Are you a job-jumper? Here’s why it pays to stay at your trucking company.
Have you left a trucking company within two months of starting? Was there a problem that made it seem easier to leave than to try to fix? Did you bring this problem to headquarters to try to fix it? Or did you change jobs,because the new one just wasn’t what you thought it would be? If these questions put you on the defensive, you’re probably a job-jumper.
So what’s the big deal if you move between companies on a regular basis? The reality is, in fact, you’re short changing yourself in the long run.
It’s about the relationship.
We’ve compared a working relationship to a dating relationship in the past, and the rules still apply. For any relationship to survive and be mutually beneficial, it needs hard work and commitment. Ashley, one of Dynamic Transit’s driver managers, recommends hanging in there through the transition period for four months. “When you start at Dynamic Transit, give it some time to get in the flow of things, learn how we work and how we all work together.”
The beginning of any new job is hard. It takes adjusting to new lanes and new customers, time to get to know your driver or driver manager. It takes even more time to build relationships with other company drivers, the mechanics in the shop, or the recruiters you’ll be working with.
Ashley has a relationship with each of her drivers – she knows about their families, what the grandkids are up to and how her drivers like to spend their free time. Those aren’t details you can pick up in the first couple of weeks. These bonds take time, but the relationships last a lifetime.
It’s about your reputation.
Don’t fool yourself into believing that trucking companies are so desperate for drivers that they’ll take anybody. Your reputation and records follow you. It is in your best interest to give a company plenty of time to prove themselves before you jump ship.
Before leaving a company for what looks like greener pastures, be sure you have done what you can with that company to make things right. If you see inconsistencies between the routes you thought you would be driving and how the routes are actually planned, talk to your driver manager about it. Ask questions to clarify the expectations that each of you have of each other.
Ashley reiterates her four month rule. “Give us four months, and a driver will feel the love and respect. We make sure they get the miles and get home.”
It’s about your paycheck.
Every time you jump a job, you’re taking yourself off the road for at least a week while you clean out the truck, transport home, wait through another new company orientation, and restock your truck. There’s the headache of keeping all of your paperwork every time you transition jobs. If you haven’t kept your paperwork, that makes even more time to wait for all the documents to go through.
Transition is hard. Getting to know new people and a new company are not easy tasks. By sticking it out a little longer, you save yourself the pain of starting over again and again.
When you put in the time, everybody wins.