Prime: Orientation and Training?

Hello All,
So I passed my permit test this mornining and spoke to my recruiter. It was hard to get ahold of her because she was working from home while she's sick(shows a little dedication). If you have problems reaching a specific recruiter, just hold for the first person on the line and ask that they connect you to him or her. In my case they connected me to her at home. All my ducks are lined up and I am just waiting for a female trainer to come available and I will be off to MO. I belive they have so many new students that they are a little short on trainers for the moment. I told my recruiter that if it was necessary I was able and willing to train with a man. So I'm just waiting on her call she told me to be ready because it could b as soon as Monday.

 

Geez Navy; calm down and listen to the gripes from alot of truckers on this forum. Unions are not always perfect but they protect employees from being abused by a corporation. the dues you pay are miniscule to some of the benefits and you don't necessarily have to prescribe to the politics. I think they would help truckers get a decent wage and slow down if not stop the transgressions from the companies. I was in the military also but would not take being homeless over a decent salary and working conditions. That's a bit much IMO!!

 

Ask the guys at Oak Harbor Freight. 9 month strike. What did they get to return to work? An understanding that negotiations would continue and not everyone would be hired back due to the loss of business combined with the downturn in the economy.

I took special interest in this one because of the nasty insults I had to endure by simply parking my trailer in their lot when I went on home time. I didn't pull a single piece of freight in or out of their yard and they knew it.

 

Short answer: No.

Long answer:

A lot will have to do with your particular fleet manager. Every now and then I'll have issues on nights or weekends getting a hold of someone, but for the most part, I can easily communicate with just about anyone I'd like with very little hold time. My Qualcomm messages are almost always answered within 5 minutes. The biggest issue I've had as far as communication is with Road Assist. Although they have been much, much better lately and what I consider a long wait time seems to very greatly from those at other companies, who often wait many hours for a response. That would drive me insane.

I don't think there are very many companies, especially the size of Prime, where the safety director will hand out his business card at orientation and it includes his home telephone number. I have the home number for my dispatcher as well, though I've never called him there and can't see any situation where I would want to bother him at home.

I've seen both the safety director and the owner of the company eating alone in the cafeteria. It would have been very easy for me to say "mind if I sit with you" and I'm positive they would have been very accepting.

Every Friday morning the decision makers hold a meeting in the cafeteria with free breakfast. It's an open forum where current issues are discussed. Drivers can step right up to a microphone and ask the decision makers of the company questions, as well as voice any concerns. Can't make it to the meeting? No problem, they record the meetings. Just grab one of the CD's that come out every month. They are at any of our terminals, some truck stops carry them, and it's also downloadable off the website.

During the times you do have to wait on hold, instead of listening to music, you'll hear a recorded message from someone at corporate. Most of these messages are updated often to cover current issues and you'll hear from just about every department over the course of a year.

Our dispatchers don't sit behind bullet proof glass like they do at many other companies. When I'm at the corporate office, I have access to every area of the building (with obvious exceptions). I'm able to walk right up to whoever I want if I have something to discuss. Some companies say they have an "open door policy" but Prime actually DOES have one. I used to work in corporate America and the only time I ever saw the owner was in photos. Now that I'm a truck driver, I see the owner just about every time I'm at the main terminal.

As far as communication is concerned, I believe Prime has almost perfected communicating with their OTR truckers. And it's one of the many things that keeps me here, and keeps me happy.

As far as your recruiter goes, they receive literally thousands of applications every week, all of which need to be considered with background checks, employment verifications, a slew of paperwork, setting up orientation and travel arrangements for new hires, etc. Be persistent and make yourself stand out from the stack of papers they have sitting next to the phone.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.

 

Spoke with a recruiter yesterday and i think there was a communication issue. I was told I need three months experience before they would take me. Im not looking to go solo right away as im not an experienced driver. I told the guy that I finished cdl school in august and worked OTR solo fom end of oct to mid nov. I expressed that i wanted to go thru the training period (60k?) and he told me again i needed atleast 3 months experience from another trucking company, is this true? cant I just go as a new driver?

 

I can probably handle 79,999 but I think 80,000 is too much

 

That's about 2 weeks. What happened?

 

Yeah, you only got about 2 to maybe 4 weeks experience max with the parameters you stated.

At last check, Prime only takes CDL school grads with no experience within 6 weeks of graduation. After that you got to have 3 months experience.

I don't know why. They are fairly firm on the 6 week window from graduation.

 

Sorry I meant begining of oct. 4th or 5th. Im not saying im experienced i was just under the impression that I could go through Primes training. Why do they want three months exp. elsewhere? wouldnt it be easier to teach their way of doing things rather than have it conflict with the way i was taught somewhere else.