Do you have experience collaborating with the teams of other departments?
Your interviewer wants to learn more about your experience collaborating with other departments and job functions. "It may only take one engineer to operate a train. But it takes some 40,000 crewmembers to operate the company." Therefore, cross-functional communication is key to their operations. So familiarize yourself with the varying departments through their organization that help ensure the successful operation of their rails and unit trains, which includes their admin department, dispatchers, field operations, IT department, mechanical & electrical teams, corporate office, track, structures, & signal teams, every train crew, the BNSF Police, and their logistics department, to name a few.
"I started my career in my internship at ABC Railroad, which allowed me to learn how engineers collaborate with other departments such as dispatch and crew. That grew into working on a couple of large group projects while obtaining my certificate in locomotive engineering. Now, I have worked in rail transport for the past eight years, collaborating with a variety of job functions every day. On a regular day, I speak with dispatch, the train crew, and our engineers multiple times per day. I am a strong communicator, both verbally and written, and take great care to ensure I am delivering clear communication and go to extra lengths to carefully listen and ensure I am understanding correctly whatever is being communicated to me. I look forward to furthering my exposure to cross-functional collaboration if I were to join the BNSF Railway Company."
"We have cross-departmental continuous improvement teams that are challenging the status quo with a focus on continuous improvement," said Jon Gabriel, BNSF's vice president of Service Design & Performance. In fact, in the transportation team alone, there's quite a bit of coordinating: "Train crews consist of a locomotive engineer and conductor. Crews collectively operate about 1,200 trains per day, moving them across the BNSF rail network. The Transportation team also includes crews who work within our rail yards to switch or reassign freight cars to build trains or pick up and deliver freight to customer locations. Only promoted BNSF conductors can become locomotive engineers. Dispatchers who have assigned territory over multiple trains are also part of transportation."
Regardless of whether you have limited experience working with the teams in other departments, or in other areas of the company you work for, your focus should be on being a team player, while exhibiting a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
Cross-functional communication is one of the keys to a successful day at BNSF Railway Company. The interviewer wants to know more about your experience collaborating with other departments and job functions such as dispatch, yard crew, locomotive engineers, and general train crew.
If you are new to the industry, or your career, with limited cross-functional experience, you can try focusing your response on any volunteer work, or experience from your post-secondary education.
Marcie's Feedback
Agreed, regarding the above advice! If you don't yet have any experience collaborating with dispatchers, etc., discuss a time when you worked with others to accomplish a goal (this example can be from your current job or even school). Then explain how your communication and leadership skills will transfer over and allow you to successfully collaborate with the people who work in this field.
Anonymous Answer
I have prior experience working with dispatchers to ensure the tech knew what to expect when he was going out on a job like a down cable. I was sure to pinpoint every aspect and discover unstated issues that could affect the techs' safety.
Marcie's Feedback
In what role were you working when you collaborated with dispatchers? Give specific details so the interviewer understands the context and also so you differentiate yourself from other candidates. Can you talk more about how exactly you communicated with the dispatchers and what the end results were? Also, consider ending your answer by assuring the interviewer that you are fully confident and capable when it comes to collaborating with dispatchers and others in similar roles. Good job!
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