Question about pre-hire.

The school I am looking into is 320 hours and 2k

 

Guys, start filling out apps now. You can even do it before school. Usually on the apps it asked your date of school completion. These companies get thousands of apps a day so it takes them awhile to go thru them and process them. Also do not count on a call back. You need to be proactive for yourself. If you want to increase your chances of succeeding and do well in trucking, stay away from the mega-carriers ie; Swift, Werner, England etc... I know you guys are new and don't understand really why but these companies just constantly keep their seats warm with student drivers. This way they can move their freight for the absolute minimum. Why give a driver a raise when you can just replace them with another cheap driver. Please don't believe what the recruiters tell you. They are better than car salesman when it comes to talking crap! You will be promised home time, new trucks and all sorts of stuff. In the real world this just doesn't happen. An average over the road driver is out usually 4-6 weeks. There are also the ones that promise home on the weekends. This is for companies that have freight lanes near your house. Home for the weekends pretty much means a drive by! An hour or two at best on a Sunday morning is usually the norm. Guys don't take this in a negative way I just want to prepare you ahead of time for the brain washing. These companies will be sending their recruiters to your school (the school gets paid by these companies to send students their way) and sometime during your training you will have a session with some recruiters from different companies. Keep this in your mind while they are blabbing. Isn't it strange how a company pays millions of dollars in advertising and recruiting to try and get you to WORK for them! Have you ever heard of this anywhere else in the employment industry? If this is what they have to do to keep their company running don't you think something is a little wrong? One of two things is happening here in order for a company to go through that many employees. Either they are putting drivers in trucks and then the drivers are driving into black holes to never be seen again, or they are so bad to work for that drivers are quitting or getting fired as soon as they are hired! If any of you see that black hole though, let me know. I will eat my words! Good luck guys, keep your eyes out for some good mom and pop companies. You are going to have to put forth a little effort in your research but I assure you it will be worth it!

 

Chompi, thanks for your advice. I hear what u r saying about the mega carriers- but in this economy everyone else seems to want experienced drivers. Who else will hire a student driver? Schools all say you gotta put your time OTR- which I don't mind.
Werner keeps popping up as a company to stay away from. Haven't heard all that much about Schneider. They hire student-drivers don't they?

 

The coursework for truck driving at a community college is part of the vocational-technical mission, which is one part of the community college system. Community colleges will have an academic thread and a vocational/technical thread. The academic thread is usually related to an ability to transfer an Associates Degree into a full-blown 4 year degree at a regular state college or a university. For example, a pre-professional student wishing to become a teacher, or a lawyer, or a doctor, etc, may take their first two years of course work that is required for a four-year degree at his/her local community college. At any time, those credits are transferrable to the 4-year college.

The Vocational thread is focused on putting people into the trades or into an immediate technical occupation like plumbing, welding, carpentry, and commercial driving.

There are credits that are given for a vo-tech program, but they are not transferrable into an academic program. Vo-tech credits demonstrate the hours spent training. Credits are the method which the vocational-technical tack within the community college system is able to be credentialed by the State.

The absolute best community college programs have been standardized around the PTDI curriculum and training standards. This does NOT mean that a school has gone through the tedious and expensive process to have formal PTDI certification. Those college programs which HAVE been certified are easy to spot. The advantage is that you will receive a PTDI certificate along with your school's certificate of completion.

For other community college programs which have adopted and which adhere to the standards of PTDI training, but which have not been Certified, you have to spend time talking to the school's department head for the trucker program. Ask questions about their curriculum, the experience level and tenure of the instructors, and ask for a copy of the syllabus and a list of the books required for their course.

My program was so long because we spent quite a bit of time learning the mechanical functions of each system in a tractor by the diesel mechanic instructors. For example, we spent time learning and practicing in order to become certified to adjust brakes. We were certified on the forklift and power lifts. We were visited by the State Patrol to have them explain how their job interfaces with commercial driving issues at both the weigh stations and on the road, and to answer question we might have had from our lessons on hours of service regulation and other aspects of the FMCSR that come under their jurisdiction (we had a lot of homework around the FMCSR, and were required to keep logbooks from thefirst day of class).

We spent quite a bit of time at a weigh station on I-5, and the officers provided instruction in how they do what they do and how their equipment works to get the weighing and measurements accomplished. Assessing tractor-trailers on the fly at freeway speeds for both length, height, and weight was pretty eye-opening. We tagged along while they performed tractor-trailer inspections.

We were taken to the Paccar factory (Kenworth) near Seattle and did a two hour tour of the whole shebang, visiting various assembly stations from parts and pieces through to full assembly of the various tractors, and watched the final product roll out the door. This was just a few of the things the course provided.

During the course, we had time to study and test for all of the endorsements, including getting the TSA stuff completed for the hazardous material endorsement. And we did a LOT of driving in city (Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Spokane), mountains (Cascades. And yes, we got real life experience in chaining), on the flat, and everything in between. We pulled flatbeds, vans and TCU (reefers) of varying lengths. Since we were a state school, we also were contracted to haul loads to various state agencies and a few Indian reservations. Lots of experience in loading and unloading. I had tens of thousands of miles under my belt prior to graduation. And even more important, there was time to apply everything learned in class and ingrain the bookwork into real life.

Of course, even with that kind of schooling I learned a whole lot more after I started with my driver trainer when I started working in 2009. Yes I was further ahead in the learning curve than a lot of guys, but I felt that my time with Jorge was icing on the cake. And of course working in the real world is a challenge all by itself. School got my foot in the door, and the Certificate of Completion was only good to prove to a company that I was trainable.

For me, going to Bates was a good way to go. Each person needs to decide for themself how best to accomplish their training. There are trade-offs to any method choosen; for a community college, the trade-off is the length of time in training before going to work. The benefit for me was giving me the time I felt I needed to develop a competency, confidence, and more complete skill set. Some will snicker at my taking so much time to get on with the work of driving, but it worked for me. Do what is best for you.

Oh, and my course tuiton was $3795.00. I paid for it out-of-pocket and was able to deduct it on my taxes.

 

After all that who did you end up going with?

 

I wanted Interstate, but the recruiter there wanted 6 months driving. So I went with Werner, with plans to apply to Interstate at the 6 month mark. Werner was no problem for me, and my trainer was a great guy and a concientious teacher. Jorge and I spent a total of 12 weeks on the road together. I had 450 driving hours with him, which was more than the usual 300 (there wasn't a truck available for me). I had the option of waiting at a motel or going home until my truck DID become available. I decided to stay with Jorge (after he confirmed that he could put up with me) and continue gaining experience rather than sitting around with my thumb up my.....

I arrived back at the Phoenix terminal (Jorge's home town) and was assigned my truck.

Caution: Tale of Woe. Proceed at Your Own Risk.

Now, I had been dealing with increasing back pain over the previous 6 months. It had reached a point where I really needed to get it checked out. So I took a week's hometime and flew home from Phoenix with the intention of returning back to Phoenix and start hauling loads. That was not to be.

I saw my doctor and had an MRI all on the same day I arrived home. By that time I was experiencing severe pain and muscle weakness in my legs. The MRI revealed a series of disc bulging with one severe herniation. I was then scheduled for surgery the very next day, with instuctions to immediately go to the emergency room should anything become worsened.

I kept in touch with Werner the entire time. The surgery was successful in relieving all the issues with muscle control. The surgery was a breeze and recovery was pretty quick, EXCEPT....

There was still a lot of pain. From July of 2009 until April of 2010, I struggled with physical therapy, spinal injections, self-discipline in doing exercise, but nothing helped. A second MRI, this time with contrast media, was done and lo and behold, the likely source of pain was discovered: a severe stenosis in an area where the nerves leave the lower spinal column. A second surgery was scheduled in May, and that solved the problem. During the rest of May, June, and July, I physical therapied my butt off. I joined a gym for core strengthening training.

I kept in touch with Werner every step of the way. Three weeks ago, I submitted my request to return to work, with a full and unrestricted clearance from my orthopedic surgeon. Then I hied myself to a private trucking school for 4 days of refresher training behind the wheel. While at the school (this was week before last) I received a call from Werner telling me that they were 'passing' on my request to return to work.

I was disappointed, but oh well..... So I quickly got into application mode and sent out a number of applications after I was done driving each day. Staying at a hotel with wireless internet hookups and access to a fax machine was nice. I also contacted Patti at Interstate and she was interested but needed to see me in my own truck for 6 months.

My choice of companies is extremely limited by where I live, which is a long way from most hiring areas. So, it looks like I'm off to US Xpress where I start orientation next Tuesday in Dallas. This is a stepping stone as I really want to go to Interstate. I'll simply give 110% effort as a US Xpress driver during my tenure there and do a good job for them.

I'm not worried about the all-auto transmissions in the US Xpress fleet, as I will be able to quickly readjust to real transmissions when I leave, but I would much rather have a shift column on the floor to the right of my seat.

 

i have 4 d.u.i. which is a felony i got them all in the same year 20 yrs ago . i have had a spotless driving record ever since 0 points on record can i still get a trucking job or will i fail the background check

 

Depends on the carrier.

 

You should scan all applications for this type of wording:

5. All employers must be noted even if you never worked for them. If you completed paperwork during a hiring process but left before actually working in any capacity, that employer must still be listed.


Don't know what that means precisely, but lining up a bunch of pre-hires simultaneously could work against you. It might be better to work through them one at a time.