Applying To Schneider Journal

This might be a bit premature but my mind is already obsessing over it so I'll start this now anyway. Let's hope it doesn't end after a couple of posts with not being hired after all.

I got my CDL 2 years ago but never ended up using it. After that I've been living in my van for most of the past 2 years, doing captioning/transcription online. I'm finally tired of poverty and ready to try trucking for real. I completely forgot about my DOT medical expiration and my CDL was actually downgraded for the past few months, but I got that taken care of yesterday and all's good now. I'm in New Mexico, and my medical had expired in May. All it took to fix was getting a new physical and going to the MVD. They didn't even charge a fee of any kind.

I called Schneider today to let them know my CDL is valid again (I had called them beforehand to make sure they'd even consider hiring me with a 2 year old CDL and no experience). I'll just need to do their 3 day refresher course before orientation. The cost is $1200 but they pay that as long as I stay with them for 90 days. The girl on the phone emailed me a thing to sign for that, and is probably going to call me back tomorrow at which point we'll set up a date to go to orientation I think. Orientation will be in Phoenix, and the refresher course is every Thursday iirc, with the 3 week orientation beginning on the following Monday. They'd be willing to fly, bus, or reimburse me for gas. I don't really have a place to store my van here so I'll probably try driving there.

Starting pay would be 38cpm and increases over certain periods and at the end of the first year iirc she said 41cpm. As well as a $3,000 sign on bonus paid throughout the year. Forgot to ask what orientation pay was but I assume it'll be the $80 figure I see posted on all the forums about it.

I've honestly been quite destitute the past 2 years, and I'm worried about my lack of solid work history and basically having to lie about my address since I'm living in a van without one. Hopefully tomorrow is good news and I get an orientation date set up. I really need this.

I'm sure I'll get some heat for this but I haven't even been able to afford insurance for my van, and recently my registration expired and I couldn't afford to renew it. So driving there, driving at all, doing anything is just a ticking time bomb for when a cop decides to notice. The first thing I want to do if/when I get hired is finally get that in order again and not have the constant stress hanging over my head. So it's kind of embarrassing being so destitute, but I've been struggling with anxiety and depression and the few doctor appointments I've been to and meds I've tried haven't helped so holding a regular job hasn't been possible. I hope trucking is my niche and I can do it successfully and safely.

So yeah, hope things work out for me ^.^

Good luck and hopefully it all works out for you. Definitely keep us updated on your journey with Schneider. I’ve been thinking about going with Schneider once I get my CDL as well, and am in the same boat with you as far as worrying about lack of employment history. Hopefully they can work around that for you and it all goes good.

If you need some Fast Cash donate plasma. I know some guys that do this on a regular basis. It's not for me I hate getting poked with needles. Just an idea for you. Good luck.

Thanks guys. I used to donate plasma, but since I'm in the van now I would need to falsify 2 proof of addresses (like a bill or some such), for them to let me again. And that just seemed not worth it.

So I have a conditional job offer at this point (conditional upon: DOT physical, Drug screen, All Background checks and paperwork requirements, Other applicable requirements), and a refresher course plus orientation date. All of the same information, 38cpm upon getting my own truck, $3,000 sign on bonus paid out at 45 days 20%, 45 days after that 20%, 90 days after that 20%, and 185 days after that 40%. And before that I have a hair drug test here at a local place that does that.

Probably won't be another update for a couple of weeks from now until I find out the drug test results and orientation is closer. More embarrassment, but the hair test is going to be a career destroying gamble based on an old trip to Colorado and a one time lack of foresight 105 days before the test will be. I'll let you guys know how accurate the up to 90 days figure you see mentioned everywhere really is :'). In the meantime I'm going to be in a constant state of anxiety, fear, and dread, and let my mind circle around these thoughts endlessly. And if not from that, then I'm sure they'll look more into my background and employment history in the meantime and I'll be dead from that instead.

but the hair test is going to be a career destroying gamble based on an old trip to Colorado and a one time lack of foresight 105 days before the test will be

Don't quote me on this, but I believe Schneider only goes back 90 days for the hair test. I could be wrong, but I swear I heard someone say that. So hopefully you'll be fine, but I would suggest staying away from all that stuff!

I forgot to include in my last post, good luck with everything! And I look forward to reading future updates, don't forget to update us! Most people tend to read the updates without replying, so don't get discouraged from updating it. :)

If there's any doubt you can pass a drug test you should put it off until you are confident you can pass. Once you fail a D.O.T. drug test, you're done for. I wouldn't take that risk.

Long awaited update: All is well. I'm currently nearing the end of the first week of orientation. Tbh it's exhausting and information overload. Been having to get up around 4am everyday to get on a bus at 5:30 and then get back to the hotel at around 5:30-6 completely exhausted and then try to sleep at like 8 but I keep ending up going to bed at more like 10. Wake up exhausted, repeat. On Monday I'll be going out with a training engineer with another student as well. Didn't know they went out with multiple students like that for week 2. Kind of disappointed since my training during week 2 will be basically half what I expected to to be. Another disappointment is that during week 1 I only got to back once. The rest of the time was just coupling and driving around a block, for whatever reason. Tomorrow we aren't doing any driving, it's all in classroom. I had the 3 day refresher beforehand and that had much more backing but still less than I expected.

The best part might be that they provide subway for lunch and a catered dinner that's been different each night and also DELICIOUS. Plenty of it for seconds too so I can stuff myself and not get hungry later.

All of the people there are really cool and good. Both the instructors and the other students. Haven't had a bad experience with anyone there that I can think of. Other groups have been doing backing a few times a day each though, and everyone in my group have done it only once and one guy twice. Oh well.

It's been nice having a hotel to sleep in with cold AC, compared to my van. Had a roommate in the beginning, but he ended up leaving.

It's been fun so far though. Not at all as dreadful like all the other jobs I've had in the past. Hoping it stays that way once I'm on my own.

The $35 boots are decent. They sell for $100 on Amazon and the like.

Don't really want to get too detailed and risk being identified irl tbh. But that's pretty much everything worth mentioning anyway. It's kinda weird how much info we're given each day and it should be overwhelming and kind of is, but really it's not so bad if you just take it one day at a time. It's just exhausting. But at least there isn't anxiety about all the information to go along with that. The 2 second head bobble thing kind of bothers me. 2 seconds feels too short to get a good grasp of everything going on up ahead, but it's what they want.