Norfolk Southern Analyst Interview Questions
& Process

I submitted an online application and then completed a diagnostic test. About a week after that, I had a phone interview. I also attended a career day conference call. The final step was a video interview with the marketing department.

Norfolk Southern's interview process was disorganized and demeaning. They emphasize long hours and are old-fashioned, basically saying 'work-life balance be damned, you're lucky to work here and put in tons of hours with no complaining!' I'm fine with hard work, but I'd like some acknowledgment that I applied online and received an email saying they went with someone else. Turns out, they found someone qualified and let me know quickly. A few weeks later, I got a call for an interview, which made me think maybe the first person didn't work out. On interview day, I was there from 8:30 am to 5 pm. The first two hours (8:30-10:30) were spent discussing benefits, which I could have found online – a total waste of time. Then, from 10:30-11:45, we took an exam we thought would take forever, but it only took about an hour. It included two problem-solving sections (about 8 questions each), a 45-question analogy test, and a 285-question behavioral section. It was like the SATs back in 1997 with the #2 pencils and bubbles, and they even made us put our social security numbers on it. After that, from 11:45-12:15, we had a good catered lunch. Then, 12:15-12:45 was spent waiting and chatting with other candidates. From 12:45-1:00, I had an interview with an HR rep where we discussed salary. They asked canned questions about my experience, so I just used prepared stories highlighting my applicable skills. I asked to leave from 1:00-2:00 because the waiting was awful, and I wandered around Norfolk for an hour. I was asked to return by 2:00 but ended up waiting in a different area for another hour, thankfully with some old photo books. From 3:00-5:00, I had one-on-one meetings with the Economic group. They were all smart and respectful, and I enjoyed discussing the work and my qualifications – this was the main part of the day, but it took six and a half hours to get there! On the downside, I had to bring up my technical qualifications myself; there weren't any hard skills questions, mostly behavioral, and yes, another salary question. A lot of time was wasted. This was the worst interview I've had. I would only have accepted an offer if it was my only one. Norfolk Southern incentivizes a long career with a railroad pension, but you'll likely deal with a bloated bureaucracy, meager wages, and poor work-life balance.

I did an online assessment testing vocabulary and reading comprehension. After that, I got an email to set up a phone screen. Then, I was invited to interview at their headquarters in Norfolk. There was a panel where we could ask questions to current employees, and then 3 interviews the next day.