Some Questions Before Starting CDL School

Evelyn, let me tell you something that you're completely misunderstanding. You can start at Prime whenever you are ready. You tell the recruiter when you're ready. It can be after your hunt, or after New Years Eve, or even just after the apocalypse - you are the only one who decides that. Recruiters are always in a hurry to sign you up, that's how they get paid!

You can of course do as you want, but don't get confused about who's in charge of the date you commit to. You determine your start date.

I don't know why you'd borrow that money when a really great company will front it for you, and then give you a solid paying job and not require you to pay it back. It sounds pretty great to me.

Why I Prefer Company Sponsored Training

Evey, let me start by saying sorry for your loss. I’m with Prime since 3/3 of this year. I believe all the advice you’ve received so far is totally solid. I’d like to offer you my process to help you make your decision.

I too looked into commercial school due to not knowing about company paid training options. I almost got my gov’t loan & would’ve been screwed if I did. They didn’t offer the 160-180 hours to be certified. They said that Fedex & UPS we’re hiring when I asked which companies hired their students . I had an disagreement with the govt loan officer & left without signing. I call that divine intervention.

I did a google search & like you found this treasure trove of a website. Did my research & haven’t looked back. I’m paying down my debt. Spending more time with my kids than I did driving upteen hours a day, grinding as a chauffeur/taxi driver/ Uber driver, all of this in NYC mind you.

Prime helped me pass my exams after failing my backing 2x & my driving 2x. They gave the resources I needed to pass & get my cdl. It’s definitely a uphill battle going from zero to cdl holder to an A-seat driver. But you have all our support & encouragement.

At Prime, you’ll receive a $200 advance while in your training to get your cdl. No need to take out a loan & have to dig yourself out of an unnecessary hole. Once you pass you cdl exams & go out for TNT training, it’s $700 a week, so long as you’re available to work. From that they take taxes & repayment of the loan @ $25/week.

You can go into this with a condition/agreement with your recruiter & subsequent fleet manager to take your home time when you need to go on the hunt with your dad. Just make sure your trainer & fleet manager both understand this priority. You can time it for when you have to go home & transfer your cdl from MO to MT. You can have up to 4 days but will work with you if you need more. I was able to go to NY, spend time with my parents & siblings then drive my 4 wheeler to FL & spend time with my kids while I did my paperwork.

I tell you all this to point out that you don’t need to get into debt to get a leg up on life with this career choice. If you put in the effort, whichever company paid training you go with, they will match your effort with resources. They need you just as much as you need them. If after a year you need to move on? You have a better chance of scaling up with this approach, so long as the company you choose is a reputable one.

Not twisting arms or coercing your decision making process. Just giving you another perspective with which to make a more informed decision. If you have any questions or need clarity with anything? We’ll do our best to give you the best information we can. I’m sure you’ve seen that in your “haunting” the forums.

As to why Jim Palmer didn’t hire you? If memory serves me, they are very selective. That doesn’t mean you have anything to worry about when applying to the others on your list. My initial recruiter at Prime said I didn’t qualify. After 3 other companies said yes to me, I tried again & never looked back.

You have all the resources in this website with the High Road Training Program, the pretrip inspection tutorial that Daniel B. put together, I also recommend the Ace Driving School pretrip vídeo on YouTube (it’s an hour long) to get used to hearing the speeches & another visual aid to recognize the different components, all the training diaries, etc. Like you said, you know you’ve got this. With the help of many on here, I felt the same.

Good luck going forward.

Evelyn, let me tell you something that you're completely misunderstanding. You can start at Prime whenever you are ready. You tell the recruiter when you're ready. It can be after your hunt, or after New Years Eve, or even just after the apocalypse - you are the only one who decides that. Recruiters are always in a hurry to sign you up, that's how they get paid!

You can of course do as you want, but don't get confused about who's in charge of the date you commit to. You determine your start date.

I don't know why you'd borrow that money when a really great company will front it for you, and then give you a solid paying job and not require you to pay it back. It sounds pretty great to me.

Why I Prefer Company Sponsored Training

Old School, Sure, I do understand that. After initially reading all of the answers in this forum I was set on applying for company training, which is why I started with Prime. Then I started thinking about all of these other things. My parents are getting older. Dad has Leukemia. If I wait until next year to do this hunt it might be too late. (my season starts Nov 1st) I get the logic of doing company training for sure. And I still intend to apply with Prime, just not for their company training. I figure this way I'm expanding my options as far as possible employers and still training in a time line that works for me. (which CWW does). It actually works out better for me than hopping on a bus to Missouri or SLC. The fact that I'm staying local while training means I'll be able to get in a day or 2 of hunting on days off from training and work on some other personal/life things too. I can have it all!!! Hahaha! Ugh. .....And if a company has tuition reimbursement it all works out in the end.

I do appreciate your input and have certainly spent a lot of time weighing the options. Looking forward to maybe seeing you out on the road someday.

Splitter, thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I wrote a reply to Old School pretty much laying out why I made the decision I did. It hasn't posted yet, but I'm re-reading his post and yours, and I know you guys know what you're talking about. So I'm going to revisit the company training option, going in a little wiser this time. ;)

If you go to private school, you will still need to do the same training at Prime that you would have with them paying, other than getting your CDL. You will still have to go through orientation, ride with a trainer, etc.

I am looking at private school, but only because I am looking at a specific company and specific job, and they don't do company training. And I am still torn between going to a company paid school, even though it isn't a financial hardship for me to go private.