BNSF Dispatcher Training

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

In an effort to meet employer needs and respond to an industry shortage, the San Bernardino County Workforce Investment Board’s policy has been to provide assistance to businesses with employment and training needs. So far, the Workforce Investment Board has provided training dollars for programs such as Vocational English as a Second Language, Diesel Mechanic Training, and for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe project, their highlighted training program. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company experienced a problematic shortage of dispatchers in its San Bernardino command center. In order to both employ local residents instead of non-county residents and sustain its partnership with BNSF, the Workforce Investment Board contributed $93,000 to prepare 20 individuals for careers as dispatchers. The 15-week training program included training at San Bernardino College and Tarrant County Community College in Texas and concluded with four weeks of work experience at BNSF San Bernardino dispatch facility. Fourteen trainees were hired as dispatchers with at starting pay of $50,000 a year. Those individuals who stay on the job for a year will receive a pay boost to $70,000 a year. By meeting the needs of the business community, the county’s Worker’s Investment Board helped ensure the county’s economic strength as well as being dutiful to job seekers and workers desiring to advance their careers in their own community.