swift orientation

No hometime during training. Dont even ask.

Your first roadtest is just a drive around the block. If you cant find the gears, theyre going to send you home and you will have all the hometime you could ever desire. Better concentrate on your driving instead of worrying about whats happening at home, otherwise if your trainer doesnt feel like you can cut the mustard, they will have him drop you at the nearest terminal(whereever that may be) and you will have to find your own way home.

Better travel light.

 

And no, I am not talking bad about Swift...the entire industry right now is sink or swim. If youre going to orientation for ANY company, plan on swimming. Noone is taking on dead weight at this time.

 

####!!! thats tough...

 

Its not that rough, home time during the training will depend on your trainer. If he lives by the gary terminal he will probably get home every two weeks or so and you will be home the same time he is home, only for a day or two though. I didnt do the training through gary, I did a 2 week training refresher out of the minnesota terminal and the road test there was up a 4 lane highway one exit turn around and come back. Basically just seeing if you can drive the truck safely enough to be with a trainer. A couple people in our class grinded some gears and I ground a few of em, the guy doing the road test didnt even say anything about it. But gary might be different. Just relax and dont get all worked up for the road test its just a little drive around the block, just dont hit anything and dont speed!

 

if yu grind a gear just be able to fix it...if not then there is a problem..

 

Never attended orientation in Gary. But the place is a DUMP. I was there couple weeks ago, and then just last night. Showers are being 'remodeled' so dont expect to shower there. And besides the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaxia game there (which i have the high score on ) there isn't ANYTHING to do.....well there is a casino just down the road a few miles, and the Horseshoe Casino 15 min. away.

But as far as passing the road test, i agree, if you cannot drive a half mile without instruction, just expect to get the boot in your ### when you return.

 

They tell you to plan on being out 8-10 weeks for training. I didnt say anything about grinding gears, I said finding gears. They put 5 of us in a truck and had us drive around the block. The rookies were all complaining that the school's truck was a 10 and this truck is a 9, I told them that it didnt matter. I floated them, they grinded. There was one guy that went fishing for gears out of the 5. They sent him home as soon as we got back to the terminal.

And Swift will send you home if anything comes back from your records that they dont like. The trainer will have to drop you off when they tell him to lose you and you will find your own way home. That is why I keep saying to travel light. There are no second chances getting your foot into the door. Not being harsh, just telling you what I saw back when.

Or do you prefer me to do like everyone else and blow sunshine up your posterior and paint a rosy picture and tell you about Swift family, Swift friends, Swift respect, and their "award winning drivers"?

 

they cannot do that anymore. And they dont...unless the student driver wants it that way. My last mentor's student he had before me wanted him to drop him off on this on-ramp cause he lived just across the road. So he did. Drivers, by company policy, cannot and will not just drop you off at a truck stop or rest area..and leave you. Just think of the liability the company would have should something happen to you, and it was because 'the company told the mentor to strand the student at exit 22 in the middle of nowhere'.

Fact is they aren't going to do that. They will take you off the truck in a terminal, that might be a couple hundred miles away.....

 

And some of those terminals are out in the middle of nowhere. BLAM!