everyone says it is, why does anyone do it?” Well, in an odd way, and speaking from a bit of experience, I suspect it’s almost like being int the military, more a vocation than a job. You either “feel the pull” or you just don’t. Being in the military’s not much fun for the guys and gals in Afghanistan or Iraq, but it can be great fun once you’re home and back in a normal routine. You just know that you’ve got to be willing to take the bad with the good, or you just move on. That’d be my guess.
That about sums it up. Bad is a relative term. I know people who like to be uprooted every so often. They get bored where they’re at, and moving along is a nice way to shake things up. I used to be one of those (until I got married). I moved where ever my employer sent me. On top of that, I travelled alot.
I have to agree with getting hands on experience first, prior to going into management. There’s just no good substitute for five solid years of OTJ experience. If you put your mind to it you can learn the business in that time (transportation isn’t that complicated), and then you will be well equipped to become a manager if you are so inclined.
As was also mentioned by another poster, the OJT will not only give you a solid grounding in the business, it will also engender respect from those who will be reporting to you and who will be looking to you for direction. In order to lead your team effectively you will need their respect and confidence, and the only way to get that is to show that you can do your job capably and that you have a solid understanding of what their jobs entail.
So in being in RR management, is it common to get uprooted a lot or if you are assigned to a major terminal like Chicago is it a pretty safe bet you’ll stay there?
The other thing about hiring out as an “agreement” employee is that you will build up some seniority. Keep paying your dues, and you’ll continue to rack it up if you go into management. And, if you don’t like management (or management doesn’t like you), you can go back–usually. But if you hire out as a management trainee, there’s no parachute, golden or otherwise.
Sawtooth, you ask why people stay with it if it is so terrible. The truth is that a lot of them don’t. We saw many management-trainee graduates pass through our terminal, so many that one almost needed a scorecard to keep them straight. Many got discouraged at the conditions, the pay, the long nights, and the fact that everything was their fault, whether they understood it or not.
One I knew told me it completely wrecked his railfan hobby and how he viewed the railroad.