Going with Roehl

For experienced drivers coming to Roehl. It's on their website. At least it used to be...

 

i actually talked to the recuiter after about a week of playin phone tag. he said since my eaos from the navy was in july, and since the classes are filled till the first class in aug, they will get me in for the first class in aug. and i asked him about slipseatin and whatever i would need to do to get my own truck, i would do. so it looks like dry van national or midwest regional. just gotta hurry up n get the temps real quick, i cant wait to get goin!!

 

I am psyched to get trucking again. They got me into Wednesday the 25th in Marshfield. I could have went on the 23rd - but I gotta have Xmas in July at the campground. I hope Roehl is the place to keep me going for a few years. Too much to think about when changing jobs. All they need to do is keep me moving, sitting and waiting drives motivated people out of the business.

I kind of steered away from the 14+ day on the road jobs. That is going to be a couple days sitting. That drives me nutz. I can deal with being away from home as long as I am busy. But sitting, eeek. Or getting an 1100 mile run that picks on Friday and doesn't deliver until Tuesday. Man you just feel like you are being used.

On a darker note - especially for the younger folks... Like picking lettuce, trucking is going to be pegged as a job that US Citizens just don't want to do ;-( All the GOV will need to do is say we spent XXX Billion Dollars traing drivers, they all quit - but the Mexicans will be happy to do the jobs ;-( Mark my words - this is a stacked deck.

 

Here is something that just popped into my head. When am I officially an employee of Roehl? I mean...I keep thinking if I get hired by them, Ill move to a place in MN where I can work their regional line. But as I think about it...when do they hire you? Before you begin your training or after? I have no problem with moving if I was hired, but I think it would be a weird idea to move if I wasn't even hired yet...and had to wait and see until after training.

 

You'll be officially hired in orientation after they check your background to ensure you are who you claim you are. When the gate keepers in safety are satisfied (and the company's insurance carrier gives you the nod), you'll then be an employee. I've gone to orientations where guys got everything--trip packs, load locks, wagon seals, company bills, etc, and were turned away by the gatekeepers. When you arrive at orientation, you are a "prehire", and the company is taking you on your word that you are who you say you are. When they are sure that is the case (and not a minute sooner), you'll be hired. They'll call all your old employers and then check your driving record and criminal history while doing this. In the meantime, you'll sit in orientation class idling away while watching safety videos. I've been to orientations where I was hired in two days. Others took over five days before I got hired.

 

Tip - ROEHL, at least in my case, did all their "due dilligence" on me before extending an orientation invite. All I gotta do is pee a clean stream, pass the DOT physical, and pass the road test.

 

You're right, Grinder. I've been out too long. I can remember orientations that were 6 days long and no one had a job until he was offered it at the end of the 6th day.

Orientations used to be a rather sneaky trick companies used to pull on drivers, at least this is how I saw it. Companies used week-long orientations to keep their hooks in drivers until they checked those drivers out, in case the companies actually chose to hire them on in the end. No, not many guys would sit at home waiting on a company to do all the background checks, as it'd take too long. If drivers were allowed so sit at home waiting instead of being detained at an orientation, they may have been tempted to go with some other company while the checks were performed. Orientation was invented to keep this from happening. When I went to orientations, there was nothing a driver could learn in the classroom that he couldn't learn at home or while on a training truck. There was no good reason for it, at least not for week-long orientations. All it served was to keep drivers on site and out of a competitor's rig.

Yes, by getting drivers to a central orientation, companies managed to keep them away from poaching competitors. All the companies had to do was buy their candidates three squares a day, a hotel room at night, and babysit them using safety videos during the classroom phase while the gatekeepers ran the time-consuming background checks. It's good to hear a lot is done ahead of time now at a lot of outfits, and orientations last only a day or two. Those week-long orientations were a drag, as was watching all those #### videos over and over.

 

Yeah the video's still stink. Of course you sign a paper essentially stating you mastered the subject matter presented on the video. Another way for the man to paper over everything

Roehl did say something to the extent of "Congratulations on being hired..." Then they lower their voice and say, "this is is conditional on a criminal background check, passing the pee test, physical, and roadtest."

It is Somewhat disconcerting that they don't do criminal backgrounds BEFORE double bunking at the hotel. The ripped 6'5" 280 pounder may have lied on his application. I might remind him of his little buddy at the Bighouse Arms!!

I opted to spend $20 a night on a private room

 

They wait to do the criminal checks because they take those case-by-case.
If two guys each have a misdemeanor, one may have his because he stole a pack of gum when he was 18. Another may have one because he tried to shoplift 200 bones worth of goodies from a Wal-mart three weeks ago. And it's not always the amount that matters....it's whether someone with a prior is willing to admit to his mistakes instead of sweeping those mistakes under the rug or even lying about them.

Also, those with criminal records may be more easily exploitable and can be paid less. When a company brings a guy in with a prior, all it has to do is start grumbling about the driver's criminal record, and that driver will roll over and beg. Said driver will then be more than glad to take a low-ball per-mile figure. For this reason, a company would be foolish to exclude every single person with a prior misdemeanor. I know Roehl does, and it's good for them they do, but there are many great drivers out there with priors. I wouldn't exclude these guys, especially if my turnover were over 100%.

 

Can I ask where that might be? lol.

I just got a call from them today. They want my W-2s for a place I worked at and resigned from 2 years ago. I can't find my w-2 and when I called the district I worked at, nobody there verifies employment...they just give you a number for TheWorkNumber and expect that to work. Roehl doesnt accept TheWorkNumber as a way to verify employment. Ontop of that, all the Secretarial and Administrative staff at my old school take July off. argh!