Waiting for training is more challenging as a woman.

Is this a new thing now? When I was a trainer I told them it didn't matter to me what gender the trainee was. Apparently I was one of the few because I trained many women. We didn't stay in hotels. The one time we had to while waiting for a repair they put us in a room together.

 

True that, BUT the stars absolutely have to align.

I was a trainer for a year with Swift. Some trainees got into my truck right away after orientation, others had wait times up to two weeks. I had one EXCELLENT female trainee. She was great in every respect, but after successfully upgrading out of my truck in Southern California, she was told no trucks were available for her to go solo.

After two weeks of runaround she decided to go solo with a different company and she's still with them, pounding out about 3000 safe miles a week.

I spoke with her last night. Still doing great. She would be with Swift today, but for the fact they had no truck available for her for almost two weeks after qualifying to get her own truck.

It's all a crap shoot.

Is there a trainer close by without a trainer, that's ALSO wide open to coices of trainees, whether male or female, smoking or non-smoking? If NOT, then you need to wait until the next available trainer becomes available.

Several times I .my year with Swift I got calls from Driver Development Managers, when I was in their area, to ask me to get a trainee on my truck. Normally I wanted to train a new driver, get solo to my home base, take at LEAST a 34, then get assigned a new trainee. It didn't always work out that way

"Okay, I will take this trainee, but advise them I want three days of in the LA terminal."

Okay.

Most training companies are short handed with trainers, IMHO. Training can be a grueling job, especially during the first two weeks, IF you are doing it RIGHT. I always WANTED a breather between trainees, but that didn't always happen.

In MY case, when I finished orientation at Swift I refused to go home on a bus. I insisted that Swift put me up at a local hotel until I had a trainer. The next morning I miraculously had a trainer. He wasn't the greatest, we butted heads, but I worked through it and finished training.

 

And all it takes to ruin a trainer's life or a company is one woman having a thought in the middle of the night that something said or done a few days ago didn't "make her feel safe". The women that just mildly, and PRIVATELY, disagree when one woman wrecks an innocent person are letting "the sisterhood" down. What would those same women think about a white man that mildly, and PRIVATELY, disagreed with their town lynching a black man? That is what looking the other way produces.

The women in trucking have an extra-burden to become trainers and to call out dishonest women for punishment if they misbehave. Don't hold your breath.

 

I like to call Middle TN The Shoe Wearing portion of TN.

 

When I was very young, all my "Daisy Mae" aunts and cousins were shoeless, by choice. Had to wear them to school & work, but off they came as soon as they got home from school or work. I was the only guy in a house full of women for a number of years.

 

How long did it end up taking before you found a trainer?

 

Im not sure if my starting company is considered a mega or not, but most of the females in my driving class ended up doing local, home daily training, regardless of if they wanted to do linehaul or regional or whatever.

FFE will sometimes put .a guy and a girl together in the truck as long as the guy and gal arent total idiots. And of course Ive never had a female cross through my truck. So what does that tell ya? Lol.

I had a large group of females in my class and they all made it to six week training and they pretty much all upgraded at the same time I did, the ones that passed and still wanted to do trucking. One asian lady was shutdown and sent home by safety, another underestimated the lifestyle. The two others upraded with me after 6 weeks of local training... If I remember right.

 

I trained for about 2 years before switching to dedicated accounts and losing my training status.

I trained anyone, had 3 female students in that time. 1 in the refrigerated division, that is still in the industry 3 yrs later. 4foot5 maybe, loves the job. The other two were flatbed students. 1 who took to it like a duck in water, better than some guys. The last who signed up for flatbed purely because it was more money. She did not know what she was getting herself into with flatbed, she switched to van, but ive had guys that done the same.

But overall my female students were some of my best.

I hope you can find a trainer that will teach you what you need with as little BS as possible. If you are looking specifically for a female trainer they are out there.( May be a slightly longer wait, but they are out there) And there are plenty of men too. Just rember whoever you train with, is just as nervous that they may get a psycho just as much as you are that you may get a worthless dirtbag, that is also a psycho.

 

A cookie that is ghost, is just a tease.