This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
April 2016
— by Julie Sneider, senior associate editor
Most Class Is offer work experience opportunities to college students interested in finding out first hand what it’s like to work for a railroad before they graduate and embark on a career.
Many of those opportunities come in the form of internship programs available in a variety of departments, such as operations, information technology (IT), finance, corporate communications, and sales and marketing.
And, if all goes well, college seniors might land a good-paying job offer after successfully completing an internship.
For railroads, hiring interns can help add to their future talent pool. CSX, for example, offers a summer internship program that focuses on hiring and developing young leaders in specific areas. The Class I uses internships to create a pipeline of talent for entry-level hiring, as well as candidates for its management training and leadership development programs.
"Every summer, CSX's interns bring a fresh perspective and innovative ideas to our current business priorities to help our company succeed," said Michelle Mullen, CSX's director of talent acquisition, in an email. “By providing internship opportunities to the best and brightest, we're building the foundation for the next generation of leaders and the future of railroading."
To be considered for a CSX internship, applicants must be enrolled in an undergraduate or post-baccalaureate degree program at a college or university.
This summer, CSX will offer about 50 paid, 12-week internships at its headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla. More than half of those interns will work in IT as part of the company’s increasing focus on using technology to improve safety, service and efficiency, according to CSX spokeswoman Kaitlyn Barrett.
CSX interns will complete a full orientation course on the company and industry; attend "lunch-and-learn events" hosted by company leaders who invite interns to learn about topics of interest; attend a volunteer opportunity; and work on business-specific projects. Many interns will wrap up the summer by presenting their projects to senior leaders.
CSX already had filled more than half of its 2016 summer internship slots by mid-March, but students are still encouraged to search for openings and apply online at the railroad’s website, Barrett says. As of March 21, the Class I was advertising internships in the railroad’s finance and IT departments.
To qualify for an IT internship at CSX, a student must be seeking a bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems/technology, engineering, mathematics or a related field of study. The student also must have a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 in his or her major. For finance department interns, CSX prefers students who are pursuing a degree in finance, accounting, business administration, management, economics, mathematics, computer systems or engineering.
Class Is' intern recruitment strategies include promoting those job opportunities on their websites — CSX, Norfolk Southern Railway, CN, BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad all promote their programs online. Recruiters also attend job fairs and try to form tight ties with career guidance advisers and rail-industry association chapters at colleges, universities and technical schools that churn out students in engineering, logistics and other major degrees of interest to railroads.
When recruiting on college and university campuses, NS Manager of Recruiting Sharona Stimpson talks up her company as well as the pluses of working for an industry with a rich history.
For example, freight-rail employees are among the most highly paid workers in the nation: In 2014, the average U.S. Class I freight railroad employee earned wages of $86,200 and fringe benefits of $33,400, for total average compensation of $119,600, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
With the benefits and pay, technical training and professional growth opportunities, freight-rail employees tend to stay in the industry for most of their professional career, according to AAR.
When talking to intern candidates, Stimpson also pitches the kinds of experiences they’ll gain by spending a summer working on the railroad.
"We are competing with other companies primarily when it comes to engineers," says Stimpson. "Take Michigan State, for example: When we recruit there, we've got a lot of the automotive companies offering positions to the same sort of people we want to hire. And if we're recruiting at Syracuse [University], we've got GE and other industries that have name and brand recognition."
The Class Is also compete with big companies in other fields in terms of pay or scholarships offered to interns. NS, for example, offers a pay scale for the summer that's based on an annualized salary of $30,000 to $43,000, depending on the student’s class status and work experience. A monthly housing stipend of about $850 is available if a student has to relocate for the summer.
NS revamped its internship program a few years ago to increase the number of engineering students serving internships in the Class I's operating departments, especially engineering and mechanical.
"Many years ago, NS didn’t have many interns in our operating group, and that’s the group we tend to hire the most trainees in," says Stimpson.
The internship program is now a formal part of the company's talent development strategy, Stimpson says. This year, NS expects to hire 144 students for internships on the operations side, and 136 in other areas, including IT and accounting.
NS currently offers a range of work experiences through its cooperative education/intern and management-trainee programs. Internships are offered to undergraduate students and only during the summer months. Co-op positions are offered primarily in mechanical, design and construction and IT areas, and students rotate semesters spent on campus with full-time work at the railroad. The 12-month management-trainee program slots go to graduates who intend to begin their railroad careers with NS.
Interns typically begin their summers on June 1 with railroad safety training. From there, they may be assigned to work with NS track or C&S supervisors, or trainmasters.
And they should be prepared to get a real taste of what it's like to work on a railroad — they won't be spending the summer in an office cubicle.
"If the trainmaster gets a call at 3 in the morning, the intern is expected to get out there, too," Stimpson says. "We want to give them a true railroad experience."
Amelia Joyner found that to be the case. She got her first taste of railroading as an NS co-op student while a sophomore studying mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She knew little about career options in railroading when she came upon NS' booth at a 2011 career fair in Atlanta.
"I talked with the [NS] recruiters, and they told me there was a co-op program for their mechanical department, which went hand-in-hand with my mechanical engineering degree," says Joyner, who ultimately served four rotations as a co-op student at NS. Her first assignment had her working in a car shop at the railroad’s Inman Yard near Atlanta.
"I was sent out to a derailment on my very first day," Joyner says. "I was at the derailment for about six hours, and that was really interesting. I learned all about the cars, what happened and the cause. That was my first day, and I was like, 'Wow, this is totally different than anything I've ever seen.'"
She spent a good deal of time observing and learning what went on in a rail-car shop and, later, in a locomotive shop. She was assigned and completed tasks. Eventually, she moved into supervisory activities.
"Honestly, it was a real good glimpse into what the railroad does — and that absolutely hooked me," Joyner says.
She returned for additional co-op rotations in her junior and senior years, and after graduation, she enrolled in the NS management trainee program.
Joyner's experience of "getting hooked" on railroading as a future career path is exactly the kind of result Class Is hope for when they hire interns. Stimpson estimated that 20 percent to 25 percent of NS interns sign on with the company after completing their education.
"The internship program does two things: It allows us to diversify our talent pipeline, and it gives the intern a true railroad experience," says Stimpson. "That experience also gives us an opportunity to have what’s basically an extended job interview with that intern."
Email comments or questions to julie.sneider@tradepress.com.
Related Topics: