Last week, AMA was joined by Jonathan Garcia-Ventura, Joe Gerig, and Payton Sutton to learn about Amtrak’s internship program and provide members with tailored resume advice!
For those unfamiliar with Amtrak, they are the nation’s only intercity passenger railroad that operates a rail network with more than 500 destinations in 46 US states, Washington D.C., and three Canadian provinces. In 2022, they are celebrating 51 years of service to their customers and are looking forward to developing and expanding America’s rail service through their Amtrak Connects US plan in the next few years. However, Amtrak is more than a railroad service, they are a people-oriented organization that values doing the right thing, putting customers first and excelling together. Amtrak is a staunch supporter of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging practices and has 7 employee resource groups (ERGs) including Unidos for Latino and Hispanic employees, NOTCH 8 for women of Amtrak, Don’t DIS our ABILITY for differently-abled employees, and more.
Their internship program runs every Spring (starting in January), Summer (starting in May), and Fall (starting in August) and to be eligible students must meet the following qualifications:
Actively enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree granting program at an accredited college or university located in the United States.
At least one (1) full year of academic study completed, or sophomore status
Cumulative 2.8 minimum GPA
Legally authorized to work in the United States without employment sponsorship required for the duration of the internship/co-op employment period
As an AMTRAK intern you
receive some very cool perks, such as travel benefits for personal and professional/business use during your tenure, site tours and field visits to learn more about operations, professional development activities such as intern lunch and learns and much more.
With such great perks, Amtrak receives hundreds of applications for their open positions and shared some stellar application and interview advice with AMA members. When it comes to crafting your resume, unless you have more than seven years of work experience you have to make sure to stick to one page. Each time you apply for a new position you must customize your resume to match the skills and qualities specific to the position you’re applying to. You can do so by researching the position, the company, and speaking with current or former Amtrak employees. This way you have a better understanding of the company’s goals and culture and how you would fit within the organization. When writing your resume bullets also make sure you are describing your accomplishments instead of your job duties. Employers are much more interested in how you made an impact rather than your past job description.
If you are selected to partake in an interview, Amtrak University Recruiter, Payton Sutton, recommends you take the time to research the company, prepare notes by using the S.T.A.R. method, and have questions ready to ask at the end.
UMD AMA is so grateful to have Amtrak representatives, Jonathan Garcia-Ventura, Joe Gerig, and Payton Sutton join us for our last meeting and look forward to staying in touch!
To find out more about Amtrak click here.
To apply for Amtrak internships click here.
-Melanie Rojas