This month I have had two invites to bnsf interviews. The first was in Kelso, Washington for the Longview switching station. By the time I got home I received the thank you but no thank you reply on my email. Upon further investigation I found out that I answered one of the safety questions wrong during my three person panel interview. The email said I could re apply for the conductor trainee position in six months. Yesterday I received a phone call from bnsf asking me to come out to Sheridan Wyoming for an interview for conductor trainee position. I live in sunny California and already drove 1600 mile round trip to Washington to get thank you but no thank you, I don't want to hear the same thing in Sheridan if I go. It's 1300 miles one way. If there is anyone out there that can give me a heads up on the correct answers to the safety questions on the interview I would greatly appreciate it. I want to be able to give all the right answers to the interview panel and land a job/ . I live in California and the economy is for sh%t and I don't for see a turn around anytime soon in the field of construction. I'm a heavy Equipment operator and work is pretty scarce. Any info on how to ace the oral interview would be greatly appreciated. I've already passed the aptitude test and am good for two years as far as I know.
Not sure what they asked you, but everything usually revolves around you being responsible for your own safety and those you're working with and around you. If something happened no matter how minor report it immediately, if you think it's unsafe, stop. As for your travel, from Chicago I drove to Rawlins, WY. with no luck and to Tucson, AZ once where it finally paid off. All that in a full size pick-up and missing 3 weeks of work. If I had to do it again I'd fly (...and I HATE flying) or take a train to the nearest location and rent a car. The worst part was always the such short notice, call on Thursday "be here Tuesday", boss I'll be back next Friday! If you want to work for the railroad that bad just keep trying. Don't just look at BNSF either, sometimes the smaller regionals are just as good if not better. I started with UP and now work for Montana Rail Link and I'm way happier, this small railroad pays better and has much better benefits than a huge class 1 RR, go figure.
I don't plan on giving up. Just want to be able to give interviewers all the right answers. I thought about taking a plane but it would cost a little more then the fuel for the road trip. Looking forward to getting some fishing in while I'm there as well. Thanks for the response mrlxhelper let me know if you here of anything else in regards to BNSF interview questions.
Hi Daddyo, I just started at BNSF in chicago this is only my 2nd week at conductor training and its going very well. First thing to do is to dress nice like dress pants and a nice dress shirt. 2nd thing is to do exactley what they tell you to do when your doing the tests. 3rd is when your at the sit down interview DO NOT LIE about anything you have ever done in your past that was unsafe or wrong, they can tell if you give them some BS or not. When you speak to them be very confident in your answers and if they ask have you ever not been safe dont LIE. Not saying that you did but thats the main reason that they wont hire you. Say the words SAFE,SAFETY,and PROCEDURE. alot and be confident. Thats what I did and It seemed to work well Good luck hope it works out for you. By the way if you do get hired prepare to study ALOT.
Former BNSFer here. I bet it was the question " If another emloyee was breaking a rule or acting usafe what would you do?"That seemed to trip up a lot of people. Always SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY> I told them Iwould mentor the person I was working with and show them where they had done wrong. What if they are senior to you? I would take it up with them anyway and get assistance if needed to help this person. I spent a lovely 4 years there adn got my engineer card out in Denver. Youll love the coal route and the former Colorado & Southern district. Its gorgeous out there but it will drive a Sun worshipper nuts in the winter. Plus not many places to surf lol.Good luck man!
fireball_magee said it, safety safety safety. On paper, and in the interview, that's all they're interested in. If you can convince them that all you care about is safety, you'll get the job. Make it sound like you alone can make the railroad a safer place. And make sure you emphasize that you follow the rules, and do things by the books. Remember, it is managers interviewing you, not railroaders, so the only thing they are interested in is putting warm bodies on trains, and having a zero injury division. Oh, and if you do get hired, expect the short notice stuff to continue. You'll have to do some background check stuff, which the railroad contracts out. After that, they'll tell you when class starts. I got a call on Thursday night and they told me to be in Glendive Monday for class, which was 800 miles away. They tell you not to quit your current job, but then they expect you to just walk out when they do call you back. That'll probably never change, although I was lucky and my previous supervisor knew I had applied to the railroad and his neighbor was a UP retiree, so he had an idea of what was going to happen, so walking out on short notice was not a big problem for him. Oh, and that line about six months between interviews, as far as I can tell, is just a line they feed you. I know more people than I could count who work here, and had their first interview within just a few months, or weeks in some cases, of their second interview, at which they were hired. If you don't manage to get the job at an interview, don't let that stop you from reapplying, even if it is less than six months later.
