Driving a Truck Before Orientation

Probably just a ride along.Im sure they have copy of your cdl,and physical,and drug test is good. So,yes you could drive. More than likely riding mainly. No he/she may be doing a mini-road test. Get to a difficult stop and have you "back in" just to see if you can? Or have you drive back to the barn as your road test.

 

When I interviewed for Hahn in New Market they stuck me into a stone bucket truck to Mt Airy and back in like 14 minutes give or take 8. Within the first 20 minutes of walking onto the property and finding a suit with sufficient poobah authroity to interview for work.

I was with a trainer the following odark early 2 am checking the oil and such on the pete. Her training was flawless and I can even to this day touch a bulk tanker for say cement and it will be empty in about 40 minutes off plant air.

Bulk is nice if you can get it somewhat decent without problems from Managers who do not wanna hear it from you the pipsqueak who knows nothing. But yet some how doing that work while they were still chasing girls in the middle school. Come on now...

 

There's a big difference between a road test and doing a full route. If you're still not officially employed whose insurance will cover you?

 

The driver you're riding with will let you know. He already has his instructions about what to do with you.

 

I wouldn't be so sure.. a lot of the time the driver doesn't know he has a passenger until he shows up.... I had to do a ride along with a dude who used the "georgia overdrive" method in winter in Wisconsin.. I never wanted to get out of a truck more in my life... and I was a driving instructor! lol New drivers rarely scared me.. experienced drivers it was normal..

 

LOL...Okay, I'll rephrase that...Most companies will let a driver know that he's taking a student with him. I don't think its fair to just drop that on a guy with no warning.
Most places I've worked have a few drivers that give qualification rides to new hires but not very many.
It's a big responsibility to take a driver out and then pronounce him okay to drive. I did a lot of them over the years but I never cared for it.
I've had the hell scared out of me more than once.

 

Yeah, we were instructors for the school and trainers for the company. We would road test drivers who were in orientation. There were two courses and two standards. The standards for students were WAY higher than the standards for experienced drivers. While most of the experienced guys didn't necessarily do dangerous stuff all the time... they were generally sloppy and could never pass a CDL skill eval any longer. Not only were the sloppy, they had an attitude like they were great... they generally weren't.

 

Since you say it's a route, I'm guessing multiple deliveries, possibly involving hand unloading freight to take into the place.

More then likely it's a ride along to test your ability with everything but driving. You might be doing the unloading, interacting with the clients, possibly even trying out the paperwork involved with each delivery. A simple test of your ability to do what the job requires (besides driving) before the company goes any further with you. If there is physical work involved, they want to know you can handle it and do it.