Walmart here I come!

My interview is at 9:30am. I certainly will not be late.

I am not nervous about saying or doing the wrong things, more so that I have not needed to interview for a job in many years, so it is easy to second guess your self and feel a little nervous.

Not that I would bad mouth current or former employers, I am very happy with the job I am at for the past 7 years. I work for UPS Freight on an account dedicated to Honda Motors. I only work Monday-Friday and make above $65K now. The reason I am even looking at all is because the contract UPS has with Honda ends next spring and a lot of signs point towards Honda not renewing the contract and hiring a cheaper carrier to do the job. I do not want to wait until the last minute to find a new job. I have always admired the WM Private Fleet, so they were the first and only choice. I have worked for only 3 companies in 21 years driving, so I want the next job to likely carry me the next 15-20 years into retirement. Take a look at the CSA scores for the 100 largest carriers. Not a large single carrier has a CSA score anywhere close to Walmart. I personally feel that the CSA score Walmart has is because they not only have excellent drivers, but every other part of the operation is on board doing their part as well. For example, the vehicle maintenance score would not be that low if the shop cut corners on every repair to the equipment. It really has to be a combined effort to enjoy such an amazing CSA score!

I am ready for tomorrow. Excited to the point I may have a bit of insomnia tonight!

 

After reading on this board about the waiting, it makes me more relaxed about the process.

When I applied online on May 21, the job opening disappeared from the WM website on June 8. A few weeks went by and just when I was telling myself "maybe I was beat out by better candidates", my phone rang at 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon (June 28 ) and it was WM calling to schedule an interview! So, the process being slow is apparent, but that is fine if it means them hiring better caliber drivers.

After my interview tomorrow, should I make it through to the skills tests and pass, then the waiting may play with my mind a bit because I will be wondering "did I do better than the others also seeking the job?". I hope when I finish tomorrow I may have an idea on how well I did in WM's eyes and the likelihood I will receive a call for a second interview.

I have seen how it takes a long time to do the background check in between them making a conditional job offer and a confirmed job offer based on what you and what drozzer have posted. I wonder why? I suppose it may be because it involves requests made to past employers via snail mail, which could take time. In this day and age, doing background checks, at least in regards to criminal checks, can be done almost instantly. I suppose it could also be the number of background checks needing to be done and the amount of people WM has working on them.

NYVET, best wishes as you start orientation tomorrow. You may have some excitement induced insomnia tonight too!

 

Excitement induced insomnia? I have had that for the last month! LOL. The background check does take a couple of weeks, even for a store associate. My wife started working at Walmart as a cashier almost 2 years ago, and they did a background check on her as well and it also took two weeks. The thing is with Walmart background checks, they are extensive. Yes, you can do a quick background check on anybody in a couple of days or less, but Walmart does a background check that is similar to that done for your hazmat. They really do I put a huge emphasis on hiring only the best people, even if it is a cashier which stands to reason as they are the ones handling all the money and we are the ones driving their equipment with half a million dollars of merchandise in the trailer.

As far as the point that you arrived at, this is what I was told by the HR rep at the DC where I got hired... if you got to the first interview, you have already beat the other candidates. They take in quite a few applications, it is my understanding they take about two hundred before they remove the job from the internet and begin the process of picking the best ones. Basically, at this point, it's your job to lose. They are huge sticklers about honesty. When you arrive for your interview, you will be given the printout of the application you submitted online. Take this opportunity to review it and make any changes that are necessary. This will be your only second chance that they give you. Any tickets or incidents no matter how insignificant they may seem, make sure you have told them about it. You will be asked about 8 questions mainly on safety with a couple about why you want to leave your current employer and a scenario or two and how you would handle it. I would say try not to be nervous but that's not going to happen. I thought I would be a rock, already having a good job with nothing to lose but a better one. I was completely wrong. I was a nervous wreck, although they said I appeared to be calm (yeah right).

If you do a pass the interview and they move you to the next step which is a pre trip and a road test, again, it's your job to lose. If you were honest and you pass everything you will get a call for the second interview which as you know by now is the job offer. At that point, all you need to do is pass the physical and drug test... and wait for yet ANOTHER background check, which is the one that takes about 2 weeks. They may also tell you after the first interview they will be in contact with you in about six to eight weeks. Thankfully it was only 2 weeks and 1 day for me and others have also reported that it only took a week or two to get called back. Don't know why did do that.

Just make sure you do a thorough pre trip... you don't need to identify every part on the truck, but I told the safety guy that I'm looking at everything to make sure that it is tight, not cracked or loose, where is supposed to be and how it is supposed to be. You can say "I look at that thing to make sure its tight, and that bundle of wires to make sure that they are not damaged" etc. Also, part of their pre trip requirements that a lot of us take for granted, don't forget to mention the following: believe it or not, the bill box on the trailer; the inspection date on the trailer; the DVIR book; the permit book; the front license plate; and the airlines and electrical cord. I hit on all of that, and probably needless to say, but my safety guy said those are the most common things that drivers forget to mention during the pre trip.

So again, best of luck. Come back and let us know how it went. And I know if it is easier said than done, but at least try to relax, they were very cool, laid back, friendly and warm and very welcoming. They really are not there to try to break you down and make you crack. I can only imagine how I will be treated from this point on, as even as just a candidate I was treated with more respect than I have ever been treated anywhere else, even before the interview began.

 

If there is one area I am concerned with it is with a few minor incidents that occurred between 15 and 20 years ago (1993-1998 ). I believe I put down on the application I could not remember dates for these because they were so many years ago, but stated they were all minor and 3 out of 4 of them were non-preventable. I certainly want to be as transparent as possible. From 1998 on, I have no preventable accidents or incidents and no moving violations on my license at all in the 21 years I have held a CDL license. I wonder how in depth WM checks on these things. These certainly do not appear on any DAC type report. I am not even sure JB Hunt retains such records this long (15 years) after it occurred, considering I have not worked there in 13 years.

I want to cover all my bases and would not want to lose out on such a good job over this.

 

No worries then. The furthest they go back for anything is 10 years or a fatality in your lifetime. They won't care about anything that happened that long ago so you should be good.

 

One thing in my favor is that I do driver safety evaluations at my current job, so I see all the items on the pre-trip other drivers miss. The items you mentioned, especially relating to the DVIR book and permit book, are frequently missed!

Any nerves I am feeling should go aware once the interview starts and I now have a face with the names. I do very well talking to complete strangers, so I would expect to be ok. However, there is a lot more riding on this compared to a casual conversation with a stranger. I look forward to sharing my experience in the process as you and others have. It really helps fill in the blanks and not feel so in the dark.

 

That is good to know. Thanks for sharing.

 

I totally agree! I thank God I found this forum before my interview! I hate going into a situation in the dark. I am truly grateful to everyone who helped me throughout this process with valuable information and experiences, like drozzer69, grabberblue12, extreme4x4 and a few others along the way, who will hopefully take no offense that their names I do not recall at this time. These people have truly made the experience a lot more transparent, having given me a sneak peek into the process. I am only happy to do the same for anyone else, as I am sure they will also continue to do, which will eventually add up to quite a large bunch of Walmart drivers being able to provide valuable information to anyone who is now where we were. And you, I am sure will do the same when your time comes.

 

I agree 100%. It will be great to pay it forward no matter what the outcome. Even if I get passed over, I know it will not be for something serious that will never go away, such as someone with a felony or such on their record. Worst case scenario is that I apply again in the near future. That is why I am starting the process now, because I have a good job and no rush to find a job. The fact that I read a few drivers on here that applied a few times before getting hired gives me optimism and no reason to feel tomorrow is "get hired or bust!".