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just give a recruiter a call they'll be able to tell you for sure.




American Trucker

 

Like AT said, call recruiting for a 100% correct answer but this is what Sandy sent me the other day to my email when I inquired with W/S. I did not copy the whole thing, just the part that pertained to this conversation

II. HIRING CRITERIA
A. General Requirements
In order to qualify for placement in a training or orientation class or to maintain continued qualification as a Company driver for Watkins and Shepard, the driver's motor vehicle record:

- Must not include a DUI/DWI or possession of a controlled substance or possession of alcohol conviction in a commercial vehicle.
- Must not include a DUI/DWI or possession of a controlled substance conviction in a non-commercial motor vehicle within the last 5 years.
- Must not include a conviction for death by vehicle, hit and run, or racing in either a commercial motor vehicle or non-commercial motor vehicle.
- Must not include any more than two moving violations in the twelve months prior to the date of the application and no more than three moving violations within 5 years from the date of the application.
- Must not include a reckless, careless or negligent operation of a motor vehicle driving conviction within five years of the date of the application.
- Must not include any Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) recordable, at-fault collision within three years of the date of the application and no more than one D.O.T. recordable, at-fault collision during your entire commercial motor vehicle career.
- Must not include any more than two non-D.O.T. recordable, at-fault collisions in any motor vehicle within three years of the date of the application.
- Must not include any felony conviction within seven years from the date of the application, and, if beyond seven years from the date of the application, the driver must obtain a waiver permitting entry into Canada prior to the completion of 90-days of employment unless the driver is applying for a position that will not include travel into Canada.

APPLICATION REVIEW

A. DUI/Felony
As you can see, Watkins and Shepard has some fairly stringent hiring criteria, particularly with respect to the number of moving violations a driver may have within a 5-year period (a maximum of 3 violations). Most trucking companies use a 3-year review period of one's MVR and may allow a greater number of moving violations.

In general, if an applicant has a prior DUI or felony but meets the respective criteria, we would not automatically preclude this applicant from consideration, but would require that all other areas of the application be exemplary in order to proceed with processing. For example, if an applicant had a felony or DUI 10 years ago, had a clear MVR and his/her employment was strong with good references, we could move forward if the applicant met our needs and, in our opinion, was a quality candidate in all other aspects. If, on the other hand, that same applicant had any one area of the application that was weak, we would not want to act on the application. In other words, the application must be superior in all areas if the applicant is to be deemed "hireable" after having a prior DUI or felony conviction.

This is directly from W/S recruiting. Hope it helps you out.


RD68

 

Thank you American Trucker. Thank you ruberducky68. The length you have gone to to aquire and post information is greatly appretiated. This information has brightened the path a great deal. The rest of qualifications are good. Clean driving record for over 20 years. No arrests since that charge in '68. I WILL move forward on this. Ahhhh the power of optimism. Thanks again guys.

 

I just realized you filled out that whole form. Good job but Wow. The OP should send money to your pay pal account for that effort.

 

No problem Crusty. If that incident happened that long ago I would think there should not be an issue with you hiring on at W/S.

Go luck with your application. Hope you can get on with them if that is what you want.

RD68

 

Well guys, I went down to Katlaw driving school on Monday. I timed my arrival to catch the W.S. Rep. @ the end of his 'class' with the students. Won't mention his name as I am not sure I should. I signed the 'student' register for him/ Well. a recruiter called me today. We worked a deal where I MAY have a very limited orientation period in Conover. That will depend on how dilusional my opinion is of myself. Firstly the DOT physical on Monday. See id my blood sugar sounds alarm and weather or not I'm too fat.

 

if you've been driving for 22 years you should only have to do a 3 day orientation.





American Trucker

 

That is what the recruiter alluded to. It wasn't guaranteed. But I just don't see me doing TOO badly as I have 'rules' that I go by for every maneuver. Just gonna have to modify them a bit for these long ( longer than I'm used to anyway ) wheelbase power units.

Question: Living near Dalton; would I primarily haul out of there; Conover or there is no real rule of thumb?

 

I beleive being out of Dalton you'll be east coast regional, so you'll probably do allot out of Dalton, Myrtle, Conover, Sayreville. You'll get around quite a bit, they can run in 37 states.


oh one more thing; When they test you on mountain operations, forget what you where taught 22 years ago about never takeing a truck out of gear on a grade....they will show you how to do and then let you show them you can do the same, its very easy. Not a chance in hello that truck will take off like all you old hands were taught







American Trucker

 

Thanks allot AT. Good to know. Yeah very few of the trucks I've ever driven had exhaust brake. I'm used to 'you had better be in the right gear at the top' and just slight pressure all the way down. It worked OK. Brakes got warm; but didn't COOK. But I'm open to better ways. I promised myself when I got older, I wouldn't be one of those 'we been doin' it that way for 30 years' old dudes.( insert raspy voice.) Yeah, well they were doin' it WRONG for 30 years. Things change. It's their truck. I'll do it the way they want.
Not that it matters but I was in Driving school; it was 34 tears ago. The instructor was a LOCAL driver and I wasn't taught about mountain driving!!! Yeah, I learned by cooking the brakes so bad, the valve stems were melting! I finally got it stopped and there I was in WV throwing snow on my wheels to minimize the number of flat tires.