Marine Corps Veteran Joins RailWorks Through Hiring Our Heroes

After a long and successful military career, Marine Corps Veteran William Chesnutt was looking to leverage his military experience into the civilian world, and he found a home with RailWorks.

RailWorks, through our partnership with the Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) organization, hosted Chesnutt for a 12-week fellowship earlier this year. He was brought on full time in April 2021 out of the RailWorks office in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., as a Project Engineer.

“I interviewed at more than 10 companies but ultimately chose RailWorks because of the nature of the work and the challenge it presented,” said Chesnutt. “When I met with the RailWorks team, the culture and advancement opportunities available sounded like a great fit.”

Hiring Our Heroes partners transitioning military members with civilian jobs. RailWorks has participated in the program for a few years and has hired several employees out of the program.

“Veterans are a strong asset to the RailWorks team, and we’re proud to work with Hiring Our Heroes to bring them on board,” said Carl Halbert, Army Veteran and Regional Human Resources Manager at RailWorks. “The expertise and rich work experience Veterans bring to RailWorks only strengthens the team.”

Originally from Texas, Chesnutt joined the military at 17 years old. He was deployed four times during his 20 years in the military — three to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. During his distinguished career, he was certified as an FAA Air Traffic Controller and became the first American certified as an Air Traffic Controller by the British Royal Air Force. Chesnutt also taught at the SNCO Academy on the Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Calif.

Now, his military experience helps him in his role as Project Engineer.

“Most of my work is centered around scheduling, resource management, and people management,” said Chesnutt. “My military experience helps me lead a team and think of innovative solutions to problems.”

Chesnutt is currently pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration degree in Organizational Leadership and Development at Capella University, which will help him with his future career goals.

“I plan to continue to learn and advance with RailWorks and gain positions of greater responsibility, hopefully leading to running a business unit in the future,” he said.

To learn more about careers at RailWorks, visit our Careers site. To learn more about Hiring Our Heroes, visit their website.