If a company decideds to take you on and schedules your orientation, I assume they've already ran your background check, BMV report, ect.... right? Now lets say you get to orientation and discover something you were never told, or you don't complete orientation for some odd reason.... do they pay for your trip back home???

Some do, some don't. Just depends on the company. Some companies wait to do all the background checks till you get to orientation.

For starters not all companies do a background check on you before you show up for orientation, which I think is somewhat stupid.

As far as how you get back home and who pays, some companies will provide you a bus ticket home, others will only do it for certain reasons, and others yet leave you to find and pay for your own way home.

I have worked for several companies that will help you get home if you fail the physical, but if you fail the drug test or it is found out you lied on your application then you are on your own.

Some companies run complete background checks prior to orientation and some do not. Therefore you should:
1) Be totally honest with your recruiter.
2) Have you some extra $$ available in case something goes wrong.

About 80% of the people who make it to orientation will end up with a job. The other 20% will be sent home due to failing a drug test or physical exam, failing a driving test, or hidden accidents, tickets, or criminal charges being discovered.

You should think of an orientation as a long interview. Be on-time, be polite, be cleanly dressed and shaven.

I can only speak for the ONE company I know about, USX. The answer is NO, they will not get you back home. In fact, this was one of the VERY FEW things I disliked about USX. On the last day of orientation you MUST check-out of the hotel and bring everything to the terminal with you. If you are not hired you must leave the property ASAP.

This happened to a friend of my trainers while I was training. We ( wife and I ) live close to the terminal so she went and picked him up because they were fixing to call the law to remove him. He had little money and a lot of his things to start driving ASAP after orientation. ( He had over 3 years exp.) He stayed at my house a couple of days and did some on-line apps til he got a pre-hire from another company and they sent him a bus ticket. She took him to the bus station, gave him some money to hold him over, and he was on his way. ( He sent the money back to us with-in the month ). We still keep in touch.

So.... to end this long-winded answer: Best to ask and ALWAYS have a back-up plan.