Profile For Jonathan L.

Temperature checks on the people coming in (Covid). Masks required in the hotel common areas, on the shuttle, and when walking around Pride facilities. When you are sitting at the table, they are not requiring you to wear your mask - and everyone is spaced pretty far apart. On the 1st day, they also separated people into a lower and upper orientation room, until they filtered people out and were able to reduce the class size. In the early morning they did road tests for experienced drivers. Usually 2 or 3 at a time - Pretrip included, about 90 minutes per. There was 1 person who didn't look capable of performing the job and it appears he didn't pass his road test, so he was sent home. The rest of the day was spent doing other paperwork that couldn't be filled out online, physicals, and a few videos.

As a trainee, I did not have to do a Road Test so I cannot comment, however I hear that there is a difficult right turn.

As you've read, urine + hair follicle testing is mandatory. Agility test is walking on a treadmill for 4 minutes @ 2.5 Mph, using a load lock, wrist/hand grip strength, kneeling (once) and picking up 1 set of tire chains 4 times above your shoulders while kneeling (and then getting back up without supporting yourself on anything), balance test, a sled test, and climbing a ladder to the 2nd rung WITHOUT using the first rung. I think it's all pretty standard stuff - and I don't think anyone failed.

One thing to note: If you fail your drug test (Urine or Hair Follicle), they WILL NOT hire you and WILL NOT pay for your return transportation. If you think you might fail, don't risk it - and reschedule or take your name off the list. I think for almost any other reason, they will pay for your return trip, but is a detail you need to confirm.

The 2nd and 3rd day are department meet and greets. It is a lot of information for someone to consume, but as a trainee I will have a trainer who I hope to learn these things from. They match up a trainer based on a few preferences, smoking, dog, and gender. I strongly prefer a non smoker, but the training manager said that the first available trainer they have is a person who vapes. I'm not crazy about it, but, as long as they aren't filling up the truck with the magic smoke 24/7 I think we will be okay.

The people seem very dedicated to their job functions. Everyone has an assigned job and that is what they do. If you tell the person that you wanted to road test in a manual transmission (instead of an automatic), they won't hesitate to tell you that is an issue you need to take up with recruiting. The impression I get is that it is a well run and well organized company. I'm pretty happy with my decision to start off with Pride - and hopefully it stays that way.

Loads are assigned by a Load Manager with a First In/First Out policy, and there isn't preferential treatment among drivers.

They stress that communication between you and your manager, and being proactive is one of the most crucial components of your success here. During the orientation, a continual point made by all departments is that their drivers and driver safety is one of the most important things to them, so they said that if you aren't feeling good or feeling tired - let your manager know.

I know that someone mentioned something about APUs. About 50% of their fleet has them. They will not retrofit because it costs too much, they will buy them from the factory with APU installed (so only their newer trucks). They said within the next 12 months, they expect about 70% of their fleet to have an APU and for a newly hired driver to get a truck with APU is a low probability. The trucks aren't necessarily replaced because of a mileage or time limit, but due to a combination of factors.

Given that I don't have any experience driving or working for companies, I don't want to sound naive and believe everything they say (Trust, but verify), but from the good things that I've heard from one or two other drivers in passing, I have no reason to doubt these things.

I'll try to post an update a week or so after I go out on the road with a trainer- there doesn't seem to be a lot of information on here about Pride. If there are questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

Years ago, I came to the conclusion that I needed to find a different job. I liked the company I worked for, but management was two very different styles, two very different people, and consistently I had to listen to things like "I don't care how hard a process is, or if there is an easier way to do it. This is the way I've designed the process to work and this is what I expect 100% of the time"

Covid presented an opportunity for me to switch careers, and I contemplated for a few weeks. At times, I can be impulsive in my decision making, although they aren't usually as impulsive as it seems, but my execution usually isn't the best, such as making the leap into driving. The decision to leave the company was complicated, and when I finally decided to leave it wasn't disputed by the owners of the company. As my job was in the aerospace industry, I felt that Covid would have some sort of impact on the company. The following week, I went to the local CDL school and enrolled. I have an odd social anxiety - I new groups of people, I am reserved and at time can come off as a bit standoffish (and I probably am at times). But, I am generally an easy going person.

My experience at the school deserves another post - it was interesting to say the least. I attended a "CDL Mill" . There wasn't much classroom instruction - more or less backing and driving for your road test. It wasn't bad, but, during my first week of orientation, I wish they would have spent a little more time talking about the realistic expectations of driving (safety in particular). Seeing some of the dash cam video was interesting.

I forget how I found Pride Transport. On TT, I found a few good positive comments and I was interested. The recruiter contacted me and told me that they were scheduling out for September 21st. I took a few days and said put me down on the schedule. A few days later, he called me up and said that there was an opening for the week of August 31st, and I said that was fine.

There were generic emails sent out advising of what to expect and when to expect it, so the communication that was received was generally clear. Things happened exactly as they would. They offered airfare or rental car for the ride out to SLC, and when they called to coordinate the travel, I asked for a train ticket instead (I didn't want to drive, and while flying doesn't bother me, I thought it would be cool to take a train). My train ride was only 8 hours.

The hotel is an older hotel. It could be a little better. But I have stayed in much worse hotels. What I like about the area is the variety of food within a walking distance. It is a bit of a Mexican/Asian/Vietnamese mix of food.

Regarding the hotel: Bring your own, COMFORTABLE pillow. I normally don't get tired during the day, but I couldn't sleep the first two nights and I was yawning in the middle of the day. I was avoiding using my own pillows until I was out on the road, but last night I did and I'm glad. One other person (that I know of) had problems sleeping at night too.

(To be continued shortly due to Character Limits)