Company Bashing

I'm totally shocked. I just spoke with a major national carrier and the entire time he kept naming numerous companies and trashing them. He told me all about the law suits Of other companies he did this to about 6 or 7 large carriers. I don't care if the company paid me 1.00 a mile guaranteed me 10000 miles a week I'd never work for this company. To me this is beyond low. What ever happened to being a PROFESSIONAL

I don't care if the company paid me 1.00 a mile guaranteed me 10000 miles a week I'd never work for this company.

How do know they're not one of the best companies out there with its only major shortcoming being a recruiter without much tact? You might miss out on a great place to work. Remember, you're not looking for a professional recruiter to work for. You're looking for a company that suits you well.

Developing strong feelings about a company, good or bad, based upon what a recruiters says is pretty common. Check this out:

The Biggest Mistake New Drivers Make When Speaking With Recruiters

There's a big shortage of drivers available. Maybe that had something to do with it. I agree, though. If a company doesn't care enough to take care of their own business, how do the take care of drivers?

The irony is that you can look up just about any of the larger trucking companies and find a lawsuit or two against them, we live in a society that's lawsuit happy and getting lower on personal responsibility.

I agree with Brett and would only hope that these are the words of an irresponsible recruiter and not the belief and practice of the entire company. I kinda doubt that to be the case though because a company acting in that way wouldn't be around long.

If a company doesn't care enough to take care of their own business, how do the take care of drivers?

The important thing is to make decisions based upon things that matter to you.

If you're driving down the road and you see a Werner truck in the ditch, do you avoid working for that company because they're not safety oriented? Of course not. One driver having a wreck is no indication of how safety-oriented a company is.

If you see a Swift truck broken down on the side of the road do you avoid working for Swift because their equipment isn't being taken care of? Of course not. Trucks break down. Happens to everyone. One truck on the side of the highway doesn't mean the company doesn't take care of their equipment.

People tend to make sweeping assumptions based on one or two tiny and often trivial details. They speak with one recruiter for ten minutes at a company with over 10,000 employees and decide that company is no good. They read one or two bashings by anonymous people in trucking forums that claim they had a bad experience with a company and decide the company is no good.

Or vice versa. You hear one or two good things about a company and assume they must be the best company out there.

Trucking companies, like any organization, are a collection of individuals. When you're dealing with large companies you can be sure that some of those individuals are simply awful at what they do. Maybe they don't care about doing well, maybe they're not capable of it. Doesn't matter. They stink. If you've ever worked in a corporate environment you're feeling a bit nauseous right now because of the memories that brings back. Plain and simple, some people are awful at what they do.

Whatever you do, don't allow yourself to make sweeping generalizations based on a small amount of information. To say you won't work for a company that has 10,000+ employees and has been around for 75+ years because the recruiter you spoke with didn't jump when you said jump or because "JohnnyKnucklehead2121" in some forum said they suck is not the way to make decisions.

The opposite is true also. I've seen people become completely enthralled with a company because the recruiter was kind and patient. A twenty minute phone conversation and suddenly you're feeling like that company cares deeply about your well being and they're also super kind and professional to boot. Well, maybe that one recruiter fits that description, or did for the twenty minutes you guys spoke. But that has nothing to do with the company and how well they suit you as a driver.

When choosing a company you want to make sure you look at:

1) Types of freight

2) Types of equipment

3) Pay & Benefits

4) Home time options

5) Opportunities they may have in other divisions

Those are the criteria you base your decision on. If you get a lousy recruiter, insist on a different one. If you get a great one, consider yourself lucky. But neither scenario should have any bearing on what company you decide to work for in the end.

A general rule about sales people is, if they straight out trash their competition they are weak salespeople. Nothing wrong with a comparison or two ("Our equipment is newer than Swiftadon's") But calling another company a basket case is lazy salesmanship.

If or when you are back in touch with your contact, if the garbage starts coming out again, tell him you want to hear about his company, you'll research other places yourself.

LOL-Our School Director came in today to speak about the recruiters. He said-'I don't know who the first one will be, but when they finish you will all want to work for them. And then the next one will come in and you'll want to work for them!'. :)

I agree with all of your replies. I'm not one to name names but I'll be honest here. The company I spoke with I have heard nothing but favorable things about. The recruiter asked how I came to apply to them and I advised him it was via the application process here. He laughed. Began to say oh yeah trucking truth you will never find anything negative on any company that advertises there. I listened as he went on about this forum and bashed it as he was bashing swift Werner Schneider heartland and several others. He went on to say how the other companies Rob their drivers out of miles their sliding pay scale and per diem were all scams that these companies run. Sadly he never once mentioned anything about his company good or bad. He told me he was in the accounting dept and that at the end of his day he went over to recruitment to help out. I feel that this while only the view point of one person he is representing that company. I also feel that if he had to waste 35 minutes of my time downing other companies this forum and couldn't tell me one reason as to why I'd want to drive for Celadon Then I'd rather not drive for them. This guy is the face of Celadon in my opinion at this point and if he will do that about the companies out there what else would he do to get me in that seat?

Some people just can not sell. In order to be competitive they have to bring the competition down to their level. That is on the recruiter and not the company. They will find out soon enough that they made a mistake with this recruiter because his numbers will not jive with the others.

Began to say oh yeah trucking truth you will never find anything negative on any company that advertises there.

To be clear, the information we have here on the site about Trucking Companies and Company-Sponsored Training Programs is not advertisement. We called the companies ourselves to collect that information and put it up for free. We don't charge for that. So it's not advertising or propaganda of any sort.