Anyone get rejected first time interviewing?

Long story short I applied for the first time to NS at an open hiring session.
No application just showed up. There's were 250 people there but I got all the way down to the
Last 25 who were given interviews. Truth is I interviewed well....but I come from the corporate world
And one of the interviewers kept asking if I was truely going to be cut out for this line of work since I
Don't have any of it in my work history. I did everything I could to explain that I would have no problem
Which is true, I was a two sport college athlete and come from up north where it's brutally cold and spent
My whole life outside.

Sadly...I got the rejection email a few days later. It's pretty discouraging to get that far and then get rejected.
Will this effect me the next time I apply? Will they just assume since Iv already been denied I'm not cut out for the job
Or is this one of those things where you apply apply apply and good things eventually happen?

Any advice appreciated. *on my phone sorry about grammar.*

Chico,
I'm in the same situation that you describe below.
While it is frustrating that HR does not provide any feedback on what may have caused them to reject you, I think you should take it as a positive sign that you were given an opportunity to interview, coming in as a walk-in to a hiring session.

Personally, I'm hoping that it's a numbers game and that persistence will pay off (i.e. reapplied for the position the day after receiving the Non-Select notice). I'd recommend for you to keep trying and, if given the opportunity during a future interview, to pose your original question directly to the actual hiring staff.

P.S. Others on the forum indicate that NS is ramping down their hiring for transportation positions for the time being, so that should be something to consider with regard to your next attempts.

-SAR

The fact that you think people get hired on their first try is rather optimistic. It took me well over 4 sessions to get hired.

I should add that NS is furloughing people left and right currently. I would honestly wait for some time to try to hire on. Only place that people are needed is Atlanta. Lots and lots of retirements there.

Yeah I got rejected the first time after making it, into the interview on 1st testing session which I thought was good. And now that I am hearing of these furloughs I am kind of relieved that I did not get it because it may have all been for nothing anyway. But I don't know how furloughs work that well

sarsnavy05 wrote:Chico,
I'm in the same situation that you describe below.
While it is frustrating that HR does not provide any feedback on what may have caused them to reject you, I think you should take it as a positive sign that you were given an opportunity to interview, coming in as a walk-in to a hiring session.

Personally, I'm hoping that it's a numbers game and that persistence will pay off (i.e. reapplied for the position the day after receiving the Non-Select notice). I'd recommend for you to keep trying and, if given the opportunity during a future interview, to pose your original question directly to the actual hiring staff.

P.S. Others on the forum indicate that NS is ramping down their hiring for transportation positions for the time being, so that should be something to consider with regard to your next attempts.

-SAR

Hey thanks for the response, good to see im not the only one in this boat. Obviously I am glad to have gotten to the interview stage and gain that experience but of course its only natural to want the job once you make it to that point. I know railroads hire rapidly when business picks up, from what I am hearing most likely the summer time, will just have to keep applying. Good luck to both of us! Haha

jkell1234 wrote:Yeah I got rejected the first time after making it, into the interview on 1st testing session which I thought was good. And now that I am hearing of these furloughs I am kind of relieved that I did not get it because it may have all been for nothing anyway. But I don't know how furloughs work that well

Well it is still best to get hired on as soon as possible if you want to make a career out of it which is what I want, once you are in you start building seniority and get the first few years of possible furloughs out of the way. Good luck to you!

Acela150 wrote:The fact that you think people get hired on their first try is rather optimistic. It took me well over 4 sessions to get hired.

I should add that NS is furloughing people left and right currently. I would honestly wait for some time to try to hire on. Only place that people are needed is Atlanta. Lots and lots of retirements there.

Appreciate the response, it definitely gives me confidence knowing that you were denied several times and eventually did land a job. Any advice you can give as to why you eventually got hired? Or do you feel it was just a numbers game and they needed you the most at that time?
Im aware of the lull in hiring right now, fortunately I live about 3 hours from Atlanta and happy to relocate there so hopefully there will be some hiring events there in the near future.

Chico wrote:

Acela150 wrote:The fact that you think people get hired on their first try is rather optimistic. It took me well over 4 sessions to get hired.

I should add that NS is furloughing people left and right currently. I would honestly wait for some time to try to hire on. Only place that people are needed is Atlanta. Lots and lots of retirements there.

Appreciate the response, it definitely gives me confidence knowing that you were denied several times and eventually did land a job. Any advice you can give as to why you eventually got hired? Or do you feel it was just a numbers game and they needed you the most at that time?
Im aware of the lull in hiring right now, fortunately I live about 3 hours from Atlanta and happy to relocate there so hopefully there will be some hiring events there in the near future.

I attended Modoc. Which helped some.. I learned some stuff there that NS didn't teach. But I think NS did a better job training wise in such a short period of time. If I could go back and take back my time at Modoc, I would. It was a huge sum of money I basically lost to a guy who is basically getting kickbacks to send guys to Wheeling and Lake Erie. Guy also stirred the pot with the Amtrak derailment. Saying things he had absolutely no business saying. On top of that the guy who is there locomotive engineer trainer, was saying things that he had no knowledge of. Such as the Physical Characteristics of the area where the derailment occurred. My terminal runs next to the NEC where the derailment occurred and he has no idea what things are like in that stretch. CNN went to Modoc to find out about things such as operating locomotives, etc. Where IMO, CNN needs to go talk to actual railroaders and find out. Not guys that teach stupid stuff that they teach at training.

I applied all over. A buddy and I found out about a hiring session in Ohio, and took a road trip from Connecticut. Neither of us got picked in the session. A few months later I was hired by BN. NS offered me a job shortly afterwards. This was almost 20 years ago, so I don't know if they still keep lists of potential candidates for later use, but might.

This may be a dumb question but is it possible that don't select nobody out of a hiring session? Reason I ask Is the position that I applied for through NS is still listed on the website as available for applying and never disappeared. Its almost as if they are either a revolving door or they are just not selecting anyone out of the pools they are bringing in.

jkell1234 wrote:This may be a dumb question but is it possible that don't select nobody out of a hiring session? Reason I ask Is the position that I applied for through NS is still listed on the website as available for applying and never disappeared. Its almost as if they are either a revolving door or they are just not selecting anyone out of the pools they are bringing in.

It depends on how slots they need filled. Guys going to LET school, moving to management, quitting, etc. They wouldn't have a hiring session if they didn't think that people were needed. Also NS will have a job for say Altoona, and update the end date every now and then. Hence why it's still posted.

Acela150 wrote:

jkell1234 wrote:This may be a dumb question but is it possible that don't select nobody out of a hiring session? Reason I ask Is the position that I applied for through NS is still listed on the website as available for applying and never disappeared. Its almost as if they are either a revolving door or they are just not selecting anyone out of the pools they are bringing in.

It depends on how slots they need filled. Guys going to LET school, moving to management, quitting, etc. They wouldn't have a hiring session if they didn't think that people were needed. Also NS will have a job for say Altoona, and update the end date every now and then. Hence why it's still posted.

No what I mean is that they just didn't think anyone that attended the session was what they were looking for so they just hold another session. I understand they wouldn't have a session if there was no spots, but with soo many people putting in for these jobs that they are extremely picky and won't compromise on a selection in hope they turn out ok