Profile For Seppo

Have you tried filling out the quick apply or full application on their websites? I did and my phone, email and texts have been ringing off the hook from them. I Talked with Knight for about an hour the other day, also got approved for hire by Wilson and Prime.

Yeah, that's always my first move. I'm finding the Pulse by Tenstreet site very helpful, lets you chat directly with recruiters instead of going through email which can take much longer for responses.

Looks like you're new here, good on ya for the pre-hires. I drove for Knight for the last few years in their refrigerated division. Obviously I can't speak to whatever city you'd be based out of if you went with them, but I had a great staff at my home terminal. They always looked out for me and resolved any issues I had promptly. It honestly felt like driving for a smaller company because I interacted with those same few people 98 percent of the time; only really had to talk to anyone at the headquarters in Phoenix late night on weekends. I'd definitely recommend them...but then, I don't know much about Wilson and Prime to compare to. Happy to answer any Knight related questions you may have

I'm not trying to discourage you from finding out what you want, but maybe you can be a little less aggressive with your approach. I realize I'm assuming a lot. But seeing that you've had this same issue before makes me curious. I haven't dealt with a lot of recruiters, but my experience has been that they were fairly helpful.

Ha ha, totally forgot about that post from four years ago. Not much has changed...right down to the specific wording of my complaining! Still gotta twist their arms just to get a CPM out of 'em and find out whether they have driver facing cameras or not.

Also, as grateful as I am for how helpful this website was when I was first starting out, I had a good feeling the very first reply here would immediately remind me why I stopped frequenting this forum

What is the deal with recruiters? Seriously though, it's like blood from a stone with some of these people. When I was new to this five years ago and leaning heavily on this site for info, it seemed that the consensus was to get everything in writing - that way there's no confusion later on down the road. However, for every recruiter you find who's happy to answer all your questions over email or chat, it seems that there's three who just say "yeah, give me a call and we can discuss all that" ad nauseam. Was just trying to chat with one recruiter on Pulse to get some basic questions answered who told me to call him three times in the span of eight messages...the third time a bit forcefully, I might add.

Is it that they don't want to tell you anything on record that could come back to bite them later on? Are they just too lazy to go to the trouble of typing out an email? Or is it some sort of combination of the two? I mean, they're salespeople...they're trying to sell YOU on a job. Why wouldn't they at least try to accommodate you on your level?

One mega wouldn't bring me on as a new driver. They told me it was because they don't ship through my city. Seemed kind of strange as they have a terminal in Salt Lake City and a facility near Portland, and I live in largest city on the interstate between the two, but whatever.

I told the recruiter that my residence there was basically just a mailing address, that I have no need to actually go there and was basically planning to live on the road. I was rudely told "everyone needs to go home at some point". I replied that they could dispatch me out of SLC and I could find my way back from there if need be with no problem. When that didn't work, I told the recruiter about my eventual plans to move to SLC or Denver, and was told in the same curt tone "well, set up residence in one of those cities and then get in touch with us".

After that interaction and how unpleasant the recruiter was to me, I decided not to bother with that company at all, no matter where I move to. Can you just find a different company? There are certainly plenty of them out there. If you don't plan on taking much home time you could let them know that too. Recruiters assume most drivers want to get home every two weeks. I've had opportunities that I was otherwise told weren't available to me open up once I make it known that I like to stay out for 2-3 months at a time and then take a week or so off.

I never had that problem.

Have you filled-out an on-line application? Recruiters deal with a lot of tire kickers, unless you have an application in their system, that's unfortunately how they will perceive you.

If you want them to take you serious, get that application done. You will have their attention at that point. It doesn't lock you in or obligate you to anything, so continue the discussion after the app. is in their system.

That's good advice, thanks. I've always been reluctant to put in an app with a company unless I'm serious about signing on, as I don't want to end up receiving endless recruiting spam e-mails for years to come, but I suppose it's easy enough to unsubscribe.

The recruiter at my company gladly answered every question I threw at her, in writing, by email​. West Side Transport was the ONLY company that did that for me-- believe me, I had TONS of questions. The other companies balked at answering in writing, even though I had already applied to some. Like you, I felt it was that the recruiter didn't want to answer in writing.

Subsequently, it made my choice quite easy when deciding who I'd begin my driving career with.

The recruiter for my first company was great about promptly responding to every question I had in great detail when I would e-mail her. Told me I had more questions than any prospective driver she'd ever spoken to! She actually liked that I had challenged her, as I'd asked a few questions she had to do some research and legwork to find the answers to and was glad to have learned those things going forward.

It really does seem like it comes down to the individual and not the company. I spoke to a recruiter at one mega who would respond to my e-mails within 20 minutes with answers to every single question. Dealt with a different recruiter at the same company who every time I e-mailed would respond "give me a call". Had that back and forth with her for about a week as I was driving nights and sleeping days; she'd call during the day while I was asleep, I'd wake up after business hours and send an e-mail asking her to write back instead of call. After a few days of that back and forth she e-mailed to say "well I've been unable to reach you".

Is there a reason why most recruiters refuse to communicate via e-mail? Any time I try to send a message with questions I get a reply saying "give me a call and we can discuss that". I'd rather be in touch by e-mail for sake of convenience, plus, as I've read on this website it's best to get everything in writing so there's no question about what was promised afterwards. So is that the reason? Do recruiters just not want to get caught guaranteeing something their company can't provide? Or is it just laziness, that they don't feel like typing out a response? And yeah I get that they're busy and have many prospective drivers to talk to, but it can't take more than five minutes to send a quick message back. So what gives?

Does Crete still do the driver-facing cameras?

Thats one of the best perks I love about this industry. Once you're a proven driver with experience you can work anywhere.

I can't tell you how great it feels to know that if I were to quit my job in the next hour I would already have another employer begging me to come work for them in that same hour.

Yeah, that's what I thought too. Every single time I've sent an application I've gotten a call within the hour asking if I'd like to start orientation the following Monday. But now I just recently quit my first company after 16 months and decided to take a few weeks off before I get back on the road. I'm talking to one of the megas and they're giving me grief because I was unemployed from May-December of 2014 as well as the last four weeks. I know they have to cover their bases for brand new drivers, but I assumed that once I actually signed on with my first company and got some clean, incident-free experience under my belt I wouldn't have to deal with this nonsense anymore. Kind of frustrating that my work history from three years ago before I ever even decided to get behind the wheel is impacting my hireability now. My extended unemployment back then is part of what made me decide to switch paths and get into this line of work in the first place!

I signed on with Gordon Trucking in October 2015, after the company had been acquired by Heartland Express. In speaking with recruiters and other employees as I was coming onboard, I was told that despite Gordon being purchased by Heartland, Gordon would remain its own separate company. It would retain its own branding, its own trucks and terminals, and would continue to operate as a separate entity from Heartland. Nine months later, Gordon was completely absorbed by Heartland and ceased to exist. All you see left of Gordon is the light blue trucks and the Gordon trailers that Heartland is too cheap to re-decal. This could simply mean the people I spoke with at the time were mistaken or had incorrect information, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

I've only done it two or three times in my career, only when it's late and it's one of those weird smaller Petros where the entire lot is ingeniously laid out for blind side backing only. If I'm not leaving until late in the morning or early afternoon I know it won't be a problem getting out. I figure better that than have to pull my air brakes six or seven times backing in and waking up some guy who's gonna be ****ed off and mess with my rig on his way outta there in the morning. You do get the added benefit of not having to listen to someone's reefer or super loud idling engine next to you. I prefer not to do it because my trainer told me it's a rookie move, and I don't wanna look like a noob.