Need to get my foot in the door

lol....had you going didn't I? Admit it.

 

Swift

To anyone else looking to get in, here's how it works at the mega bottomfeeder orientation:

40-50 people show up. Mostly fresh grads, a couple retreads, and a couple last chancers. The retread is the person that quit for greener pastures, couldnt make the grade at a better company, and so is returning back to the minors. The last chancers are the people that screw up and get fired from another job for too many safety violations. The majority will be people fresh out of driving school and full of that sunshine injection from a recruiter.

They will put a group of you in a truck, and have you drive around the block. If you cannot find the gears, you're going home. If you hit a curb with the trailer, you're going home. Real simple, no backing. Most grads start to worry because they were schooled on a completely different truck and or a shorter trailer. Or, instead of going right into orientation, they slacked for a couple months and have forgotten what they learned in school. Now, the schools will teach you the bare minimum. That first driving test you get in orientation, if you were actually paying attention in school, you should be able to pass it. So, if you are in school and get your CDL, you should be able to maneuver a truck around a parking lot or around the block.

But I was under the impression that I would be trained before I had to take a driving test...

Ever see one of those ice sculptors start hacking away at the big block of dry ice? They start with saws and hatchets, but they finish with picks and files. But they have to start with a SOLID block of ice. For a trainer to be able to train you, and sculpt you into a driver, he has to have something to start with that the company approves of. If a bottomfeeder feels that you arent good material to start with, they will send you home.

So, what can you do to improve your chances of getting through orientation?

1. Immediately after graduating CDL school, sign up for orientation while everything is fresh in your mind.
2. Use the resources available to you in orientation.

What resources?

The Retreads. Just because it didnt pan out for him at another company doesn't mean he's useless. He can pass any test they give him. He's dont it before, he can do it again. He can tell you about the road test, and where most people fail at. So, pick his brain. The last chancer is the one you want to avoid. He's going down the toilet. Do you really want to be in close association with anything spinning around a toilet bowl at a bottom feeder?

Best of luck to you rookies.

Wait! How do we know who the last chancer is?

He's going down the toilet, remember? Your senses will tell you. You're going through orientation at Swift. you see One of the guys in orientation is wearing a Heartland or Crete hat. "Hmmm, why is he leaving Heartland for Swift?" Or you hear some driver bragging about doing something stupid to get fired from his last company. Or there's something about the driver that smells or you feel the need to punch his lights out. Or the guy is extremely negative and leaves a bad taste in the room.

 

I finished up the school about a week ago so I am hoping to get on with a company right away so I can remember how to shift

 

Be more specific. If you were in to sports, you go to certain colleges to play basketball. You go to different colleges for the best football programs. You go to another type of college if you want to be a CEO, and yet a different college if your goal is to get a high rank in the military.

Same goes with trucking. Dont just throw out an application and take whats offered...what is it that you really want to do?

 

Since I am new at this I have no choice but to sign up with a company that takes newbies. Especially since my ultimate goal is to drive a tanker (usually they require 1 year OTR). So for now I want to just drive a tractor-trailer and see how that goes OTR. Pay off my truck school loan. I am going with Schneider mainly because my school was on their list, their training OTR is only 7 days (more if you request it) and they have more opportunities like driving tankers as well.

 

I think you picked the right one if tanker is what you want to do. I wouldn't be surprised if you stayed there a long time too.....I know someone in their office and they pay for experience as good as anybody, probably treat drivers the best among mega carriers as well, but that's just my opinion.

 

Hey Joseph are you running still for Gordon? Seems like a cool place to work. I am trying to decide between Gordon and Schneider. Schneider are offering me a sign on bonus. I caught eye of Gordon in Millersberg

 

Schneider Will also pay for you school loan tuition

 

lol no no. I saw the light and got the hell out of there. I went back to my previous company over a year ago.

 

Was it really bad or something? what do you think of Schneider?