JIM PALMER TRUCKING

Jason you are making a really good choice here. Your recruiter is doing his job, professionally vetting you to determine your level of commitment and setting realistic expectations. Although he is not receiving compensation for referring you elsewhere, he is evaluated on his hiring track record and the overall longevity of his recruits.

Trucking is a tough business, with an extremely high attrition rate. Training a new driver is an expensive undertaking, a break even proposition at best. The longer a driver recruit stays with their company, the higher the return on the initial training investment, thus increasing profits. This also helps you solidify a positive attitude towards your decision. Your recruiter is the beginning of that whole process and his professionalism is commendable.

It was interesting too that I picked this company because it's smaller and looks like with the longer training I will be better prepared for going solo. And after talking with recruiter how bigger companies are different and I've seen some that use selling points like TV's and direct tv with NFL ticket in their trucks, I find out that JP also gives this to their drivers, which was cool because I wasn't looking for that as a selling point, but is just a nice benefit on top of all the other things that have driven me towards them.

Guy at Roadmaster said they are Harvard of trucking schools but told me I shouldn't be picky about the first company I work with. But then JP recruiter made a good point that if they are Harvard of trucking schools then they should care about company you go with. "You think Harvard wants their graduates working at McDonald's?" He said. Good point.

Did just spit coffee on my keyboard...

Roadmaster has a pretty decent rep - appears to vary somewhat, from location to location.

Most of us feel - barring something that would preclude you - that doing "company training" with/at the company you're going to be starting out with, is usually the better way to go.

Rick