Originally Posted by bill122250

I call once a week and she tells me that she has my name and will call when she gets a date. somebody suggested that i call the recruiter in syracuse but i am afraid of getting on the bad side of both of them. i don't now if you can change the recruiter they gave your app to. you would think that if you were goping to a certain location that you would get the recruiter for that site. i had another person tell me that he was waiting for a date in syracuse and he had a recruiter from phoenix. he lives in utica, that's not far from syracuse.

Originally Posted by Nighthawk34

I like the idea of "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" .. I'd say to call them every few days since never know when an opening might pop up... myself I am waiting to get a date for the schooling (need refresher to get cdl back ) after putting in my app I called the next day for follow up and they went over the app and said would hear something in 24-48hrs I called back at around 47hr point LOL.. they were still waiting on MVR sooo since I had a current copy I emailed it over and they approved it while on the phone.. I just had to call back after getting my med and permit as luck would have it when I got through Thursday afternoon they were already gone and off until this coming Monday so you can bet I'll be on the phone calling first thing Monday morning to follow up on the email I sent my recruiter Thursday evening letting her know I have my permit LOL...

Originally Posted by ford390pwr

At the start of day 5 we gained one more student. Someone from the class that just finished State testing needed a little bit more help, so they have joined our class. So we are currently at 10 students.

Day 5 was very similar to day 4. We started out by completing a detailed pre trip off of the test material.

Next we broke off into five groups of 2 students and started rotating through five different stations. Everyone had a truck today, so no more sharing! The stations consisted of offset backing, straight backing, two different docking stations and a pre trip station.

After rotating through these stations at an hour each for seven hours today, we all got many chances to practice backing these trucks up. A big bonus today was that we used the same trucks that we will take all of our tests in for the harder stations. These trucks are newer, Freightliner Columbias, so they handle a lot differently than the driving range trucks which are the older FLD's.

Lots of great practice time behind the wheel today! We have been given July 4th off, mostly because the instructors are salaried and they would have lost the day, so day 6 will be on Sunday. Day 6 will be our last day in the classroom with some Hazmat testing and a Map reading class.

Today was a great day, we started with 10 students and we ended the day with 10 students. One thing to note about the end of day 5 is that we are now responsible for at least a portion of the tuition after today. There is a prorated formula for the tuition cost from now till the end of day 11, and I have listed it below.

Terminated on 0-5th business day of class $0 owed.
Terminated on 6th day of class $1020 owed.
Terminated on 7th day of class $1190 owed.
Terminated on 8th day of class $1360 owed.
Terminated on 9th day of class $1530 owed.
Terminated on 10th day of class $1700 owed.
Terminated on 11th day of class or later $3900 owed.

As a footnote, I am trying to post as much about my experience with Swift's Academy simply because I wish this information had been posted when I was trying to make my decision. I am not trying to convince anyone that Swift is the best choice for them, I simply believe that this information could help others that are trying to decide if Swift is right for them.

Originally Posted by ford390pwr

Hey Nighthawk, who is the recruiter you are talking to? I can tell you from my own experience that these recruiters never return calls, or emails. Your best bet is to keep calling till they answer the phone.

Also, make sure you keep copies of every document, and every email you get. They will come in handy when you get to school and the paperwork is incomplete because the recruiter screwed up.

Originally Posted by ford390pwr

Thanks Colorado, I have learned to read between the lines when someone has such a negative attitude. I take everything with a grain of salt, and have no regrets with the decision that I made to attend Swift's driving academy. I know this is the right place for me at this point in time, and if Swift and I can work well for each other I would be happy to stay on with them. As for now, I just need to complete the training, get hired, pay off my schooling, and make some money for the both of us.

Originally Posted by Nighthawk34

hey Ford...
I have been talking to Cindy.. so far haven't had much in the way of documents or anything like that.. besides shooting her an email to let her know I have my permit now since they were gone today and after 5 yesterday.. and the copy of my OR MVR both of which are of course still in my sent items folder LOL... I was a purchasing manager at a Ford Truck Dealership for a while so I do have a knack at rat packing paper trails LOL..

Out of curiosity... what are the lodging conditions like up there as well as Food sources since I know they don't feed ya LOL I am working on figuring out how much i am gonna have to rat pack money wise for feeding myself when I finally get ta head up there....

Originally Posted by Windjammer2

Nighthawk -

Is that Cindy Bouch, recruiter in PHX? She was my recruiter and was where the unthruths began. About getting right into a truck, about paying for my gas to get to class, about miles. ALL in writing.

AS has been said - ask a LOT of questions and get it in writing. That said, even though she told me I was getting reimbursed for the gas purchases, her supervisor vetoed it. Must have made Cindy feel good to know she wasn't being supported by mgmt. After that day I was told I was 87th and it would be months before I got into a truck, was when I called Cindy to express my sentiment. It wasn't real nice. She didn't have much to say as she knew what she had told me during the recruiting process and was aware of the current status of a backlog. It was right after that call I was told by the Driver Services supervisor to not talk with her again.

Just try to get the right answers if you can.

Originally Posted by Nighthawk34

hey Ford...
I have been talking to Cindy..

Originally Posted by Nighthawk34

Out of curiosity... what are the lodging conditions like up there as well as Food sources since I know they don't feed ya