Interview neighbors, associates, or former employers of job applicants to verify personal references or to obtain work history data.

“Interview neighbors, associates, or former employers of job applicants to verify personal references or to obtain work history data.” is a supplemental task performed by Transit and Railroad Police. Among the occupation's 14 rated tasks, workers place it 4th by importance (#11 most important). About 36% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Interview people to obtain information. in Getting Information

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Prepare reports documenting investigation activities and results. · importance 4.3
• Monitor transit areas and conduct security checks to protect railroad properties, patrons, and employees. · importance 4.2
• Apprehend or remove trespassers or thieves from railroad property or coordinate with law enforcement agencies in apprehensions and removals. · importance 4.2
• Direct security activities at derailments, fires, floods, or strikes involving railroad property. · importance 4.1
• Patrol railroad yards, cars, stations, or other facilities to protect company property or shipments and to maintain order. · importance 4.1
• Investigate or direct investigations of freight theft, suspicious damage or loss of passengers' valuables, or other crimes on railroad property. · importance 4.1
• Examine credentials of unauthorized persons attempting to enter secured areas. · importance 4.0
• Enforce traffic laws regarding the transit system and reprimand individuals who violate them. · importance 3.9
• Provide training to the public or law enforcement personnel in railroad safety or security. · importance 3.8
• Direct or coordinate the daily activities or training of security staff. · importance 3.7
• Plan or implement special safety or preventive programs, such as fire or accident prevention. · importance 3.4
• Record and verify seal numbers from boxcars containing frequently pilfered items, such as cigarettes or liquor, to detect tampering.
• Seal empty boxcars by twisting nails in door hasps, using nail twisters.

See all tasks on the Transit and Railroad Police page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-9482,
  title  = {Interview neighbors, associates, or former employers of job applicants to verify personal references or to obtain work history data.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-9482}
}