Hello,
First and foremost, I’m new to the site. I’d like to share with you an experience I’ve had with Amtrak’s hiring practices.
I attended one of Amtrak’s Hiring Events. The career fair certainly ended up being an experience.
Since the event was to begin at 9am I arrived at 730am. Nothing was set up. No signs posters, tables, etc. I asked an employee and they told me to wait in a customers service room. When I got there, the small room was already filled with people. By 9am, a huge line of people snaked out of the room far and away.
Finally HR showed up, surprised by how nothing was set up for the event. They managed find some tables and by 930-10 they were ready to roll. After having us sign in, they split the mass of people up and brought us up to a larger conference room. They told us about what jobs they were hiring for, etc. HR had us sign in again and then took our resumes. We waited for about 30 mins where they brought us to a relatively small waiting room. There were a handful of chairs and a couch, but with at least 50+ people crammed into the room.
It’s now about 1130. Then they tell us they’re going to start the interviews. Now I’m starting to get excited. Sure, the career fair had a bumpy start, but now things were going to run more smooth. That was the hope at least.
Three hours went by and around 230, someone from HR said that they were finally ready to start the process along. We all looked at each other confused. People were visibly upset. We had been waiting hours with no food, no water, because we were under the impression that they were going start the interviews soon.
Then another person from HR said they lost the sign in sheet and we would have to sign in again (for a third time).
That cleared some of the room out. I would say about 15 people just left, upset with the how disorganized the process was. I was annoyed as well, but I stuck it out. After all, a job with Amtrak would be a life changing career. By 345/4, over 8 hours of waiting I finally got an interview.
The actual interview went very smoothly. I waited a few mins outside the interview room and an HR rep brought me down to another office. He congratulated me about getting the position. I asked him which position and he gave me a funny look. He asked “Didn’t they tell you in the interview?”
I said “No, they only told me which positions they were hiring for.”
He didn’t answer, just wrote down the different positions of Usher/OBS/Customer Service Rep.
After I left the event, I was so happy. I didn’t care which job I got, I finally got my foot in the door. They said it would take two weeks to hear back.
A month later, someone from HR reached out and explained how they were sending out formal job opportunities and that the process could take up to a month or more. It has now been over three months since the hiring fair. I’ve reached out to check the status and I’ve gotten no response.
My questions are:
Given the disorganization of the career fair and the lack of response should I be concerned that Amtrak ghosted me?
Also Amtrak has had a few of these career fairs nationwide for a variety of positions, has anyone else attended them? If so, were they disorganized?
Thank you for your time!
