Applying To 2 Companies

Hey members. I'm Ryan. I'm 22 and I have a question. I applied to Swift yesterday for their student program, and then I thought about Prime and I like their benefits more than swift. So I applied to them as well. Now with that being said, is it a problem if you applied to two companies? I have a clean record, driving history, and verifiable employment history. I just dont want to miss out on a good opportunity.

It's no problem at all. In fact, you should apply to as many as you can. Find the one that is the best for for you and offers the missy of what you need.

Think of this stage of the process as speed dating. Talk to as many as you can until you find one that strikes your fancy, then go out for a real date.

@Carter thanks. Now since you are training at Prime, can you tell me a little about them?

It's no problem at all. In fact, you should apply to as many as you can. Find the one that is the best for for you and offers the missy of what you need.

Think of this stage of the process as speed dating. Talk to as many as you can until you find one that strikes your fancy, then go out for a real date.

Sure Ryan. I came in with my cdl already in hand, so I'm not one to comment on their cdl program. I will say this about the company though; in my limited amount of time with them, I am very impressed with how they conduct their business.

If they told me something (from my recruiter, to the people in orientation, to my trainer) then that is what happened. They shall have one of the longest training programs I've seen. This could be a positive, or negative, depending on your point of view, but the way I see it is that you will be in control of an 80k lb rolling building that folds in half at 60 mph (thanks to Brett for the analogy). Don't you think you should get as much training with an experienced person as humanly possible before taking that on solo? The fact that prime agrees tells me a lot about their organization. And they pay well to train you.

I actually made more than I was promised because we ran more miles than expected. When was the last time a company paid you more than they said they would?

I'm sure that others will have great things to say about their companies, but right now, in my honeymoon phase, I don't think I could have picked a better place.

So what are your feeling on the success leasing? @Carter

Sure Ryan. I came in with my cdl already in hand, so I'm not one to comment on their cdl program. I will say this about the company though; in my limited amount of time with them, I am very impressed with how they conduct their business.

If they told me something (from my recruiter, to the people in orientation, to my trainer) then that is what happened. They shall have one of the longest training programs I've seen. This could be a positive, or negative, depending on your point of view, but the way I see it is that you will be in control of an 80k lb rolling building that folds in half at 60 mph (thanks to Brett for the analogy). Don't you think you should get as much training with an experienced person as humanly possible before taking that on solo? The fact that prime agrees tells me a lot about their organization. And they pay well to train you.

I actually made more than I was promised because we ran more miles than expected. When was the last time a company paid you more than they said they would?

I'm sure that others will have great things to say about their companies, but right now, in my honeymoon phase, I don't think I could have picked a better place.

I have no personal experience with it. My trainer leases and he seems to prefer it, but if you search this site for "lease" you will find that it may not be all that it may seem. My choice is to avoid it at this point.

Ryan, unless you are a really good business person you need to stay away from leasing (In my opinion), especially as a rookie who doesn't really even understand the trucking business at all.

And if you do happen to be a really good business person, then I think you will be able to see through the false hopes that are hung out there like carrots on the end of a stick to keep you chasing after an elusive target. We have some lease operators in this forum, but I have yet to hear any of them producing any gang-buster results that they want to tell us about.

It is a tough business with slim margins, and the whole leasing concept was conceived as a way to pass off some of the surprise expenses to the operator and away from the company's balance sheet. In other words there is considerable risks involved, a few folks are lucky and beat the odds, but with a 3% national average profit in the trucking industry, if you are any good at math, you can see there are a lot of losers in this game.

@Carter @Old School thanks. I think I will stay away from that. I wanna run hard but I don't think it would be for me

Ryan, unless you are a really good business person you need to stay away from leasing (In my opinion), especially as a rookie who doesn't really even understand the trucking business at all.

And if you do happen to be a really good business person, then I think you will be able to see through the false hopes that are hung out there like carrots on the end of a stick to keep you chasing after an elusive target. We have some lease operators in this forum, but I have yet to hear any of them producing any gang-buster results that they want to tell us about.

It is a tough business with slim margins, and the whole leasing concept was conceived as a way to pass off some of the surprise expenses to the operator and away from the company's balance sheet. In other words there is considerable risks involved, a few folks are lucky and beat the odds, but with a 3% national average profit in the trucking industry, if you are any good at math, you can see there are a lot of losers in this game.

Ryan, Give my company a call. It's Watkins Shepard, based in Missoula, MT but we have a terminal in Dalton, GA. We run a LOT of carpet out of the Dalton terminal. Recruiter number is 800-392-2470. You can send me an email and we can set up a phone call so I can answer questions you might have. If you do call them, give them my name....there is a bonus I get if you sign up.

Tracy