Rejected By Prime!

I completed the online application last week for Prime. I got a call yesterday from a recruiter, he stated we can't move forward with my application because I haven't worked in the past six months and because I was terminated from my previous employer. I understand this may be there policy, but I persionly think its BS! Any suggestions on where I might try to go next? Thanks for any helpful feed back.

Hey Tim, I hope you continue to apply, hopefully someone will hire you. But I'm gonna suggest that you try and at least get a part time job if you can.

The reason I suggest this is the fact that you were terminated and have not worked in 6 months. Unfortunately for most people those are two red flags that make you less than desirable. I used to be a manager for Target, Macy's and Kmart. I might have considered you for PT to give you a shot but never would've considered you for FT.

I also can commiserate with you. I am waiting until February to get my driving journey started. I'm doing this for a few reasons. Chief among them is that I will have been gainfully employed for 2 years. Before that I was unemployed for 14 months. Life threw a couple of punches that I forgot to duck. Hopefully the gainful employment of two years will out weigh the time without a job.

Good luck Tim!

About prime being very selective in their recruiting process. I don't think they're being selective enough. About a month ago there was a few threads by a guy that had been waiting weeks for a trainer. He and several others had been waiting a long time to get one. I'm a trainer at prime mind you and have a bit of an inside scoop on this. There seems to be a bit of a trainer shortage. Which tells me they need to bring in fewer people so there aren't so many waiting to get out on the road.

The thing I see prime lacking is GOOD trainers. I've talked to too many people that got a trainer more interested in an extra log book on their truck to make money than seriously getting someone trained where they need to be to be successful on their own. My last PSD got a real gem from what I understand that hasn't showed him how to use the Qualcomm or back into a dock after 2 weeks on the road so far. Mind you this of one sided information as I haven't spoke to his TNT trainer. Maybe he's not taking initiative to learn I don't know. Either way to me that's unacceptable.

The best piece of advice I can give you or anyone else coming to get a cdl and train is take the initiative to WANT to learn. No decent trainer wants to spoon feed information to someone that would rather talk on the phone or mingle with other drivers at the truck stops or terminals.

Would prime not want to hire me then if I did not get fired from any of my jobs (not recently at least, like 3-4 years since I have been fired from a job) but also have not worked in a while because I have been in college full time? I'm looking to get started into trucking around march next year. For this current fall semester I have class about 10 hours a day (well 8 hours of class with an hour break between each of the 3 classes) 4 days a week. Keeping up with things like homework there's just not really any time to work.

My most recent job was in Dec as a seasonal amazon warehouse worker. I wasn't fired persay, but the season ended and they didn't need me anymore. closer to a layoff than termination but really not classified as either. before that I did 2 years of AmeriCorps NCCC, then I worked in a call center doing tech support for 6 months, I resigned from that job because I could not afford to live in Austin, TX anymore and had to move to san antonio. Oh and I also was a seasonal driver helper the 2 previous winters before this last one (dec 2012 and 2013) but the same as amazon I wasn't fired, just the seasonal employment term ended.

None of those jobs were terminations just stipulations of the term I was working for.

So by March next year I'll be looking at a little over a year of not being employed but only because I was a full time college student, is this going to be a problem? If I have to i'll go work for amazon again in December but I would hate to think a company would not hire me because I was working on my education and didn't have time to work.

I would hate to think a company would not hire me because I was working on my education and didn't have time to work.

I don't think they'll have a problem with you going to school full time. They just really want to see people who are out there making things happen. They don't want people who are willing to sit on the couch for six months collecting unemployment. Trucking takes a lot of ambition to really get any serious work done. Going to school full time shows ambition.

If anything they're going to be a bit concerned that you've jumped around so much and now after going to school full time you want to become a driver. They might wonder if you'll change your mind again in three months and want to do something else. But they'll take someone with ambition who jumps around a lot before they'll take someone who had one job for 10 years but spent the last 6 months on unemployment. That's just the system they use for hiring.

I would hate to think a company would not hire me because I was working on my education and didn't have time to work.

I don't think they'll have a problem with you going to school full time. They just really want to see people who are out there making things happen. They don't want people who are willing to sit on the couch for six months collecting unemployment. Trucking takes a lot of ambition to really get any serious work done. Going to school full time shows ambition.

If anything they're going to be a bit concerned that you've jumped around so much and now after going to school full time you want to become a driver. They might wonder if you'll change your mind again in three months and want to do something else. But they'll take someone with ambition who jumps around a lot before they'll take someone who had one job for 10 years but spent the last 6 months on unemployment. That's just the system they use for hiring.

Ok that's a relief.

It's not so much jumping around the AmeriCorps things were 10 month terms. you start in feb finish the program in nov, not a resignation or termination. I would be in it again for a 3rd year except for 2 things stopping me, one I aged out for corps member req (have to be 18-24 on start date and I turned 25 DURING my 2nd term) and you also have to take a 1 year break after you do 2 years in a row. I loved my time in AmeriCorps, got to travel, meet so many new people and did all kinds of different work. I also got to enjoy on avg 8 road trips during each term.

as for the other jobs they were something to do between things, first time at UPS it was something I could do on a short term while waiting to start first term of americorps, 2nd time was the same and then amazon was something to do when I got back while waiting for spring semester of college to start.

if need be i'd be more than happy to explain it. plenty of college students only work between semesters.

I am actually planning to make this trucking career a full time thing for quite a while. not going to keep my apartment because I see no point in paying $700 a month for something I'll only spend 3-4 days in. I can stay in a decent hotel for those 3-4 days for less than that and that doesn't even account for utility bills.

I see myself doing this trucking thing for at least 5 years. obviously things CAN change but it really seems like the best thing for me. As this will be my first time doing a job like this I really can't say what will or will not happen. Had you told me I would have spent 2 years working (manual labor mostly) for $165 bi weekly while living on a $4.75 per day food budget and sharing my living quarters with 7-10 other people, 3 years ago. I probably would have laughed in your face. Now after having done it for AmeriCorps I do that program again. so you really never know if something is for you or not, but my family and friends think it's a good move for me and I love driving and road trips so I think it's right.

alright gonna stop hijacking the topic... pretty much got my question answered... shouldn't be a problem :D

From everyone I have talked to, drivers, recruiters, and youtubers, if Millis Transfer accepts you to their training program then you have the job if you complete the 3 week training course. They approve you before you ever go to the training. It will cost you $500 tor get into the training but we'll worth it. They start you out solo higher than most any of the companies that have and sponsor training...think its .35 cpm and that's not counting the miles bonus each week, which is .4 cpm at close to 2500 miles and .5 cpm over 2500 miles, so you could and should hit .39-40 cpm each week-- barring the bad weeks that all have from time to time.

It's why I chose them, guaranteed job if you complete training and aren't a dumbass, and great pay for a rookie. Everyone I've talked to say the same thing, the miles are there for the taking.

Look them up, I used the recruiter named Raychel. Hope this helps