Refresher Programs

What we need to do is make a list of companies who want you to have the refresher course and ones that don't . This way we know where to go looking or avoid

 

If you are on good terms with your school, they might offer a free refresher course. I don't know of any companies that pay for refreshers.

 

It is me again. I am still researching companies. I did find out that Swift complete a DAC report on me with a satifactory employment. I get letter from that soon. Can anyone help tell me of a company that will pay for your refresher course and give you a job afterwards?

Still waiting to see if anyone on here has any information on here for me. The economy is bad and I know that, but companies are asking for drivers. I have done a lot of reading from this site and really don't know which company to choose. I really don't want to team drive after my student driving time is up. Can any give me any current information about this?

Sincerely,

Debbie

 

Did swift tell you this or did you go to Hire Right and have them send you a copy of your record. It is not uncommon for companies to avoid confrontation on the phone to tell you just what you want to hear.

 

HireRight gave me the information over the phone. I got lucky on getting the information so quickly.
Debbie

 

Wow, thats cool. I tried to get information over the phone a while back and they told me they needed everything in writing and only provide information in writing. Told me I needed to fill out the form online and wait like everyone else.

Well thats one big hurdle behind you. I do know several companies that will pay for or provide a refresher if you had at least 24 months behind the wheel, prior to your lapse in driving. I was upgraded and had a few months and i do not even qualify for these refresher programs, and I'm currently driving local moving trailers around town. i thought I would just need a trainer for a while, but its seems they dont recognize local driving at some of these OTR companies.

 

I went back through my records have found a mistake. I looked at my log books from trucking company I worked for and I left Greer SC on 2-21-11 and got my first shower on 2-27-11. No wonder I was upset and was wanting a shower so badly. I know I have to buck up and try harder to get through the training period. Right now I am trying to go through an internet website bigtrucksbigbucks.com for help. I still blame my trainer for not allowing me my showers.
Sincerely,
Debbie

P.S. I have spent so much time on the internet doing research on varies trucking companies that I am tired of researching and will try the bigtrucksbigbucks and if all fails go back and talk to Swift. At least with Swift I know of a trainer that will allow me time for showers. He has been recommended to me by a friend that was in school with me (Mae). She has helped me a lot and suggested months ago for me to talk to them, but I was trying hard to get a local job. I even passed an egronomics test along with physical and drug tests and was turned down by their headquarters because of lack of employment. The manager there was really trying to help me, but it was out of his hands. Hopefully after I get a couple of years of otr experience I can go back there. They pay really good and their training is local. This is where I could come home every night until I was finished.

 

Make yourself a list of companies that are in your area and go see them. Anybody would shoot your application down when all they have is paperweork to look at. Just place yourself in that seat that does the hiring and he or she has a stack of applications to fill maybe three or four jobs. It goes like this, tickets no, fired no,late a few times no, had problems with people no,time inbetween jobs no, no verifiable experience no, and so on. What I'm saying is the companies have a choice now and they are going to only look at perfect applications.

However, if you go in and place a face to your application that company may feel that your minor infractions do not add up to much and they like you. Put your best foot forward and go after those jobs. I've seen drivers get tanker jobs with no experience because that company needed a driver right then. So you never know until you try. Don't let anyone tell you don't bother except the person that does the hiring.

 

The only company that has tried to help me was a tanker company that hauls plastic chips and gas. I even went so far as to lift their heavy hose. You are right and I put my face to the application. My lack of employment between jobs (and currently since March I don't have a job or income due to the fact I quit Swift and the unemployment new guide lines). The new guide lines say if you quit any job that you will no longer get any unemployment benefits what so ever. If it weren't for my smart financial decisions I would be like everyone else and be in be in bankrupt or forclosure. I have been on top of my financial stuff since 1986. I have a really great credit score average of 780. I do my best not to use my credit cards and if I do I pay it off the following month. So my monthly payments don't go up and down much. There is only one down side and that is most companies won't let you leave a resume or fill out an application in person. They want you to go online to do it.
Thanks for your suggestion,
Debbie

 

To northstarfire0693 I agree with your comment:
What we need to do is make a list of companies who want you to have the refresher course and ones that don't . This way we know where to go looking or avoid.
I am doing my best not to get discouraged about trucking industry. I was in mortgage banking for 15 years and did very well with it making $15 a hour plus bonuses. After 2 layoffs and it changing to repossessions and bankrupties (talking to customers over the phone) I decieded it was time for a change. Some people love facebook well I love this site. It really gave me great information like about the DAC that no one told me about. LOL
D in Debbie stands for determination. Now here's my story and I'm sticky to it because it is the truth. I went to school in December 2009 and graduated in February 2010. I didn't obtained a CDL license because they put me with the mean instructor. I mean like he yelled at us etc and there were 4 students per truck per instructor. He once said he wouldn't let me go around the route but once because I made him nervous (and everyone else went twice). That wasn't nice. I was doing my best to learn. Anyway I didn't get enough practice on the alley doc and didn't pass it on the dmv test. Well after that 2 months later they fired him for cheating on his time sheets and not because of all the complaints from other students of attitude. He used his students to try and hook him up with a girlfriend or date (that was me) and he had a couple of guys that were brothers hook him up with illegal cable. Anyway I had hoped that if I paid him $500 for one week of training he would be a little bit nicer and I rented a truck for $6500 deposit. Well so much for that instead of 40 hours I got about 20 hours and I asked him nicely to let me go back on the pad at dmv office before test day and he said no. I guess that would get in his way of watching tv at night. So once again I failed the alley doc (the 90 degree turn thing). Okay so then I get a job for a few months then laid off. So I deciede to try it again with a friend of mine who had some time off. He let me practice all I wanted and only asked for $250 a week. I gave him another $100 after I passed the test. I cried after I was told I passed. FYI I did the alley doc at least 200 times and got it in the hole the first time. It did help a little that the examiner who on a Saturday told me to go to another dmv office that wasn't so busy some 30 miles away. Well about a month after I passed DMV office called me in for some questions. By the time those two guys got through with me I was in tears. They had told me that if I lied about anything that I could be in trouble with the FBI etc. Holy cow and I spilled the beans then. The only thing that I was guilty of was that the examiner gave me the route of testing. I told them what was different of wrong about that when the schools knew the routes and they could have told me. Anyway the next day I called them back and they said I was okay and good to go. Now that was September a year ago. My only wish is that I had researched trucking companies a little bit better before going with Swift.
I can still remember that I left terminal in Greer SC on 2-21-11 and my first shower was on 2-27-11. I was talking to someone on the cell phone that night saying "I have a knife in my pocketbook and I am either going to kill him or jump on plane back home". Well I did neither of them. I got my shower and in Las Vegas he said I only had 2 hours left on my 70 and that I could take my 34 hours of down time. This is where I observed him and worked on map planning. Sure enough that day Swift directions took us to the middle of wild life perserve on a snow covered rode. My TomTom kept saying turn around when possible lol. The number they gave us to shipper was no longer in service. The instructer had to use the internet on his phone to get the right number and the shipper gave us the correct directions. Well when we got to the shipper they over loaded us and we had to go back for them to take some of the weight off. Good thing too because the weight station put us on full check up which took an hour and his slack adjuster arm on trailer was off by .3 and so it was written up.
I did get over my fear of driving on snow covered hwys etc. It is one experience I will never forget. We were pulled over in Utah for a whole hour or more and hwy patrol told us to chain up. My instructor left chains back at home in NC. They told us to put on definitial brakes on and go slow. Which I did as they told me. I was so glad to get back home. I am going to attach a picture of the snow I drove on. You couldn't even see any part of the highway. I keep on brumable strips. I could hear them until we arrived in Parowan UT. Which is a 3 hour drive from where we were at for my first shower.
Well that's my story so far about me and the trucking industry. Wish me some luck please.
Sincerely,
Debbie