My First Interview!

Hey y’all just a quick update about my progress. (I changed my name on my profile) As many of you know, I have been struggling to find a local position for about a month now. I finally had my first interview today with PFG, I would be contracted out through TransForce to work for PFG. Although this job is 1.5+ hour commute I really need this job. The company seems very thorough with their training which I really like. TransForce told me a lot of different things than what the job actually was so I was a little taken off guard but I told the interviewer that I’m still down for the position and will do whatever it takes to make it work. This guy was super genuine and somehow knew that I was a mom and was surprised by my dedication and wanted to know what my motivation was. Then he asked if I had kids and what their ages were lol I guess I just give off the mom vibe. He was genuinely concerned for the commute and for me having time with my kids and being able to be a mother. I reassured him why being a single mother is a strength for me and not a weakness and why it will make me a better employee and he was honestly surprised by that perspective and even thanked me for helping him look at it differently. He told me that I was a very dedicated mother and a different breed and he genuinely admired that about me, he told me that I have a great personality and social skills and good manners. But then he told me not to be discouraged if I don’t get the position because he was genuinely worried about the commute so I don’t know if I did get this job or not, I will find out on Friday but I really hope that I do. That was the most in-depth and genuine interview I have ever done with somebody and that just makes me want to work for this company . I wouldn’t mind this guy being my boss. But while I wait to hear if I got the job or not I would love to hear advice for interviewing because this interview was different than any other interview I have done and none of the regular interviewing questions were asked and it was just a completely different experience for me lol

Hi mama,

One of the reasons the commute is an issue (and maybe it's just me overthinking) is that technically, the drive time on your commute is tied in with your hours of service.

Let's say your shift is 10 hours of driving and driving the commute is going to put you over. If course it is not logged that way in the real world, but consider you get in a wreck and go to court. They could try and say you worked over 14 hours with your commute or didn't log your drive time in your personal vehicle.

Our maybe they think your going to get burned out. But good luck on your job search there's plenty out there.

Drive time in personal car doesn't count towards HOS. It counts towards your 10 hours off duty though, if it is 1.5 hours each way in good weather that is 3 out of your minimum 10 hours commuting.

We have/ had a couple drivers who drove over an hour each way to our terminal it is certainly doable it will just get extremely tiring. Can you stay in a hotel some nights?

Commute drive time counts as off duty time and thats why it's a concern. Most local companies won't hire outside of a 45 minute radius for that reason. It leads to fatigue that gets worse over time and that leads to poor work performance and/or accidents.

Not true Sid.

1.5 hours round trip or one-way?

What exactly will you be doing?

I'll point out the Tracy Morgan accident. Driver was out driving all night, according to you in off duty. Started the job fatigued. Caused a 6 car accident and killed someone. Vehicular manslaughter. So you go ahead and log it however you want.

There was just a study done by fmcsa about commuting in which they found the average commute time to be around 25 min and with that data concluded that commute time wasn't an issue.

I don't see any regulations that say what the commute time should be logged as, on or off duty but I didn't do a deep search. If there is one let me know.

Yeah, that’s what the guy had mentioned. Luckily there’s work with this company in my town, BUT not an opening at this time so he was leaning more towards having me commute for the first few months then transferring me to this other area close to me asap. Thank you for your input! Trying really hard to get a job right now, it’s been a month since I graduated with my cdl and this was my first interview… I’ve been applying to 10 jobs minimum each day and that includes class B jobs and bus driving and construction jobs. I’ll find something soon!

Hi mama,

One of the reasons the commute is an issue (and maybe it's just me overthinking) is that technically, the drive time on your commute is tied in with your hours of service.

Let's say your shift is 10 hours of driving and driving the commute is going to put you over. If course it is not logged that way in the real world, but consider you get in a wreck and go to court. They could try and say you worked over 14 hours with your commute or didn't log your drive time in your personal vehicle.

Our maybe they think your going to get burned out. But good luck on your job search there's plenty out there.

Hotels aren’t really an option as I’m a single mother, gotta get home to kids every night. The guy that interviewed me was worried I’d not be getting my full 10 reset and wanted me to be safe so I can take care of my kids. A possibility of a position opening up in my town is on the table and I would be transferred to my town asap if I did get the job so I’m glad he’s willing to do that for me

Drive time in personal car doesn't count towards HOS. It counts towards your 10 hours off duty though, if it is 1.5 hours each way in good weather that is 3 out of your minimum 10 hours commuting.

We have/ had a couple drivers who drove over an hour each way to our terminal it is certainly doable it will just get extremely tiring. Can you stay in a hotel some nights?

Yeah that’s what the guy had mentioned, although they have a possible opening down in my town so he mentioned transferring me once that spot is available, if I get this job

Commute drive time counts as off duty time and thats why it's a concern. Most local companies won't hire outside of a 45 minute radius for that reason. It leads to fatigue that gets worse over time and that leads to poor work performance and/or accidents.

I'll point out the Tracy Morgan accident. Driver was out driving all night, according to you in off duty. Started the job fatigued. Caused a 6 car accident and killed someone. Vehicular manslaughter. So you go ahead and log it however you want.

There was just a study done by fmcsa about commuting in which they found the average commute time to be around 25 min and with that data concluded that commute time wasn't an issue.

I don't see any regulations that say what the commute time should be logged as, on or off duty but I didn't do a deep search. If there is one let me know.

In the Tracy Morgan cases, the driver pleaded guilty to avoid jail time. He was awake for 24 hours. An employer can not tell you what to do on your off time, including sleep. It's common knowledge that you need to be well rested in order to drive safely. It's covered in the manual, on the test, during training and a bunch of times after. This was an experienced driver, considering Walmarts hiring standards so he knew better, he chose to ignore it.