American Railroad company wants to hire 3,000 veterans

Bringing America Back: Working on the Railroad
The railroad industry is on the mend and looking for new employees.
01:58
05/05/2012

The nation’s freight railroads have an almost 200 year commitment to the nation’s service men and women. Between 20-25 percent of current employees are veterans. Today, we continue this tradition by especially targeting veterans as we plan to hire more than 15,000 new employees, approximately 3,000 of whom are expected to be veterans. GI Jobs ranked four freight railroad companies in the top twenty of its 2011 “Military Friendly Employers” list. With an average annual salary and benefit package of $107,000, veterans who join the freight rail industry can expect a well-paid job—and one that can never be shipped overseas.

FREIGHT RAIL'S MILITARY VETERANS
Gary Adkins
Manager of Signals and Communications
Canadian National
Chicago, IL
17 years in the industry
6 years in the military
Base: Twenty-nine Palms, CA

As a small child, Gary Adkins remembers wanting to grow up to be in the military and work for the Illinois Central Railroad where his father, a Vietnam War veteran, had operated trains and was later an assistant superintendent.

So after leaving the U.S. Marines in 1994, Gary continued to follow his dream and took a job with the Illinois Central as a trackman laborer. Responsible for maintaining track, he steadily climbed the ranks to his current job as manager of signals and communications for Canadian National (CN), which merged with the Illinois Central in 1999. Read More »