Orientation

No if you put “do not contact” on the new application. I know a few people who work for 2 companies

 

Well, you would have to list your previous employers on the application with your potential employer. And your potential employer is required to contact your previous employer to verify employment experience.

 

Like @JSanborn103 said, if you put "do not contact my current employer" on your application AND THE NEW COMPANY ACTS ACCORDING TO YOUR INSTRUCTION, then your current company may not know you are testing the waters with a new company. I have had a current employer ask me within a week of submitting an application at another company, but long before I decided to not change companies, why was I looking to leave the company. Also, there are some companies that subscribe to a service that alerts other trucking companies that also subscribe to the service when one of their current drivers applies at a company sharing that subscription service.

I don't think going to orientation is a good way to learn what you need to know about a company. Some companies will record the people that show up for orientation, even if they are not hired. The job application at some companies ask you to list companies if which you attended orientation, not just the companies you were hired by. Orientation at some companies is like a Time-share "free weekend". The targets of the high-pressure sales pitch have no intention at all of buying a time share but they wilt under the pressure, or fall for the tactics used by the company making the presentation. The people making the sales pitch have a metric ton more experience getting candidates to eventually say yes, than most candidates have in resisting shady sales pitches. The tiger only survives because he's good enough at his job to kill and eat enough to stay alive. The antelope may not have nearly the experience and skill at out running the tiger on his first encounter with one.

In my opinion, you are much better off to force the company you are considering for orientation put you in contact with current working drivers doing the type of work you can be hired for, or doing the work you are applying for. Ignore recruiters, ignore the trucking company website. Those are like a commercial for the company and only mention what the trucking company wants you to know, and most of what they say actually doesn't mean what you think it means. It is vague enough so that the most eager or desperate candidates can imagine the vague words to mean what they candidate HOPES it means.

I can see the orientation company contacting your current employer, even though you said not to, and some employers will quickly end your employment rather than risk you parking the truck unexpectedly far awy from where the current employer wants it to be parked, or in a terrible condition as revenge.