CRST - Orientation and Training

Let me start out by saying I did not go through their schooling program. I was fresh out of a cdl school when I applied to CRST. Shortly after applying I received an email from the recruiter asking me to call with any questions. Since it was late on a Friday I decided to wait until Monday morning. Josh called me first thing Monday. I returned the call and was called back within 20 minutes. I talked with him a bit and he said he'd get back to me. He called me a couple more times to clarify a couple things on my app. Finally he said I was good to go and would start orientation at OKC that Monday. He was completely honest with me and didn't make any wild promises. It helped that I had researched the company in advance so I didn't have many questions anyway.

Someone here called the Oklahoma City terminal a "rat hole" I'm not sure why. It's not the Ritz, but it's adequate. It's just a small office building. They have a TV area, showers and laundry for drivers.

Orientation is Mon-Thurs. It is not paid, nobody claimed it was. They provide transportation to OKC and put you up in a motel. Again, the motel is not the Ritz, but it is adequate. The motel shuttles you to and from the terminal as well as making a trip to the local Walmart every night.

Going through orientation is a mix of people. Some are experienced, most are not. I imagine that orientation is extremely boring for those with experience, It is basically a recap of everything you learned in school, plus talking about CRST's rules and regs. Nothing difficult. The road test consists of driving to a truck stop, switching drivers and driving back.

Of the 40 people who started, 28 of us made it through. Some left because they were offered other jobs, others just didn't like what they heard. Others were dropped for things like trying to hide 4 DUIs or failing the medical exam. Do not lie or leave anything off your application. They will find it. When they find it you are out and on your own.

If you make it through thursday they put you in a slightly better motel. They also assign you to a Fleet Manager. I called my FM right away and he already had a Lead Driver for me and a plan to get me to him. I only spent one night in the second hotel. The next morning 3 of us set out in a rental car to find our trucks. Mine was in Kansas City.

My Lead Driver turned out to be a great guy. Nice and quiet and very professional. Very patient. We took our time for the first load. Once he was confident with my driving (he actually said I was one of the very few he was confident with fairly quickly) we ran pretty hard. I love running hard. It really made the 28 days fly by quickly. I really learned a lot in that time and could feel my confidence rising every time I drove.

Getting home was not as easy as they make it seem. It turned out they wanted to route us through OKC before I went home. He had to get his truck serviced and pick up some stickers. I had to talk to safety because I was put OOS for a trailer flat in WA. Otherwise I could have just been released in OH and taken a bus down to FL. They do some random road testing, but I was not required to do that.

My FM tried to find me a truck going to FL to hitch a ride with. I ended up going Greyhound.

All in all I have no complaints. We had a good FM so we did not sit much at all. Usually just one night. Twice our delivery was late Friday night so we sat a couple nights, especially in San Antonio.

Now we'll see how long it takes me to find a truck and co-driver.

 

With CRST there are only teams, no solo. That wasn't my first choice but now I think there is more money in teams.

 

Yes, there were several of us from Florida in my orientation.

 

Just imagine being a trainer. No way could I do that.

I didn't sleep too well the first night. Then I figured I'd rather just die in my sleep.