Stevens Transport aviary

Hi Nighthawk325, thanks for the Stevens info. I know in my school so far my instructors have stressed "GOAL"-get out and look-which I agree with 100% as a good practice to follow. As for my general health, thankfully, my blood pressure, sugar, heart rate, are all well within the medical "legal limits" and I take 0 medications, only thing is my BMI may be a little on the LOW side for this type of work, I guess I will find out as time goes by.
Thanks again for the knowledge, best of luck to you also and stay safe.

 

Hi Everyone, from reading the posts(all very informative I might add), I guess my next 2 questions are: Does Stevens pair female trinees only with female trainers? I applied to CRST also(Carlisle, PA is approx. 1.5 hours from my house) and they will assign a female to a male trainer. Also, does Stevens "match" drivers for team driving? I graduate school in the next 2 weeks and my instructor tells us not to wait more than 60 days to get with a company because after the 60 days one is considered to be out too long.
My best to all on this thread.

 

Steven's tries to pair trainees and trainers by smoking preference, age and gender as best they can. You will most likely get a male trainer. No forced team driving at Stevens. I recommend you come out immediately after school and do not go home until you are done. Your Marine Corps training and experience is going to be a big help to you. Mental toughness is a necessary trait a professional driver.

I type to you from the friendly confines of America's Best Value in beautiful Mesquite, Tx. Company is taking us all to Golden Coral for turkey dinner. Yipee.

Last two days of training did not count cause I was sitting at a truck stop in Tampa, FL while trainer visited family but made them up with a local trainer so officially done!

Random notes:

Two weeks before I came aboard Steven's raised their contribution toward tuition from $3,500 to $6,000.

I was the only one from my CDL class at road master that went to Stevens.

One classmate went to CRST. He called me two weeks ago. He had been sitting at a truck stop for five days waiting for a load and had been forced teamed with a dude he could not stand. CRST pays .42 a mile per driver which of course you can not collect while sitting at a truck stop. He is coming to Stevens. He was told by the company he would get the $450 per week he got at CRST while doing a two week stint as a trainee to learn the Steven's way.

Another classmate went to SWIFT. Hear nothing but complaints from her. She broke down at least once during training, complained about "drama" and lastly, she was sent to Michigan to get her truck and broke down after picking up her first load.

Have a best Thanksgiving you can have under the circumstances. See yall out on the road early next week if not sooner.

 

Hi Alamorich, Thanks for the advice, yes I agree, and hope to be # an orientation by the end of this year, and I feel I would be fine paired with a male trainer(I dont smoke, but absolutely do not mind if anyone else smokes, and am easy-going on a daily basis, I can accept what life brings my way). I also agree that my USMC experience will be helpful, I can follow rules and regs, and actually miss Parris Island and Camp Johnson sometimes, seriously! Stevens is my 1st choice(no one else in my CDL class applied with them either, just like yours), I spoke with a rep yesterday, she was very nice, told me they got my app but because of the holiday to call back friday or monday, so time will tell, I guess. I would like to drive as a team in the future, as I drive(my car) up and down I-95 alot(my sister and cousins live in FL) and it gets boring after 10 hours just listening to radio, CD's.
Good luck # Stevens, best regards, stay safe.

 

As a female you will be asked if you want female trainer only. if you say no you can be assigned to either. You cannot ask for male only. If you are comfortable with going with a male I would suggest saying you can go with either. There are very few female trainers with Stevens. The male trainers go through special classes to be able to cross train and you have to speak with your counselor more often than a students of the same gender as their trainer. The males that train females are very good as they have to have more driving experience than the normal trainers.

 

Thanks for the info. Yes, I will plan on mentioning that I am okay going with either a male or female trainer, I am flexible and would not want to limit my options with Stevens right from the start. Hopefully they accept me and I don't get sent home in orientation(although I have an open ticket on Southwest Airlines that I saved just in case I need airfare back to the east coast)

 

As long as you have a good driving record and no criminal record and can prove your last 3 years of employment or unemployment(W-2 and such) and have the health certificate you will have no problem getting prehires from companies. And if you live near Pittsburgh(that's my home town area) you are in a good hiring area for several companies. I was surprized how many companies are looking for drivers. If you want teams Covenant and US.Express might also be worth a look at. USExpress has Autos if you don't mind driving them but will hurt you if you change to a co. later without autos. Also check with drivers on how good companies are at getting you your home time on time if that's important to you. I know what you're going through because I just did it and I'm hoping I made the right choice and in the end also went with a gut feeling along with what I thought was of the best benifit to me in the end. Also from what I've read and been told by other recruiters is usually after 6 months solo if it doesn't seem a good fit you will be able to move onto another company too.

 

Thanks Johnny, I heard the same thing about US Xpress. They seem like an okay company but I can understand how driving the automatics could possibly hurt a persons chances if they want to change companies in the future. My gut feeling says Stevens is the right fit for me, best of luck with your orientation.

 

Did Grad Fleet briefing today. Only four of us. Got assigned by truck but no keys until tomorrow. As best as I could tell it has been detailed. Expect to roll Monday, Tuesday at the latest. Tomorrow I'll find out how much in time and money my little accident is going to cost me.

Hopefully this is my last night at America's Best. I'll be camping out in my tractor tomorrow. I don't expect to have this rig for very long. it has well over 500K. Oh, going pre Alliance by the way.