Career Path Process
A Message to Union Pacific Railroad Employees:
In the Information Technologies Department, we are committed to developing an environment where our employees can succeed and grow. Union Pacific Railroad's new Career Path Process will give IT employees more flexibility than ever in shaping their careers and helping us to become our customers' most valued partner.
The Career Path Process will broaden your development opportunities by offering career alternatives that best match your strengths and our business needs. Based on your goals, experience, and education, you'll be able to progress through a management, technical, or consulting career path or even move between paths to further your development.
Union Pacific Railroad's global success is directly related to our recruitment, development, retention and recognition of superior talent in all areas of our organization. We firmly believe that giving employees the opportunity to shape their own careers will benefit both you and Union Pacific Railroad. By working closely with management, you'll be able to chart a career that provides more productivity, job satisfaction, and success.
Sincerely,
Joyce Wrenn
Vice President
Information Technologies
Charting A Course for the Future
Our vision in Union Pacific Railroad's Information Technologies is to become our customers' most valued partner. Our future depends on it and our success depends on you, our most valuable resource, our employees. It is only by developing an environment in which you will grow and prosper that we can prepare ourselves to meet the challenges that lay ahead.
The IT Career Path Process was designed to give you a greater opportunity and freedom to grow and succeed at Union Pacific Railroad by matching your strengths, skills, experiences, and education to our present business needs. This means you will be able to choose the direction of your own career, broaden your opportunities for advancement, and take leadership of your own destiny.
Working in partnership with your managers and supervisors, you can plan ahead, working to enhance not only your own education and experience, but also the performance of the entire IT department. Your managers will help you establish goals, assess your skills and performance, coach you through on-the -job development assignments, as well as formal training and education programs.
The Career Path Process does not give you instructions on how to direct your career, but it does open up a world of opportunities for your future. By working to meet your goals, handling responsibilities with a high degree of professionalism and successfully accomplishing challenging tasks, you will demonstrate your ability and readiness for advancement.
Management or Individual Contributor - Your Choice
At the heart of the Career Path Process is the employee's option to advance in one or more of three fields by choosing the management path, or by opting to advance as an individual contributor in either the technical or consulting paths. Each of the three offers comparable levels of responsibility with distinguishing characteristics and areas of specialization.
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Technical Career Path
—this path is geared toward employees interested in an individual contributor role and in sharing the responsibility for the success of a project with the members of a team.
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Management Career Path
—this path consists of a heavy emphasis on human resource and systems management.
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Consulting Career Path
—like the technical career path, this is geared toward those interested in an individual contributor role and in sharing the responsibility for the success of a project with the members of a team. However, this path also requires heavy client/customer contact.
How the Process Works
To be successful, Union Pacific Railroad needs skillful managers with sound technical expertise. In addition, the company values individual contributors (people on the technical and consulting career paths) who make more specialized contributions.
Under the Career Path Process, IT employees will have the opportunity to make career decisions based on defined position levels along and among the three career paths: management, technical or consulting. Based on position openings and your interests, skills and education, you will have the flexibility to progress along one of these paths.
Progression doesn't necessarily mean moving up a path. You may want to make a lateral move across paths to gain skills and experience, making you more capable of handling greater responsibility as you are promoted. Knowing where you want your career to go, understanding the Career Path Process, and having a realistic estimation of your skills, education and experience will help you plan your next career move.
Your Role In Career Management
The Career Path Process is a partnership between you, your supervisor and Union Pacific Railroad. Each of the partners has responsibilities and duties which make the process work.
Your role is to continually and realistically evaluate your skills, identify your interests, and select the career path you want to pursue. Once you have selected a path - management, technical, or consulting - work with your supervisor to set career goals.
The first qualification for a promotion is business need. Once a need has been established, U.P. will look
for candidates to fill the position. We look for people who perform their responsibilities with the highest degree of quality and professionalism possible. We also look for employees who seek out and accomplish increasingly challenging job assignments. You should work to increase your skill set to meet the increasing demands of our business environment. Sometimes this will require lateral moves across paths to gain more skills and experience.
A record of sustained high-level performance and a history of significant contributions are the foundation for a successful career at Union Pacific Railroad. Different job assignments can help demonstrate your knowledge, creativity and problem-solving ability. It is the sum total of work assignments, knowledge, ability, and positions that form the basis for progression up a career path.
Making Your Career Choice
Information Technologies is committed to creating and maintaining an open environment where you, the employee, can maximize your career potential.
You establish your career objectives, based on your strengths, work experience, and interests. You select which career path - management, technical, or consulting - to follow. You take responsibility for your career development within Union Pacific Railroad.
With your supervisors, identify opportunities for development or progression up a path, answer questions, resolve problems, and develop career plans that meet your goals and U.P.'s business needs. The plan you create will define you and your supervisor's responsibilities to successfully achieve your goals.
Managing your career will require continual evaluation of your strengths, skills, education, performance, and goals. With rapid changes in technology and the business environment, your goals and U.P.'s needs will constantly evolve. These changes will drive periodic re-assessment of your goals with your supervisor.
Whether you work as an individual contributor or as a manager, the path is yours to choose. Information Technologies will provide as many opportunities as possible to align your career path selection with U.P.'s current business needs.
Questions & Answers
Why was the Career Path Process implemented in Information Technologies?
The purpose of the Career Path Process is to:
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Establish an individual contributor career path with progressive levels of responsibility as an alternative to assuming management responsibilities.
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Communicate information needed to plan careers with Union Pacific Railroad; and
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Recruit, motivate, and retain an outstanding team of employees.
What role do management, Human Resources, and employees have in the implementation of the process?
The Career Path Process is a partnership between the company, managers, and employees. The company's role is to provide the infrastructure supporting the process. This includes communication of career opportunities, competitive compensation, and identification of training and development opportunities.
The manager's role is to coach and advise employees about new job assignments, formal training, and/or education that will increase employees' skills and knowledge and help them keep current with their profession. In addition, managers will continue to provide regular feedback regarding performance.
The employee's role is to be proactive, complete work assignments with the highest degree of quality and service possible, and to seek and accomplish increasingly challenging assignments. The most important factors in career advancement at Union Pacific Railroad include sustained high level job performance and taking responsibility to manage one's own career.
The Manager-Human Resources and the Career Resources Counseling Center (located in the headquarters building) are available to both the employee and manager to discuss career issues.
If you'd like to learn more about employment opportunities with
Union Pacific Railroad, you may direct email to
PARICE@notes.up.com
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Or you may write Union Pacific directly at:
Union Pacific Railroad
Sourcing Department
1416 Dodge Street, Room 310
Omaha, NE 68179
