Pre-Hire Process

GA_Rookie · Dec 27, 2012

Chinatown said: ↑

A few companies with APU's:

System Transport
Stevens Transport
Tribe Transport
Melton Truck Lines
Morehouse Truck Line
TransAm
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Chinatown,

Thanks! I will look in to applying for these companies, as well as the other ones you listed!

GA_Rookie · Dec 27, 2012

pokerhound67 said: ↑

i wouldnt think there is a downside to getting too many job offers. sounds like you are getting your ducks in a row nicely. id advise you not even to necessarily tell the others when youve made a decision on a certain company...continue to keep your options open until youve actually gone through the entire hiring process and are in a truck. thats not to say id lie to the others exactly, just that id continue to put them off politely until i was sure i was hired and happy with the choice.

now if youre talking about how to MAKE your choice...here are questions id get answers to before deciding...

do they offer school reimbursement? how much per week/ how much total?
how much cpm will i make immediately? raises of what after how long?
bonuses for productivity/fuel/safety?
layover pay/detention time?
hometime...how many days out=1 day off? how many days can i store and take at once without having to vacate truck and get assigned a new one? (big pita...wouldnt lose my truck over hometime if i could at all help it. but i prefer to stay out long and take longer breaks)
401k/company match?

***how many miles does the average driver make per week?
***what is the percentage of drop and hook?
***what is the average length of haul? (many companies will tell you average miles per week is 2500. this is more of an industry standard. length of haul gives you more of an idea of what you can actually expect. as an otr driver, shorter runs generally equal less miles per week, because of the wait time at shippers/receivers for each load. exception to this would be if most loads were drop and hook, reducing time at shippers/receivers from 1-4 hours or more to 30min-1 hour)

are there apus in most/all trucks? if not, bunk heaters? also if no apus, what is the policy on inverters? cig lighter inverter only, installed inverter, or no inverter policy? ( if no apu and no inverter policy, run away!)

im sure there are a ton more questions to ask, these are the important ones i would need answers to before deciding to go with a company. if you have no need for medical benfits because your spouse has good benefits, youd also want to ask about a substitute of cash for staying off their insurance plan. this is sometimes possible to negotiate.
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pokerhound67,

Thanks! Since I have gotten some of the applications out of the way, I think I will begin to put an email together. I will make a list of different questions that the recruiters can answer. Then I will be able to narrow down and weed out some of them. I need to start to compare and contrast and think about a company I want to choose.

GA_Rookie · Dec 27, 2012

chompi said: ↑

With all that being said, you live in GA!!! Couldn't be better place to find a good smaller, mom and pop type company. You also don't have to go for a micro small company either. Just for example, Central Refrigerated is by industry standards a larger company. By no means are they a mega-carrier, but they are large enough to keep you busy yet small enough to still treat you like a human being!
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chompi,

Any suggestions on smaller companies that I might choose to apply for as a student or recent grad?

chompi · Dec 27, 2012

Just sent you a "PM". Sorry man for the late reply.

Hey guys another advantage about the smaller companies is that they are a lot more forgiving, or lenient. For instance with the idle policy, most of them don't care if you idle the truck because they don't have thousands of trucks. A lot of smaller companies give you space and don't constantly watch over you. My cousin drove for Windy Hill directly out of school and he couldn't believe the freedom they allowed him! As long as you are doing your job and doing it correctly they could careless what you do or how you do it.

So this is another benefit of driving for a non-mega-carrier.

Just for the benefit of others on this thread I sent GA Rookie a link to a really good site for finding the smaller companies. Here is what I sent him:

http://www.truckdrivercentral.com/truckingcompanies.html

Chinatown · Dec 27, 2012

Miller Transporters in Morrow, GA hires CDL grads.

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