JB Hunt - Lowell, Ar.

Crete has a terminal in central Florida. I'd work for those guys way, way before I'd work for JBH.

 

Again, this is why I come here. Twenty minutes at the site, and I've learned two things today.

TT, I just learned yet another fact about trucking...thanks to your post. I now know to never submit one of these online "applications" if and when I jump back in. When I climbed out of bed this morning, I may have entertained the idea of "applying online" when looking for a trucking job, especially if my target company has a terminal far from my home. Well, I'm not subscribing to that idea anymore. If I decide I want to apply at a company, I'll apply in person, no matter if it requires a flight or a long drive. This will give me a chance to check the papers for their help-wanteds, their lots for empty cleaned-outs, and their orientation class sizes before filling out forms and/or going to orientations. This goes for ANY company I'm interested in. Be that company in Salt Lake City, Boston, or Anchorage.

If one wants at least a semi-secure job and wants to avoid being a job hopper, the in-person application process is the only way to go when getting a job as a driver.

 

Well..let's clarify something here.

If the process was performed as the laws lay it out to be done, it could take up to 45 days to screen employees for hire, and when drivers are out of a job, not all have that kind of time to wait. Some things defy common sense, even when they are instituted to protect employees privacy, and other rights that are afforded. The sheer distance from where a driver may live, and to where they may be ultimately hired is a big obstacle for so many.

Online applications that you fill out on a Company's website, which are sent to them directly are perfectly fine, and a very good way to speed up the process of being approved for hire.

Headhunting websites have their use as well, and while there may be some out there that are operating ethically, like everything else in this industry, the few who aren't or are shams for companies that are disguising themselves to recruit drivers that have no interest in them, make me tend to just say avoid them all.

One of the die hard rules when dealing with web based businesses online, is that unless you can easily find information on the location of the business, complete with a phyisical address and contact phone numbers, then it's better to avoid divulging ANY personal information through or to them.

How easy is it for someone to set up a legitimate looking website, and use it for the sole purpose of collecting personal information? It can be done in a matter of hours. And remember, online applications will always ask for enough information that can be used for the purpose of identity theft.

Use those sites to seek out companies, but then seek out a company's personal website to submit the application, and then, only if the pages in which you fill out that application are secure. Check the security certificate as well to verify that it indeed is verifed.

Online applications give a company enough information to verify enough information that will allow them to see whether or not you are a potential candidate for hire. If you pass that step, some will have you submit a complete application and have you fax that in, and then if hired, will require that completed application brought with you to orientation, or will then require you to actually fill out another one altogether, once on the company's property.

A point of legal law here, is that the application that ultimately winds up in your personnel file, must be original and have been completed in your own handwriting. And per the regulations, a background investigation cannot be legally be performed until the company has an original signature in hand, on disclosure documents. Faxed or electronic submissions are not legally allowed for disclosure forms.

This is why so many companies will not begin the full background checks until you are in orientation. Most of the time, by pulling an MVR and a DAC report, which can be done without a legal signature, enough information is found to either have an idea that the potential employee is hireable, or should be excluded.

When drivers are not forthcoming with areas of their backgrounds that they think are hidden, they are often found in the course of the full background checks, and then will find themselves dismissed during orientation.

 

You are so right! We referred a person to Roehl and he was "pre-hired" when he applied online he omitted the fact that he had been convicted of a felony about 11 years ago. When this came to Roehl's attention through the back ground check they declined to hire him. He was ticked off at the company told me they didn't give him a reason not to hired him. I told him that if he was up front with the company they may have overlooked the conviction but since he didn't disclose this fact the company may think "what else would he lie about." P.S.We never knew about this conviction until after the fact.

 

After reading many posts on this site, is has become very apparent to me that the only people who fully understand how JB Hunt recruits are the JB Hunt recruiters who subscribe to this site and they won't tell the truth. Some of them even claim to be professional drivers on their profile. How do I know? I used to be a JB Hunt recruiter until I got tired of being pressured to recruite a certain number of drivers each week by any means necessary. Lying to a driver to hire him is a normal part of the JB Hunt sales process.

The online application on the JBH website in not really an application. It is just a fill in the blank form to determine if the prospective applicant meets the minimum requirements to drive for JBH. If he does, he can expect a call from a telephone recruiter in Lowell, AR.

All applications at JBH are done by phone, whether the applicant is approached by an outside recruiter on the lot or a telemarketer from Lowell. Either one will put the applicant on the phone with a scheduler who will take the application verbally. A series of questions will be asked by the scheduler and if the applicant appears qualified, the scheduler will set up an orientation date. Once at orientation, he will fill out a hand writter application identical to the verbal application. This is done to obatin his actual signature on the application.

The scheduler will then tell the applicaqnt to go to some place where the applicant is to call back with a fax number so that the scheduler can send an informatiom release form for the applicant to sign and return. This gives JBH the right to run back ground ckecks and get references from former employers. This is where a whole bunch of problems start. If the applicant does not get around to sending in the info release form, JBH will still bring the applicant in for orientation. Even if he signs and returns it, some information may come in after the driver has quit his job and is in orientation. If the information that comes in is negative, he is sent home unemployed.

Sometimes a driver is sent home from orientation for reasons other than those given to him. Sometimes the hiring manager will simply dislike the driver or think he just won't fit in. They will then come up with some excuse like borderline high blood presure. One time I had a driver sent home for a minor accident which was fully devulged on both the oral application and the written application given at orientation. JBH waited until the last day of orientation and told him that after further review the accident would disqualify him.


JBH gives its telemarketing recruiters in Lowell a list of dedicated and regional runs every Wednesday afternoon. The list is sent out to the outside recruiters the next day meaning the outside recruiters in the field don't get the list until the earliest on Monday. Since the outside recruiters are on the parking lots, they dont usually see the list until Tuesday, nearly a week after it came out. The odds are that if a really good dedicated run is on the list, it has long since been filled before the outside recruiter sees the list. Since the list is not updated, the outside recruiter is offering jobs that don't exist. Still JBH has time to notify the applicant that the job has filled before the applicant quits his present job and comes to orientation, but they don't. They wait until the last day of orientation and tell the driver that the job he thought he had, is filled and he will have to drive OTR. He has the choice of driving OTR or going home to his family unemployed.

 

Until he left recently, BigDawg was JB Hunt's best recruiter. In profile he says he is a "professional driver". The only truck this guy has ever driven is a King Ranch pick-up.

 

Doesn't matter if he is still a recruter or not, he is no longer a member here after being banned...

 

When did the "new"JBH evolve? My husband was a company driver for them in 2000-2002 and then recently was talked into joining their lease purchase agreement in 11/2005. After me calling them from the receptionist to the VP of Lease Purchase Program every day and getting OOIDA and a lawyer involved, did they release him from the program without a penalty. Of course from my figures they retained about $1,600.00 in escrow monies. I also emailed their webmaster email blasting them and also the idiot that thought he was going to feed me his BS. I am surprised that there hasn't been a class action suit brought against them yet. And if any recuiter wants to debate me about how great JBH is, all I can say is I'm waiting.