(HELP) Advice needed for Flatbed interview and testing in 18-speed (time sensitive)

Sorry, long post, but it's important for a good job...

I just recently finished CDL school and have been applying for jobs. I found a local company that is hiring for a flatbed driver and they said they would hire a new CDL and train. It seems like a good job and they want me to come in for a job interview and drivers test on Monday. I will be driving with one of their testers. It is an 18-speed transmission and they asked me if I could drive one. I told them in CDL school we drove both 18-speed and 10-speed, but I mostly drove the 10-speed and tested in the 10-speed. While in school, I think I drove the 18 speed maybe twice, and you are rotating out with other people to drive, so I think I got maybe 2 hours of time behind the wheel on an 18-speed. It was in dry vans, we didn't split each individual gear at all (so I have never done it), and we didn't pull any freight at all while in school. I don't know if I can really do this road test they want me to come in for on Monday. The trucks we drove had a bad clutch and you always needed to double clutch everything. Everyone grinded gears, even the instructors when they drove, cause the clutch was that bad in their trucks. I have never driven a manual truck that didn't need to be double-clutched.

After talking to the interviewer, he said that they would test me on hooking up the trailer, pre-trip inspection, inspection of the cargo to make sure it's secure, driving, and there would be concrete of some sort chained down on the flatbed. Part of making sure the cargo is secure is checking the chains, checking to see if there are any broken links, and making sure that the temporary header (don't know the official name) had two chains on it and is secure also. I live in the Denver area, and he said we would also be test driving up I-70, and coming back down the steep grades in the foothills, to see how I do with using the Jake Brake and can I manage down without being on the brakes a lot.

I explained to him that I have never pulled freight and that I always had a dry van that was empty when we were driving. I also explained they never covered securing cargo and inspecting it kind of thing. I know to date on it is the last couple of weeks watching videos on securing cargo on flatbeds on youtube, but that I really had no real idea what I was doing.

I have driven up I-70 in the training school and we did drive back down the steep decends using engine breaking, but I have only done it once and I have never done it with a load before. To be honest, the 18-speed that I did drive, the Jake Brake was super easy to use, with multiple settings, and I didn't have any major problems with it. However, the 10-speed I drove, the Jake Brake sucked and you barely could even tell it was on when engaged. That's all the experience I have with it, but that was in dry vans completely empty.

The job sounds like they move heavy equipment a lot for construction and other misc. construction stuff and they use all kinds of different flatbeds. They also will train thoroughly "if" I can get the job.

I am having a lot of anxiety about this because 95% of my time was spent driving and testing in a 10-speed. I have no idea how and when to "split" each gear, why I would do it, and when. When we drove with empty dry vans, we didn't even use 1st gear and always started in 2nd gear. Now I am going to be testing for a job interview in an 18-speed, fully weighted, and driving up and down a mountain run. The grades are 6% if you haven't driven here before. I am concerned that I am going to make a complete ### of myself, and don't know if I should just not do this at all to not waste their time. At the same token, I don't want to give up on myself and most of the things I thought I couldn't do when it came to going to school and even almost quit the first week, I ended up grasping and passing. As far as driving the rig itself, I was one of the better students in maybe the top 10% of my class. However, backing I wasn't the best at, and that didn't start to come together for me until the end of the 2 weeks of school. We pretty much did straight line back (which I am good at), offset left and offset right, alley dock, and blind side and sight side parallel park. We had a lot of people in our class so I didn't get a ton of time doing it, but was able to successfully stumble my way through most of it at the end to pass. I definitely need more practice and real-world experience at backing. I don't know if they will be looking at backing during this test on Monday.

The other problem is that I haven't been behind the wheel in a few weeks either now, and I am getting in a rig that I know nothing about, and 18 speed which I have very limited experience. Ten speed I have down pretty good and think I can mentally switch over pretty easily, but I am praying to God that there is a diagram on the handle of the layout of gears. It would help a lot to visually see it and cheat that way to remind myself of where to go next.

I don't want to go in there and make a total ### of myself though. I am really starting to panic a little here. I can and will continue to watch youtube videos on load securement and see what I can dig up about securement pre-trip checks, but to date, I haven't seen much that focuses on just this. There is plenty on how to secure a load, but I haven't looked yet for specifically checking a load already secure. Outside of tugging on the chains to make sure they are tight, I wouldn't have a clue what to look for or what I should be saying in front of a tester of what to look for.

My regular pre-trip inspection stuff I am fine with and it was one of my biggest strengths in school. I think I only got 3 points against me when I tested out of 29 points you can lose for everything combined, i.e. in-cab inspection, lights, and pre-trip. So I can brush up on it before Monday again and should do just fine in that. However, I knew all the trucks at school by the end of the 2 weeks because we were practicing several times a day for 2 weeks. I don't know if they are going to give me a little time with the truck before hand alone to get familiar with it, before I go right to it with the tester, so I know what to look for and what's on the truck prior to testing.


Seems like a good company, they have extremely low turnover, there is plenty to learn for quite a while since they do so many different types of loads, and they are extremely safety conscious and will train me tons "if" I can secure the job. The last two brand new CDL's they hired in the last 2 years are still there. It's all local work and I will be home every night. They also have you following lead drivers for the first while you are driving as it sounds like you move multiple pieces of equipment from one site to another until they feel comfortable about you on your own. Prior to that, they have you trained and in the same cab with an instructor for a while. It also sounds like after doing this job for a bit, you can pretty much go anywhere and handle just about any type of freight. They are even giving me a $100 Visa card just to come in and test.

Pay is $27 an hour to start. $3k sign-on bonus for having my Hazmat and it sounds like you do some hazmat stuff from time to time. Full benefits, PTO, and all the bells and whistles of a good company job. I don't want to say the name of the company currently, but they are a pretty big outfit and been in business for a long time. Family owned too.

The guy I spoke to is the safety coordinator and they don't have a recruiter. He was totally jazzed to speak with me, totally friendly and kind, and told me not to stress it too much that they know I am straight out of school, and they all been there kind of thing. He also told me to explain to the tester on Monday that I have never pulled freight before and not to stress it so much. But I didn't tell him how intimidated I was to go test on an 18-speed.

Maybe this is a dumb post and I am wasting everyone's time, but this company has some pretty good ratings, sounds like they really do take care of their employees and retain them well, and it seems endless for quite a while as to the experience I will get and what I can learn along the way. If this is something I can adapt to on the fly, not make an ### of myself, not waste their time, and I shouldn't give up on it, then I don't want to. But if it truly is dumb to do this, then I would like to be honest with them and not cost them money to test me, and take time out of their day for nothing. I also think that if I just totally bomb it, I would tell them to keep the $100 gift card for wasting their time.

Any thoughts, advice, links to watch and/or read stuff that will help, and comments truly be appreciated.

I only have till Monday 7/17/22 to get as much knowledge in my head as I can.

 

So I have some questions:

1) Am I just wasting everyone's time and I should not do this at all?
2) Do all manuals have to be double clutch, and if not, how would I know? Just ask them? I watched a video tonight where they were floating everything and weren't using the clutch outside of 1st and reverse. I really don't know what to look for, ask about, or expect in this situation.
3) I don't think the load will be secured with anything other than chains. What specifically can or should I do in checking the load pre-trip? How does one go about looking for broken links during a pre-trip and how should I talk about that during the test? What other things should I be looking for on the load?
4) Since it is loaded, do I always start in 1st gear?
5) When should I be splitting gears? What about going up or down the mountains? Does the clutch have to be pressed when splitting the gears?
6) Does Anyone know of any videos that are very good on any and all of these topics they can suggest?
7) What specifically should I be doing or thinking about while driving up and down the mountain with a load that would be different from what I did with the Jake Brake in a dry van that wasn't loaded?
8) What other tips, suggestions, and advice can anyone give me?

 

That's what I was hoping after watching a video on it.