Swift Training Academy

[Ford390pwr]

I have finally started school with Swift

Today was day 1 of an 18 day training program, which we will do in 17 days due to the July 4th holiday.
We started with 14 students that actually arrived in class, and 9 more that were no shows. By the end of day one we lost 1 student to an invalid license. He said that when he got his CDIP they punched his old license and gave it back to him. Of course that license being punched by the DMV made it invalid, and he was Swiftly sent home.

Most of the day was filled with paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork! They want to make sure that you understand that you will owe them $3900 for training. Apparently you can go home before Day 5 and not owe any money. From day 5 through day 11 they charge a prorated amount, and after day 11 you owe the full tuition.

We also completed Swift's Work Well assessment, and completed our DOT physicals. Two students need to return to the doctors on Day 2 and try to pass the DOT physical.

The information supplied by recruiters was completely incorrect! Even though I specifically asked the recruiter if I should get my air brakes, doubles / triples, or combination endorsements and she said "No you will be trained properly to pass those tests in school", this is incorrect! Now I will take the combination and air brakes tests at the DMV in Clarkston WA on Tuesday after class.

I would like to post about this class till the end, so stay tuned.....

[bigtruckman]

the info the recuriter gives is always 90% wrong did they give you a starting pay rate before you went ? heard that they cut it by 3 cpm just asking. good luck to you

[Ford390pwr]

Originally Posted by bigtruckman

the info the recuriter gives is always 90% wrong did they give you a starting pay rate before you went ? heard that they cut it by 3 cpm just asking. good luck to you

They said .27 cpm, but that is yet to be confirmed!

[Ford390pwr]

Today was a good day with a test on Combination Vehicles and Air Brakes. We all passed those just fine.
Next we did about 4 hours on log books, and took 5 tests on the log books. Seems that everyone passed the tests, but we will review the answers in the morning.

I did not mention this before, but we must get an 80% or better on each exam, or group of exams. Anyone that does not pass an exam will be given an opportunity to take the test again on Sunday.

The hardest part of the day was the fact that we had to do our drug screen at 05:15. Of the 12 students, I waited till about half of them went because I really did not need to go. If you try to pee and get stage fright, you have 3 hours from that time to fill the cup or you will fail!

Of course I felt like I had to pee, so I stepped up to the plate. Tried and tried for about 5 minutes, but just couldn't get a drop. So I stepped aside to let others go ahead, and continued to drink about 2 gallons of water over the next 45 minutes. When all of the others completed the screen, I went in and pee'd like a pro. Best of all it was not dilluted from all the water I drank, so I was good to go!

I was in the bathroom every 30 minutes for the next 4 hours getting rid of those 2 gallons of water.

Now we did lose 2 more students today. One was due to a medical condition, and the second was because of a secret that Swift uncovered when we had to review the details on our applications. Just a word of advice, TELL THE TRUTH! If you tell them everything up front, they will look at the specifics and give may give you a chance because you were honest. If something comes out later, they will send you packing 100% of the time.

After class I drove over the bridge to Clarkston WA and took the Combinations and Airbrakes tests at the DMV. Missed one question on each test, and passed just fine. Paid the $100 for my skills test and I am now good to go!

So, at the end of day two, we have droped two more students. This puts our class at 11 students, down from the 14 that we started with.

[Ford390pwr]

Originally Posted by Ford390pwr

They said .27 cpm, but that is yet to be confirmed!

We received an answer to the question today. This link shows Swifts cpm pay as of December 2006. This is the current pay with one exception, there is currently a $.01cpm pay cut for all drivers. So, just subtract $.01 and this is the pay!
http://www.swifttruckingjobs.com/doc...ng%20Scale.pdf

[Kevin0915]

Hey, i went to Lewiston for my schooling. Say "Hi' to Vicky and Ed for me. I found out from talking to a guy based out of Lewiston at my home terminal when i was there, that Junior isnt there anymore. He got married, and he and his wife are running team, and he is O/O with Swift.

I started school there August 13th and grad. first week of Sept. 2008. Ask if they remember Cheez-It and Bret Michaels. =)

[Kevin0915]

Oh, and not all recruiters are scumbags. The one i got never promiced me anything, never said 'you'll be getting 3300 miles a week'..or anything like that. I actually went to class and had MORE paperwork than i needed, such as my driving history printed directly from the DMV before i left. etc.

[Ford390pwr]

Originally Posted by Kevin0915

Hey, i went to Lewiston for my schooling. Say "Hi' to Vicky and Ed for me. I found out from talking to a guy based out of Lewiston at my home terminal when i was there, that Junior isnt there anymore. He got married, and he and his wife are running team, and he is O/O with Swift.

I started school there August 13th and grad. first week of Sept. 2008. Ask if they remember Cheez-It and Bret Michaels. =)

Will do! Vicky was great! She started us out with days 1 and 2, but had to go out on the road with students that are 2 weeks ahead of us.
We will see more of her and Ed next week when we start on the range! I will probably get Vicky or Bob as my instructor and then they will take us to the WA dmv for the tests.

[sgreer78]

Originally Posted by Kevin0915

Oh, and not all recruiters are scumbags. The one i got never promiced me anything, never said 'you'll be getting 3300 miles a week'..or anything like that. I actually went to class and had MORE paperwork than i needed, such as my driving history printed directly from the DMV before i left. etc.

I've never heard of anyone promicing anything.

[boneebone]

Originally Posted by sgreer78

I've never heard of anyone promicing anything.

Promicing or promising? Sure wish some of these drivers learned how to spell correctly.

[Ford390pwr]

Originally Posted by boneebone

Promicing or promising? Sure wish some of these drivers learned how to spell correctly.

Gee, have you ever heard of a typo? It happens to all of us!

[Ford390pwr]

Well we started out the day with 9 students, even though we ended day 3 with 11. One student voluntarily left, because he was having trouble with all the written tests.
The second student got sent home because of an old arrest in another state. Once again, tell them EVERYTHING, even if you think it has been long enough since it happened.

On a side note, I had a Domestic Violence charge in 2005. Without all the details here, I never went to jail, and did 12 months probation. Because I informed Swift of this on my application, and was fully vetted by Swift's Security department, I was accepted into the school, and will be hired when I graduate. Some of the students that have been dismissed had the same charges from 2001 and older. Since they were not honest on the application Swift sent them home as soon as they found out about the charges.

Day 4 started with the class splitting into groups by home state. Each group observed the State pre-trip inspection. This was very detailed and each step was demonstrated by the instructor.

Next we had 4 different stations on the driving range. We split into teams of 2 students, with on group having 3. With 8 trucks each student had a truck except for the team of 3 which had on student switch in.

The stations included a Straight back, offset back, and two different docking stations. We rotated through the stations for one hour at a time, for eight hours today. This was a great day with a lot of hours behind the wheel. Everyone learned a lot today, and we all saw great improvement on the range.

[Visitor]

Enjoy the posts Ford390, keep it up!

[Jay B]

Originally Posted by Ford390pwr

We received an answer to the question today. This link shows Swifts cpm pay as of December 2006. This is the current pay with one exception, there is currently a $.01cpm pay cut for all drivers. So, just subtract $.01 and this is the pay!
http://www.swifttruckingjobs.com/doc...ng%20Scale.pdf

"Swift announces significant improvements to its driver pay plan!"

I don't care who you are, that's funny.

[bigtruckman]

Originally Posted by Ford390pwr

They said .27 cpm, but that is yet to be confirmed!

thanks for info i went to swift school in millington tenn. back in 07 thats what they started with also. had to go back a get retested for license last month because of raid on school in tenn as you all know.
sounds like you are enjoying it there stay focused and in between the lines

[Ford390pwr]

Originally Posted by Jay B

"Swift announces significant improvements to its driver pay plan!"

I don't care who you are, that's funny.

Yeah Jay,
like i said that document was dated December 2006.

[SirCronus]

Thankx for posting what your doing at Swifts training. I recently graduated from Western Pacific Truck school with my Class A & all three of my endorsments, but can't seem to get a break from any of the companies. I did talk to Henry a swift recruiter, but he said he would call me back in a week or two. He also said the next training was in August. All these compaines for the most part want at least 1-3 years of OTR! Im sure hoping something pans out for me soon since I spent $4690.00 on truck school and to date have gotten nothing but apps to fill out & turn downs!

Originally Posted by Ford390pwr

Yeah Jay,
like i said that document was dated December 2006.

[Kevin0915]

Originally Posted by Ford390pwr

I was accepted into the school, and will be hired when I graduate.

I like reading the posts. BUT I can remember when I attended the academy there, Vicki made sure to tell us each and everyday, that we needed to look at the 3 weeks of training like a 3 week interview. Just because you pass and graduate, does not mean you automaticly have a job or will be hired. You are not hired when you leave school, you are officially hired after you get your driver code....that wont happen till you reach orientation.

I was at my home terminal in Edwardsville, and sat outside talking to a guy who attended the Lewiston school, and that was where he was based. He attended the school back in January. My road instructor i had ended up getting married and went O/O-team with his wife. so he's on the road somewhere with Swift. maybe you could find out what his truck number is for me, and PM me....i'm sure one of the instructors there would know it. =) All i know is it is a grey KW T-2000.

keep the posts up.....

[Ford390pwr]

Originally Posted by Kevin0915

I like reading the posts. BUT I can remember when I attended the academy there, Vicki made sure to tell us each and everyday, that we needed to look at the 3 weeks of training like a 3 week interview. Just because you pass and graduate, does not mean you automaticly have a job or will be hired. You are not hired when you leave school, you are officially hired after you get your driver code....that wont happen till you reach orientation.

You are correct, Vicki said the same exact thing to us on day 1. I am just confident that I will be able to complete all of my training, and I know I have never been turned down for any job I interviewed for. There is NO guarantee of employment by Swift for completing the academy. Just as SirCronus had NO guarantee of finding employment after graduating from Western Pacific Truck School.

Originally Posted by Kevin0915

I was at my home terminal in Edwardsville, and sat outside talking to a guy who attended the Lewiston school, and that was where he was based. He attended the school back in January. My road instructor i had ended up getting married and went O/O-team with his wife. so he's on the road somewhere with Swift. maybe you could find out what his truck number is for me, and PM me....i'm sure one of the instructors there would know it. =) All i know is it is a grey KW T-2000.

I believe you said that your instructor was Junior. I will ask Vicki or Loary on Sunday if they have any information about him for you.

[Ford390pwr]

Originally Posted by SirCronus

Thankx for posting what your doing at Swifts training. I recently graduated from Western Pacific Truck school with my Class A & all three of my endorsments, but can't seem to get a break from any of the companies. I did talk to Henry a swift recruiter, but he said he would call me back in a week or two. He also said the next training was in August. All these compaines for the most part want at least 1-3 years of OTR! Im sure hoping something pans out for me soon since I spent $4690.00 on truck school and to date have gotten nothing but apps to fill out & turn downs!

The best advice I can give you is to keep trying Werner, Schneider, Prime and the likes. These company all accept newbie drivers with a CDL and NO experience. They have lower pay, similar to Swift and the other training companies but they offer you a chance to get you foot in the door and get some over the road experience.

Also make sure you check with the companies on this list. http://www.classadrivers.com/index.p...isting&EmpID=1