Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters

People in this career often have these skills:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.

• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

People in this career often do these activities:

• Signal others to coordinate vehicle movement.
• Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
• Direct emergency management activities.
• Receive information or instructions for performing work assignments.
• Direct passenger or freight transport activities.

• Control equipment that regulates vehicle traffic.
• Record operational details of travel.
• Monitor vehicle movement or location.
• Arrange maintenance activities.
• Inspect locomotives or other railroad equipment.
• Direct maintenance or repair activities.
• Review work orders or schedules to determine operations or procedures.
• Verify information or specifications.
• Prepare accident or incident reports.
• Record operational or production data.
• Collect fares or payment from customers.

• Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers

• Locomotive Engineers

• Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers

• Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks

• Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas

• Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

• Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators

• Segmental Pavers

• Subway and Streetcar Operators