Not even out of the gate yet...

So today I sat down and did some research on the trucking company that I decided to go with. Yeah yeah, I already got the talk about doing that BEFORE setting appointments. However, after doing my research, I am not as confident as I was when I set everything in motion last week.

A friend of mine who is also in the trucking industry keyed me in on the following forum:
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/

I logged in and created an account then did some searches.

What I found kind of concerned me.

Now, I don't want to spread any bad karma around and I know that people have their own opinions and points of view. What I like to do is "taste the flavor" of the different posts and see what I come away with. That in itself gave me all I really needed to know about the company. Even with people who were "happy" with the work at the company, there was a sour undertone that just kept popping up in every post.

Now, my orientation isn't until the 16th for that place, so I have time to back out. First rule of any agreement, everything can be backed out of up until you actually start the process. The way I interpret that is, once I step foot on that greyhound bus then I am locked in on that path.

So, as I was wandering around the forum in a blind haze of "Oh shit, what did I just get myself into?", I found a company that was getting really good reviews and positive "tastes" for every post I read. Even with the people that were complaining, they also had positive things to say. Plus, it just so happened that I had a pre-hire from that company as well. So, I called.

After speaking with the recruiter, I compared the answers to the questions between both companies. I found that I liked the new one better than the one I had set up with. So, I started the process of going with that company instead.

Seeing how I spent the majority of my time this afternoon trying to get a transcript of payments made to me from unemployment, the call center for the "old" company is closed. So tomorrow morning I now have a goal when I get up all bleary eyed.

Hell, I haven't even started driving yet and I am jumping companies.

The real nice thing about this CDL license is that even if all the corporation sites fall thru, I have a few private offers on the side that are just waiting for me to speak up.  Perhaps the economy is taking a hit on the trucking industry but the amount of flexibility to find a job, even as a newbie, is pretty impressive.