Starting Hiring Process

[DBenton]

Tomorrow starts the hiring process for my husband and I for FedEx Custom Critical. We have given our 30 day notice for our rent house and have been packing boxes for a few days now. We plan to store everything and buy a home in a few years. We have been saving money and preparing ourselves and our family for our departure. We will work for 2 months and be off for two weeks.
The application process starts tomorrow and then I guess it is a waiting game until each step is completed. Orientation is in Uniontown, OH on January 8 thru the 12th,
We both have a Class A CDL and have driven LTL and OTR. I have not driven since 2010. My husband has been driving since we have gotten our CDL in 2006. We went to truck driving school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in September 2006. We did this for FFE Transportation. We received this at no cost because we stayed with the company for more than a year.
This new adventure has been a journey. We made our mind up to do this after attending the Great American Truck Show in Dallas, Texas. We found out owner operator at this show. We gave him the date we would like to start and we kept in touch with him throughout the months leading up to now.
So tomorrow morning we can start this process and I am a bundle of nerves. So glad I found this forum and I appreciate any advice or just general information about this process. Have a great night.

DBenton

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Good fortune to you!

 

[BigStickJr]

Good Luck.
Fedex can be frustrating, but with your knowledge and experience, definitely nothing you can’t handle.
Didn’t say what you’ll be driving.
If it’s a straight, you’ll probably think we can’t believe it’s this easy. And why didn’t we do this sooner?

 

[DBenton]

It is a straight truck with a good size sleeper. I figure that we will be okay but this type of trucking is different. I already kick myself for not even considering this option before now. It will definitely be a wild ride! Tennesseehawk thank you, I hope this is a lucrative experience for us!!

 

[BlindSquid]

Good 4 you, least ur not in a van.
Is death out here right now.
(Not that I'm enamoured with str8s, got ran out the t/a by them r.t's).
Yet an not so heartless as to wish this existence on others (inna van).

 

[Road Pirate]

Good Luck!!!

 

[DBenton]

Update: We have been on information overload since Monday. We both filled out the online application on Monday. Then we received a Remote Qualification through our email. We had to watch modules and do mini tests. Signed a lot of notices and uploaded photos of CDL, Med Card and Photo. On Tuesday they contacted us and asked for physical address to send drug test paperwork. The paperwork arrived on Thursday and we signed approval to check DOT jobs for last three year and faxed it back. Took drug test at around 1:45 and that has been the process so far. I will keep you updated on other processes. This is for Fed Ex Custom Critical.

 

[Gear_Grinder]

That’s who were hoping to start out with next month got a few fleet owners interested so definitely keep posting the process so I know what I can expect. Thank you.

 

[yogaines]

Thanks for sharing your process. My husband and I are thinking about Fed Ex CC also. Keep posting.

 

[DBenton]

Hey guys I hope everyone's weekend is going well. My husband and I have been packing boxes, preparing to put all belongings in storage. The last communication we received from Fed Ex is they are waiting for our Skills Evaluation Certificate to put us in service. We contacted our Owner Operator and he will contact Fed Ex. He has already told them how he plans to do this. We should pick up our truck on January 2, 2018 and start journey to Uniontown, OH on the 5th of January. We plan to have Christmas with our family and then say our See You Laters. Thank goodness for Face Time so I can talk to my grandbabies. More updates to follow. Nice to meet some new posters. Good Luck with your journey and keep me updated.

Team Benton
Dana Benton

 

[DBenton]

Update: We received confirmation today that we are approved to attend orientation on January 8th. We now pick up our truck on January 3rd. We will put our stuff in the truck and leave on January 5th, Received our ELD logins and employee information today. It was a crazy process but I am sure it may be worth it. The employment verifications seem to be the thing that takes the longest to come in. Now we can buy those things that I would have never bought unless we were going to drive, like a toilet. Hahahaha! On more day at school job and then Christmas vacation. Notices have been put in for both our jobs and now we can hang with family and chill. Moving all large furniture out of house next Friday! I will let you know more about orientation expectations when I receive them like dress code or any other items like that. Have a great day!

Dana Benton

 

[Gear_Grinder]

Awesome. Hope everything becomes a nice smooth transition. I wish you guys the best of luck throughout your new career and hope you both enjoy and most importantly stay safe. What fleet owners or company did you guys go with? Just curious.

 

[DBenton]

We are with Godspeed. Owner Operator is very knowledgeable and nice. He has stood by us and waited for us to make our move. Our lease (housing) was up in January. We both already had Class A CDL. When are you guys going to start the hiring process?

 

[Gear_Grinder]

Well that’s good he was willing to do that, that’s always a good sign of hopefully a good owner willing to put their trust in you. I was just curious to see if you went with anyone that’s offered us a truck. We put up a classified add looking for someone looking for a team in January and we’ve had an overwhelming response and so many people we have no clue how to even pick one. Had a few that stuck out the most to us I still have three more to call I just dont have time at the time I work full time all day then we actually go to a cdl school all evening until 11pm so my time is limited so hopefully we do not lose all these opportunities before we are done with school. So we do our driving test the second week of January and the day we pass our cdl I’ll put the actual application in. So we’re looking at sometime in the 2nd week of January depending on when they give us our test. So hopefully by the end of January we’re on the road or at least in orientation. So you’ll have to keep me and all the other newbies and people interested in getting into this career updated with how Everything is working for you. Hope you both enjoy your holidays and good luck again.

 

[schwanman]

Also you can ask owners for drivers you can talk to for referrals.

 

[DBenton]

Gear Grinder you both seem to to headed in the direction you have mapped out for yourselves. I am glad you chose to go to school. I have always believed it is the best way to go. You will find your owner or maybe that one owner will find you. Lol. I bet you are in orientation by end of January getting ready to roll. Do you want to work for FedEx or are you looking at Panther or Landstar?

 

[Gear_Grinder]

Hoping to get on with someone that is leased on with Fedex but I’ll take Panther or another company depending if the owner and us can bond good and have a good contract. I feel that’s the most important overall but definitely would like to go with Fedex. Are you guys doing white glove and tval?

 

[DBenton]

Yes sir. We figure that the more we know through different training the more advantage we may have with someone sitting right next to us. My experience with Panther seems to be a lot of out of pocket expenses. My owner really took care of us as far as truck, orientation, etc.

 

[BigStickJr]

There’s not many TVAL /W Glover’s left on this sight.
Does anyone remember when it was so good that it was an exclusive club that people had to fight and beg to get into ?
When people sold trucks and wanted more money if they included their TVal “slot”.

When I retired I was going to advertise my truck for $100,000.
$95,000 with TVal slot.
Just to make a statement.
Fortunately a friend bought the truck before I got around to advertising it.
It’s alright. You newbies will do fine. Not as well as we did 10-15,years ago, but fine.
Good Luck to you guys.

Godspeed has a good reputation. He just wants hard workers. ( what owner doesn’t ?)

 

[Gear_Grinder]

That’s good your owner already made a good impression and took care of you guys. We are looking a couple fleet owners we spoke to and one is a Panther but we’re are really interested in a couple here local to us that have @ 8 trucks but do white glove and tval. So hopefully everything works out to we can work with them and they seem like a good couple. We feel the same as you as we think it will open up a lot more doors for loads. So it’s good I guess if white glove and tval isn’t that much of a to hot commodity anymore so it makes it easier to get in unless it’s more hassle then what it’s worth but after research doesn’t seem to much more difficult just some more knowledge that our brains probably cannot hold anymore after all the new knowledge we are digesting now. Good luck to you guys and keep posting updates.