Recruiting the best talent:
Building the team for growth
"We looked at this as a rare opportunity to tap into a source of well-trained and experienced people."
Tom Mullenix, Human Resources department
Adding experience to NS
"We recognized early on that we had something unusual here," says Tom Mullenix, referring to the chance for one company to hire, develop, and train as many as 11,000 people already employed in its industry.
 Tom Mullenix NS Assistant Vice President, Human Resources department, Norfolk, Va., 28 years' service |
"We looked at this as a rare opportunity to tap into a source of well-trained and experienced people," he says.
Looking back on 1998's management hiring efforts, Mullenix is pleased with an overall job acceptance rate of nearly 80%. Of the jobs offered for management positions in the field, acceptance was more than 95%.
Representatives of NS and CSX worked together to establish hiring guidelines. The two railroads agreed to "an open job market atmosphere," where they held informational sessions for prospective employees followed by job interviews and offers.
In all, the process took nearly nine months to introduce NS to prospective employees, interview them, give NS management whose departments had openings an opportunity to consider candidates, and make job offers.
Rick Davison, who worked in Conrail's Human Resources department, was one of the first to accept employment at NS. Months later when colleagues still at Conrail were considering offers from NS, Davison lobbied on behalf of his new employer. He and 12 others who took jobs at NS early in 1998 served as "ambassadors" to promote working for the larger NS.
 Rick Davison NS Director- Selections and Placement, Human Resources department, Norfolk, Va., 26 years' railroad service |
"It was good for me not only to be using my professional skills and talents with actual recruiting, but also to be helping attract some of the key talent NS was interested in," Davison says.
He and his fellow ambassadors telephoned prospective NS employees and sometimes traveled to Philadelphia to host information sessions.
"We all felt we added some value to NS' recruiting efforts," he says. "We realized we were an asset in NS' hiring strategy."
With recruiting behind him, Mullenix says he's looking forward to training and developing the new NS workforce in 1999 and beyond.
"I can't wait to get to Day One," he says, "so we can let this new organization work and provide service to our customers."
Training to work as a team
When Joe Gelmini describes training people to operate a larger NS system, he mentions three areas of focus, two of which were addressed in 1998.
 Click to enlarge After Day One, NS will oversee regular re-certification activities for Conrail locomotive engineers on the divisions NS operates. This Conrail engineer prepares for re-certification in a locomotive simulator. |
The first was that NS recruit, hire, and train enough people in the field to handle traffic levels NS expects after Day One.
To prepare, NS hired and trained nearly 3,000 people, including:
- new conductors;
- locomotive engineers;
- shop-craft employees, such as carmen, electricians and machinists;
- new train dispatchers;
- track maintenance employees; and
- signal maintenance employees.
At the height of training at NS' teaching facility at McDonough, Ga., instruction was under way two shifts a day and, at times, around the clock.
 Joe Gelmini NS Director- Workforce Development, Human Resources department, McDonough, Ga., 30 years' service |
The second area of focus was that NS prepare materials and provide training for Conrail nonagreement employees in how NS runs trains and operates its business.
This training, which must be be accomplished before Day One to facilitate a smooth transition, involved instruction in NS software for paying employees, billing customers, keeping track of cars, collecting revenues, ordering materials, and many other systems.
The third and largest area will be addressed after Day One and includes training agreement employees in such NS operations as how to use its crew management system, paperless payroll system, and car-tracking systems.
"Our efforts involve training thousands of people in how we do business at NS," says Gelmini, "and all of it is critical to our operations."
Gelmini says nearly all of the 11,000 Conrail employees joining the NS team will have received some training by the end of 1999.
"This transaction is a big job," Gelmini says. "But NS and Conrail people working together will do it and do it well."
Looking forward to working at NS
Good communications: That's what Jaquie Taylor and other Conrail employees have wanted most during the transition to a larger Norfolk Southern.
She has appreciated information sessions conducted by NS' Transportation department. "The NS people have told us exactly what the company expects from our particular positions," she says. "You can't ask for more than that."
 Jaquie Taylor Conrail Division Manager- Administration, Dearborn division, Detroit, 30 years' railroad service |
She's hopeful communications will remain a priority. "I want to keep those lines open. I've seen good communications so far."
Conrail employees, Taylor says, want their railroad viewed as a solid operation. "We want it to run as efficiently as it has before," she continues. "We're proud of this railroad, and when we hand it over, we want it to be a job well done."
Railroad transactions are nothing new for Taylor, who was with Penn Central before Conrail was formed. She didn't find the current transaction surprising when the announcement came in 1997.
"We're excited about it," she says. "Personally, I'm thrilled I was offered a job with NS. I'm optimistic about the transaction, and I'm looking forward to getting involved with NS."
Conrail, she says, has long operated with a team approach where everybody pulls together to get the job done.
"If we continue with that concept," Taylor says, "everything will be all right."
"This transaction is a big job. But NS and Conrail people working together will do it and do it well."
Joe Gelmini, Human Resources department
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NS will employ about 11,000 Conrail people. The majority will begin work for NS on Day One. |