CTL Transportation new hire experience 2016

This thread is meant to share my experience with CTL Transportation from a recent cdl grad perspective.
As of this post, I've completed my 2nd day of orientation and that I'm not an employee yet. You will not be locked into this company until you receive your driver number. You get your # by completing orientation and a passing a road test.
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I'd like to give a background on myself. I'm 21 years old with student debt, live with parents, has no obligations or kids, and wants to travel...while getting paid to do so. I'm a simple guy with a absolutely clean record (I've never been pulled over...yet)! My search for a company was simple, who would provide decent pay and valuable experience to move to a better company later on? Tankers, flatbeds, and LTL were my routes in mind for the future better paying jobs. I chose to start with tankers due to me being not physically strong and wanting to do OTR mostly.

I had 3 companies in mind start with.
#1. Superior Carriers
#2. Trimac
#3. CTL

My number would choice out of all would be Superior Carriers. I've heard nearly universal acclaim about them on this site. They pay well, have a new fleet, have great driver relations, and most importantly, they have a terminal down the road from where I live in North Charleston, SC. Unfortunately I haven't heard anything back from them. It's may be due to them not normally hire new grads and their application process takes weeks to process.

Trimac is second due to hearing mostly good things with their training and elite fleet (a 1 year goal). Their closest terminal to me would be in Holly Hill, SC. The recruiter called me saying they had a local job available, but it paid no where near what otr makes. I declined.

Soooo that leaves CTL. I didn't apply anywhere else because i was either not in their hiring area and or most frustratingly...not being old enough. Don't get me wrong, CTL looks very nice on paper to new grads with good pay, auto transmissions (personal opinion), laid back environment (pro or con), and accommodating drivers. I'd just would have gone with the other if I could. Ok well enough of that, lets talk about an overview of CTL's orientation.
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All new hires must go to either Tampa, Florida or St. Gabriel, Louisiana for Orientation.
CTL provides Greyhound tickets or 20 cpm reimbursement for driving your personal vehicle or equivalent value with any other mode of transportation (train, plane, ship).

Orientation is generally paper work, physical/agility exam, and classroom lectures for 2-3 days.
Pay for orientation is nice at $100 a day/$50 a half-day.

Advance Driver Training Program (ADTP) takes place immediately after orientation at the same location and week. This is mostly hands on training with how to use the equipment, safety gear, electronic logs etc... Pay is the same at $100 a day/$50 a half-day.

After both orientation and ADTP is finished and you received your driver number, you'll be assigned to a trainer for your home terminal (mine would be in Savannah, GA). This training period usually last around 3 weeks. Pay is a $500 per week.

Once you prove yourself ready by passing a test with a normal load, you get assigned a your own truck. CTL use automatic Mack Pinnacles btw. Pay is 45 cpm loaded and empty!



To be continued..........it's bed time lol.

 

Diesel

 

They only care about having no beards. Moustache and sideburns are fine. Funny enough, a few drivers I met had beards......they don't really seem to enforce it.


I'll update my time with orientation later today. I've been busy having fun in Tampa! Catching a train back Charleston now.