Profile For Kevin R.

My father is a retired Philadelphia cop so I always made a point of keeping my nose clean. I've never been in cuffs, never been arrested, never been charged with anything. I've had maybe three or four moving violations. Nothing major. Last one was about five years ago for a light being out. I gave an honest list of employment. My credit is bad but that's about it. And I had to pass a background check for them to hire me in the first place. A friend of mine said stuff can be planted on your background but I'm not even going to get into that until I hear back from them.

Really no way of knowing what they found. Background checks are multi/faceted and depending on court records (because there are many different repositories) can take several weeks for all of the results to be returned.

Keep in mind not only are these checks for evaluating the past but also a check of honesty. Hopefully this is a false positive on something they can accept.

Good luck!

Very strange. I passed a background check done by Roehl over the summer and was given a pre hire. I contacted them again about three weeks ago and they said that I passes again. Today a recruiter called and said they found something in my background. I said I have no criminal record and haven't gotten a moving violation in years. I asked her what was found and she said they are going to double check it to make sure it's legitimate and if it is they will send me a report explaining what they found. This is really weird. My dad is a retired Philadelphia cop so I made a point to of never committing crimes. So I have no idea what's going on. What could they have found?

If I sign up with a company for cdl training should I even mentioned I've gone through training at my school? I talked to one company and they said they didn't want to invest in someone who already had training.

Keep in mind - and we HAVE DISCUSSED THIS BEFORE Kevin. The "private schools" SOLE PURPOSE is to get you your CDL. It in no measureable way, prepares you for the REAL LIFE CAREER of trucking.

So you will STILL GO ONTO A COMPANY, as a trainee - you will just be able to "skip" the part of their training, that gets new recruits their CDL's (assuming you are fresh out of a private school).

Some companies (Swift/Prime/etc.) do their "CDL acquisition training" in-house - where you get your permit go out with a trainer hauling REAL LIFE LOADS, and then come back into the terminal to do the CDL Skills Tests and get your Full CDL-A. At that point you go out for ANOTHER 30K miles (+/-) running as a team with a trainer for "finishing training" (learning how to run that companies loads, with their policies and equipment, while still having a veteran onboard to help when required).

Other companies only take "recent grads" from other "qualified schools" - and, after giving them a "road test" at orientation to make sure their skills are such that they CAN send them on the road - put with with a trainer to run as teams, similar to the companies that do in-house training. Many trainers will not run as a team (in this instance) until they observe the new driver for a period of time (most likely, to make sure they aren't going to get killed while they sleep).

We've heard about your "issues" with your school - and not getting enough actual "wheel time" to get proficient/confident with your skills. 9 months is a LONG TIME - how long was the ACTUAL SCHOOL TIME?

I did a 9 week course at a local County Vo-Tech, but that was 7AM-3PM (full time) 5 days a week, for 9 full weeks, 320 hours. And I logged over 1,000 miles of wheel time on the road outside of the school grounds during that time.

As others have said - KEEP TRYING TO GET YOUR CDL AT SCHOOL. If it just becomes IMPOSSIBLE TO DO SO - consider signing on with a company as a new student and get trained IN REAL LIFE SITUATIONS, by DOING THE JOB.

On-The-Job-Training is almost ALWAYS BETTER THAN A SCHOOL.

Rick

There were five people who completed training with me on October 27th. None of us have passed the test

Kevin's worried:

So I'm preparing for the possibility that I won't be able to pass the road final.

Patrick C. agrees:

We all feel that we didn't get enough training.

Gladhand speaks truth:

Don't you worry a bit. They don't expect you to be perfect. You just have to show the necessary basic skills to pass.

Kevin, on finishing each stage of your training, you'll feel barely ready for the next step. That's the plan! You (and many others) look backward, and realize they barely know anything. It's simply a matter of perspective: look forward, and be thankful that you are now prepared for that next step.

I even complained to my school road instructor (the pre-CDL skills test one) that we didn't get enough training. But the three in my group did the important thing: we all passed out CDL test!

Even when I got my first solo/OTR dispatch I was a bit nervous. You'll get there! You'll get past that hurdle, too!

Understood

I wish I had a school as long as that. My school was 12 days long. 3, 4 day, weeks. I actually tested for my CDL on day 11. The first 4 1/2 days are classroom work. I had 7 1/2 in a big rig. 6 1/2 before I tested. It is 4 students per truck. So probably a couple hours per day behind the wheel. We all feel that we didn't get enough training.

Got it.

Don't give up, get your CDL there even if it takes a few tries. Any company you start with will give you more training don't worry about that. But you paid for your CDL school, might as well get it there. Your just nervous is all, you'll be alright.

I went to a private school that was ten weekends long. Everyone is worried about passing the test. You can do it.

I just completed a six month course at a trade school. There was only 13 hours of on the road training. I feel kind of foolish now for signing up for six months. 32 hours of straightline and only 13 hours to actually learn how to drive the truck. So I'm preparing for the possibility that I won't be able to pass the road final. Will a company hire me without a cdl and train me even if I have had training? Roehl prehired me and are second on my list. I told the recruiter that I'd like to sign up for their cdl training and I haven't heard back from her. She signed me up to work for Roehl but didn't call back when I asked on her voice mail if I could do the cdl training. Are there any companies that would invest in training someone without asked cdl who already has training?

lolololol Well my mom has always said I'm a hard headed Irishman and in this case it seems as though my hard headedness is my friend! I'm to hard headed to quit ANYTHING!!!

Your story has been a GREEK TRAGEDY FROM START TO FINISH.

Some of it your fault - and some of it not.

If you actually EVER GET YOUR CDL and get employed - you will be a TESTAMENT to sticking through the BS, to accomplish your goal.

Rick

The permit has an n under endorsements with an x off to the right so I don't even know if my endorsements are properly listed. What a pain in the ass. I will sit around now until early December. I believe everything happens for a reason so we will see what thus leads to.

The tests I have to retake are the state exam for my cdl. I took the test on an invalid permit so I have to take the whole test over again. I was issued a new cdl last week when I found out about the problem.

You and your fellow student wouldn't be alone in something like this happening (screw up by dmv on cdl permits). IMO your DMV should fix the issue and you should get your updated permit. I don't think the school would know if there was a problem with your permit. I still wonder to myself on my almost dmv permit mix up story:

Got my CDL A Permit from DMV Ended up taking a Class B road test instead - passed. Went to the DMV to get my Class B CDL. They revoked and confiscated my Class A Permit although not expired - computer said I never passed the Combination Written Exam. They removed me ever having a Class A permit from my records. I passed the combination written exam same day to get a new Class A permit.

So what would have happened if I had passed the Class A road test at the time? I'm not even sure I want to know but I often wonder. Either way if the written test "examiner" did not enter in the exam results and/or the dmv "teller" wrongfully issued a Class A instead of B it was a dmv mistake but either way dmv personnel didn't seem to care.

I wish you luck on getting your permit straightened out. I kind of don't see why they couldn't of resolved your issue the same day or why they say that you need to retake the written exams. Maybe this differs per state but as far as I know of the written exams are valid for 1 year. If possible I would recommend contacting CDL Driver's services (if any of your nearby dmvs has one) or maybe a different manager. When you add endorsements an updated permit should be issued to show the added endorsements and your old one confiscated. Unless your current (or old permit now) reached its' expiration date then you would need to file paperwork for the renewal.