Beginning Company Paid CDL Program With Knight Transportation In Olive Branch, MS

Thanks for the clarification Sandman. I always look forward to your updates. Sounds like your doing great!

is it fairly easy or hard to get Knight to call you back? I heard they are very very picky these days. Just a question as I would love to work for them

is it fairly easy or hard to get Knight to call you back? I heard they are very very picky these days. Just a question as I would love to work for them

As far as my experience so far my recruiter has never called me back. But then again I don't wait around and give her much of a chance to either lol.

I know recruiters are known for being busy, and in some cases maybe looking to see who is making noise and really wants in so I make plenty of noise.

I'm in sort of a strange circumstance though. The training facility I want to attend is not open yet, so all though I have been accepted I do not have a start date. I call her at least once a week to check in and keep myself in front of her so to speak.

I don't know how picky they are, they accepted me

I called my recruiter whenever I had a question. She only called me once and that was after completing the initial application online. Definitely do not wait for them to call. I usually waited on hold until they answered also as messages didn't seem to be followed up on frequently either.

Sounds like things have went very well for you Sandman, that is great. I'm researching the idea of getting into this and your experiences have helped me greatly. Thank you sir. I just got off the phone with a recruiter with Knight. She was very helpful and straight forward with discussing my situation and what to expect should I decide to apply. I also like the idea the school isn't too far from home. She did highly recommend their 7/7 plan for me for after training. I look forward to hearing more about your personal experiences. Thank you again and best of luck.

Saturday morning, meeting the trainer at the terminal in Olive Branch and then off to shipper in Memphis. Connect to trailer and complete the pre-trip inspection. Missing mud flap, clearance light out on the back of trailer, and license plate light out. Bill of laden shows pretty heavy load, open the doors and loaded to 3' from end of trailer, and we're going to California. Head back to terminal in Olive Branch for repairs with stop at scale.

Got our weights, balanced load across axles, legal for here but we are to long for CA. Continue to the terminal for repairs and call shipper to inform them we will be returning to have some of the load removed. Got the items fixed, back to scale to set tandems at the proper length for CA and reweigh, need to have 3,200# removed. Back at shipper, get two pallets removed, doors resealed, checked out with security, back to scale and we are legal, trailer tandems at 33,640#. Our planned 8 AM departure has slipped to noon. Welcome to the life of a Freight Relocation Engineer!

Get to delivery location for 7 AM Monday and we're informed that they didn't expect us until 2 PM. Therefore, we get to dock on the inside lane as they have 2 other trucks coming before they will be able to get us reloaded. The outside lane is challenging in itself. Both lanes are open so the steps are to put it in between the lanes then work everything over to the inside line against the wall. The difficulty comes with only a cabs length of room for the pull ups before you reach the fence. I watched the trainer on this one. Had to use the cab bumper to push a 55 gal. drum to make room while finishing.

Reloading of the return cores didn't take quit as long as expected and we are on the return trip by 11:30. Glad to get out of there before afternoon rush hour as it is my turn behind the wheel. The return trip is also uneventful with the exception of the stout cross winds while driving through Texas and Oklahoma. The qualcomm informs us of the next load. Drop and hook in Memphis as soon as arrive and head to Albuquerque and then to Denver and back to Memphis

Fitting this into the grand scheme of things. This begins the 3rd week of the 3 week CDL training program. The first week is learning the skills on the backing pad, the second is spent with an OTR trainer and the third is with a local driver. As I am finding out, this is quite flexible. I was assigned an OTR trainer and left Friday of the first week. There are fewer local driver trainers available so as I just found out, I will be spending the remainder of my time with the OTR trainer. Which is OK by me as he is a great trainer with a wealth of knowledge (he's also an independent CDL examiner in 2 states) and to say the least, I have learned a lot. His current plan is to retire from driving within the next year when he reaches his goal of 6 million miles, 2 million of which have been with Knight.

Saturday and I am sitting in the motel in Olive Branch, MS getting ready for the CDL exam on Monday and getting caught up on the training diary. So far, while not going totally by the master plan, everything has been a great experience. The OTR trainer has been great.

So we get into Memphis at 4 AM Wednesday for a drop and hook and we are off for a 7AM delivery in Albuquerque, NM. Uneventful trip and we are unloaded by 8AM. This is a good start as our next stop is Denver, CO at 3PM. Another smooth leg except for the slowed traffic through downtown Denver. We arrived at the delivery at 2:45 and surprise, they're not ready for us.

We get backed into the dock around 5PM and the unload goes pretty quick. Then we start loading the return cores. Finally loaded and underway for Memphis at 7:30. We are trying to stay ahead of the winter storm that is expected to move into the plains this evening. Everything is going smoothly, a little light rain and temps staying in the low 40's. A quick stop in Limon for coffee and sandwich and we're back on the road. Then comes Kansas...(look out Toto)

Muffled pop, slight shake in wheel. Quick check of mirrors and the right trailer mudflap is hanging funny. Get the trainer out of the berth and pull over on side of interstate. Sure enough, blown inside rear dual and mudflap hanging by one bolt, but no damage to brake air lines. Call to service center, fairly light load, Colby 10 miles away with Petro service center. They will call ahead and have them waiting. So we limp into Colby and find out the shop had closed at midnight (it was now 12:15) and would not open until 6 AM.

Up at 6 to a white world! So much for staying ahead of the storm. I am glad the shop opened at 6 because even with know one else around for repairs, they got us in at 7. We had a spare recap with us but it still took until 9:30 to get it mounted and a new mudflap put on. I guess they wanted to give us time to enjoy breakfast.

It was the trainers turn at the wheel and he got the luck of driving through the snow across Kansas. Likely they temps were hold high enough that the road remained wet without any ice. The landscape was getting a nice blanket of white though. Our routing took us across Kansas on I-70, 435 south then east around Kansas City, then 71 south and a stop at the Flying J for dinner and switch drivers.

Then it's 7 south, and 13 south to Springfield, 65 south to 60 east. At Cabool, MO we pick up 63 south. So far, a steady rain and decent 4 lane roads. The only difficulty has been trying to see the lane markers with the rain and headlight glare. The trainer comes up front to smoke a cigarette and when returning to the berth says to enjoy the road now because Arkansas is coming. Hmmmmm?

Roller coaster time. Our 4 lane has quickly downsized to 2. But hey, look at the bright side, Arkansas has reflectors on the center line so at least you can see it in the rain. I remember reading on the TT Forum that it's always better to drive it too slow, so that you can drive it again, than to only drive it one time too fast. While the grades are not as long as what I had driven in the west, these were as steep with a lot more sharp, slow speed curves both up and down. Fortunately, for the few other drivers on this stretch of the road in the middle of the night, there are enough slow truck lanes that I didn't hold up anyone for too long. I need to drive that route in the daylight some time. What a great experience.

Next stop Olive Branch, MS. Oh no, the qualcomm beeps that I have 60 minutes of drive time remaining before the mandatory 30 minute break. The thought of having to stop for a 30 minute break only 10 minutes from the terminal. We drop onto I-55 south, through West Memphis, weight station closed , cross the bridge into Memphis, then 240 and exit onto 78. Luck continues and we only get stuck with 3 red lights. Pull up to the terminal gate and the qualcomm starts the "your-out-of-time" beeping.

Wow Sandman sounds like you had quite a well rounded training opportunity. That's great. You got to experience a lot of different scenarios with the added benefit of having help available. I'm sure you'll do fine Monday, just don't overthink it. You have been doing well and no reason this should be any different. Very happy for you. I have called Knight and they are on my top 2 list. I have applied to Roehl and will be deciding this week probably. Just take it easy tomorrow and get ready for the big day on Monday

Typing this on the Greyhound heading back to Olive Branch to begin the Squire training portion with Knight Transportation. Three days of home time after a little over four weeks away is just not enough to get everything done.

This is going to be a review of the previous four weeks, the CDL training segment with Knight in Olive Branch, MS. I will start a new thread covering the Squire training.

Basically, everything went according to what has been discussed at other threads here on TT. This is a fast paced program designed to teach you the basics to pass the state CDL exam. The shool here in Olive Branch has only been open since this summer. As such, they seem to be still working out some issues with trainers and testing sites. The main Knight school is in Phoenix with another scheduled to be opening soon in Indianapolis. It is four weeks in duration and were broken down into these segments:

• Week one, company orientation. This is a mix of experienced drivers to newbie's. The Olive Branch site does require you to have your class A CDL permit from your home state and a $100 seating fee for the CDL training program. Day one is DOT physicals and drug testing, both urine and hair. The remainder of the week is classes, which finish with a review of the Smith System and driving test in a company van.
• Week Two, skills pad training. Couple safety videos, go over the rules of the training pad, then time to go learn the basics of getting a truck to move forward and backward, along with completion of a pre-trip inspection.
• Week Three, driving time with an OTR trainer. You spend time with an experienced driver. Your duties are to learn how to handle the rig on the open road. The trainer is responsible for maintaining your logs on the Qualcomm , load paper work and trip planning.
• Week Four, local route trainer. Building practical experience in city/industrial area driving, shifting and backing in terminal situations. You will also get time to practice on then training pad for the CDL exam.

Remember this is only the beginning plan and as all journeys, it will change frequently. Some of the students took longer than one week to adequately achieve the basic skills. Often, trainers are not available to match where you are on the schedule. and a recent difficulty they have experienced is up to a three week delay in being able to schedule CDL exams with state examiners in several states. They have a local independent examiner for MS, so they are scheduled one to two days out.

Personally, the first week has a lot of waiting time and thanks to the many comments on TT about other company orientations, I was aware of this. I finished the training pad in 3 days, and connected with my OTR trainer the first week. Due to a shortage elf local trainers, I completed the program with the same OTR trainer and he made sure I got the experiences that I needed. I got back to the training terminal on Saturday morning after the 4th week, got to practice on the pad Monday morning, one of the pad trainers had me drive around the testing route, then went an completed the CDL exam. Finished at 5:30 and then on my way home for 3 days of home time.

Sounds like you nailed it so far buddy. Great job. I just passed my dot physical and have my permit waiting for a class start date. I should have it next week. Thanks for keeping us up to date. I'll probably have a million questions once I actually get there.