Union Pacific's hiring priorities and effective project team management

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Presentation discussion: Union Pacific

The main topic of the presentation was what the speaker's company was looking for in prospective graduates and how the new graduate on the market could position him or herself when seeking a job. Although some of the information was specific to the presenter's company of Union Pacific RR, much of it was also germane to the current job market in general. He stressed that individuals must be well-rounded and be able to see how the company's various components worked together, rather than viewing them as atomized entities. Marketing, sales, IT, and product development are all interrelated. Advanced degrees matter less than the ability to make connections between apparently disparate departments. Similarly, in project management teams, there are often diverse skills from the different members which must be meshed together. Team members must be capable of working well with others despite different disciplinary worldviews.

Successful projects have 'team players' who can learn new skills and refine existing skills to serve the needs of the organization. They can meet project objectives in a timely fashion with a minimum of interpersonal drama. Instead of being a 'firefighter,' a good member of a project team is able to break down a problem into component parts without allowing any problems to grow out-of-control. A critical strength of any company is its leveraging of high-quality staff and for service-oriented companies such as railroad companies, having good people (more so than specific majors) is vital to success.