what to expect at orientation?

If you've done any reading here, you'll have come across the phrase "it depends" a lot. It does depend a bit on the company, but rest assured that if you've passed a background check, 2 months of training and you pass the DOT physical, you're reasonably well assured of a job.

I went through a company training program and I have seen the training facilities of a few companies (Schneider/Swift)and they are pretty good. The company isn't going to invest 8 weeks in your training regardless of the fact that you may be paying tuition, and then not retain you as a driver. The only company I know of that brings you to orientation and then sends a good number home is JB Hunt because they do a lot of the driver qualification checks at orientation instead of beforehand like everyone else.

The orientation is likely to cover things like hours of service, contact with dispatch, Qualcomm, fuel network, etc. Most of the stuff they will cover will be things you just went through in training.

One thing I noticed as I was searching for a new job is that some companies are actually only hiring inexperienced drivers right now because it saves them quite a bit of capital when they pay .10 cpm less per driver in some cases. In other words, you have more job security!

Good luck in training and don't worry about the orientation.

 

In the last month or so I would guess, there have been plenty of posts on this forum about people going to training and then having to wait several weeks if not longer to get a truck AFTER they are done with the "trainer truck".

Freight is very slow right now according to the numerous posts here so if I were going to any training/orientation my first question to the company before I left home would be do you have available trucks, or how long is the wait for a truck?

Yes as a new driver you are their cheap labor but it seems that is not even a "shoe in" that you will be driving as soon as training is over. If you are doing your training with a contract to the company that you will work for them for X amount of time etc, you still have to pay for that training even if your not in a truck making miles...thats the complaint I have read on here several times.