How to Become a Rail Travellers' Service Agent
Rail passenger systems require service agents to assist travelers with purchasing tickets and arriving at their trains once in the station. With the exception of commuter rail services in large urban areas, all passenger trains in the United States have been operated since 1971 by Amtrak, a government corporation formally known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Even though Amtrak is a federally run corporation, such as the U.S. Postal Service, its jobs are not advertised on the official federal jobs website but through Amtrak's own website. A service agent in an Amtrak station sells coach and sleeping car tickets, operates baggage positions, makes passenger reservations, writes ticket sales reports and completes other forms and reports. An agent must be physically able to carry baggage and express items weighing as much as 50 pounds.
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Instructions
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Sign onto the Internet and go to http://www.amtrak.com. Click on "Site Map" near the bottom of the screen. On the next screen, under the heading Inside Amtrak, click on "Job Opportunities." In the center of the next screen, click on "jobs.amtrak.com." This action will cause a second window to pop up, with the instruction "Select appropriate link below." Work in the second window from this point onward.
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Click on "External Applicants." The next screen will show all of the jobs currently available on Amtrak. Browse by scrolling down. Depending on how many jobs are currently open, it may be necessary to click through to a second page of jobs. Search for jobs with the title "Ticket Clerk." Both full-time and part-time ticket clerk positions exist in the Amtrak system, but at certain times there are no vacancies for such jobs. Check the Amtrak site frequently for new job announcements. If one or more ticket clerk jobs are shown, click in the Job Title column where the position is shown. The next screen will give a complete description of the job duties as well as the requirements for education and experience. If it is desirable to apply for one or more jobs, click on the browser's back button to return to the "Employee Referral Program" screen.
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Register for a log-in name and password. Click on ">>Register" in the top left area of the screen. Once a log-in name and password have been successfully chosen, click on "My Account" to create a profile (this is necessary for online Amtrak job applications). Follow the instructions to create both a Personal Profile and a Resume/Skills Profile. For this task, it will be helpful to have a current resume saved on a computer file that can be copied and pasted into the Amtrak profiles as desired.
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Return to the Job Search screen and follow the prompts to choose locations and types of jobs desired. Click in the box alongside the job to be applied for and then click on "Preview Selected Jobs" at the top of the page. On the next screen, after reviewing the full job description, click on the word "Apply" at top and then click "Perform Job Actions." Follow directions for completing the application using a stored resume.
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Check the email address that appears on your Amtrak resume within one business day of completing your application. For certain positions, a human resources employee will email a form that must be filled out and either emailed or snail-mailed to Amtrak for the application to be considered to be complete. To keep updated on future openings, log in to the Amtrak site and follow the directions to create one or more Job Search Agents. When targeted openings occur, Amtrak will automatically send an email announcing the new vacancies.
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Tips & Warnings
While Amtrak has stations in many large and small cities and towns, some stations are too small to employ an agent and passengers must purchase their tickets online or over the telephone. Applicants hired for a service agent position generally must relocate unless they already live near a major Amtrak train terminal.
