truck driver trainer

truck driver

branch manager

business development specialist

student advisor

160 Driving Academy

I managed the highest volume branch in Northern CA, the California headquarters in Stockton. Alot was asked of me but there was no lack of executive or management support at any point in my journey to ensuring my branch was successful. From my first day in office, the mission was clear: maintain the highest standards of branch operations, the quality of our product and take what is the undoubtably the best CDL training program to underserved/underdeveloped markets. The Business Development Manager is not a glorified administrator secretary, the expectation is that you utilize your working hours to drive business, increasing student enrollments, business partnerships and  workforce agency relationships all while maintaining day to day program tasks created by those student training cycles. The resulting pressure maynot be for everyone, but for those who endeavor to expand their professional horizons and get the job done with a high degree of integrity and accountability - this job is so rewarding! If a BDS is effective at their jobs with 160 Driving Academy it means they're quite literally uplifting their community and pushing back against generational poverty and lack of opportunity, providing an immediate solution to the unemployment problem. Through their developed workforce agnecy partners and direct recruiting sales ability, the BDS gives their work displaced or career frustrated neighbors a chance at a new life by enrolling  that individual, or whole cohorts of participants, into the leading CDL training program in the country. The more successful we are at our job, the more markets reached, the more people employed and the more successful our whole community becomes. 160 Driving Academy is a natural market disruptor, standing as a guard against the 'bad actors' who plague the CDL industry. These predators cut corners with cut-rate, non-compliant programs that bypass DOT requirements and put everyone on our roadways in danger. As a BDS, my job is to educate the public and demonstrate the integrity of our product, effectively exposing these schools and pushing them out of our markets for good. 160 rewarded me accordingly, with generous bonus plans and promotional opportunities, of which I have recently taken advantage of. Two years ago, I could not have imagined the professional and personal community relationships I've developed as the face of 160 Driving Academy in my county. I was welcomed into workforce development and resource ecosystems as an ally and have had countless deeply meaningful moments being apart of teams who selflessly work to be the human breakers that seek to stop the tides of hunger, resource insecurity, career instability and poverty. Through these connections and efforts, 160 created lasting change in hundreds of lives here locally to me. To be a part of that has been as rewarding as my income growth. I am beyond grateful for this opportunity to be on the workforce front lines with 160, and I encourage anyone reading this review to apply and join these efforts. From the experience to be gained and the income to be earned, this will pay off. 

160 Driving Academy in Tulsa used to be a good place to work. The hours were great, and the pay seemed fair. 
Then, a new regional manager took over & things went south... Fast.  

It's obvious that he is a coorperate "yes-man". It seems like it went from teaching and caring about students to padding his resumé. It is also obvious that he cares more about saving a few pennies than getting students a CDL. 

The trucks used for teaching are total garbage. The hoops we have to jump through as instructors just to get them fixed is ridiculous. At one point, we had 5 trucks on the yard, and not a single one was running. 

The facilities are in worse shape than the trucks. No electric or indoor pluming. Just a conex for an office with a generator that only works half the time. No shade in the summer or heaters for students in the winter. It's tough to keep students interested and motivated when they're freezing or on the verge of heat stroke

The students have permit classes on zoom, and the class is garbage. 

90% of the students enrolled work for Amazon as yard jockies, and do not want to be there to begin with, so when they flunk - you get b'd at as the instructor. 

Overtime? Forget that. If we have more than 5 minutes of overtime, the regional lead is calling & not so politely telling you to clock out 5 minutes early. 

Basically - if you're okay making $25-26 bucks an hour and constantly getting complained to by a coorperate yes-man, not having equipment that works, a sub-standard maintenance policy, and dumping in gross port-o-pots in 100°F heat, but going home at 3:30pm everyday - give this company a try. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with The Students, Training Someone For A New Career 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Dealing With Cooperate, The Constant Zoom Meetings That Really Didn't Pertain To Anything Dealing With My Role, The Emails That Had To Be Sent Daily By A Certain Time, The Constant Phone Calls Interrupting The Tasks Of The Day

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work Environment Is Very Stressful, You're Constantly Being Pushed To Do Certain Things And Then The Cooperate Office Only Concern Is How Much Money The School Is Generating, They Could Care Less About Whether The Students Pass Or Not, It's All About A Dollar, I Took Risks Doing My Job, Which Eventually Got Me Terminated, The Reason That I Was Given Was That I Took A Student To Test On  A Day They Wanted The School Closed, As I Tried to Explain That This Test Had Been Set Up For Weeks And To Cancel The Test Would Mean Holding This Student Out For Another 3 Weeks Before I Would Be Able To Get Him Tested Again, The True Reason That I Was Terminated Was In Retaliation Because I Had Went Over My Supervisors Head And Contacted The Owner Directly About $23,000.00 In Shop Bills That Were Over 10 Months Past Due And The Shop Was Getting Ready To Sue The Company 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Kind Of Laid Back, You Gather A Group Of Students, Start Them Out On Pre-Trips, Take Them To The Skills Pad And The Ones That Have Had Sufficient Training, Sometime During The Day You Take Them Out Driving

This companys turnover is high, because they don't t value their employees the least bit. Corporate lies to employees, and this is from personal experience. You can't believe half the things promised. 
You won't be trained properly and every branch is on a different page how to complete basic tasks and operations. If your not a "Yes Man" then good luck surviving here. You will deal with situations that there is no training for and beyond your pay grade. Management won't help you, rest assured.
They try to portray their work cultur as a relaxed environment that's driven to help students. It's the opposite and is just another Buisness with a strong disregard for people in every aspect not limited to their own students.  They have trash equipment and the only open door policy they have is a revolving door for turn over.  Most of the "positive reviews " I see on here are coincidentally from their corporate office in Chicago IL. 
This is not a 9 to 5 but they will tell you it is and you will be micromanaged beyond your wildest nightmare.
Save your self the headache and avoid this place at all costs. I promise you it's not worth it! This place is a hot mess. It's only getting worse.

Unfortunately I am not working there anymore. This was a job I truly enjoyed. I was lead instructor and I had earned the position. 
I designed a program that produces results. I was actually able to get an accurate estimate of any students readiness for the DMV testing they would eventually need to pass. And using the results we (the students and I) could focus directly on narrowing the problems and turning the weaknesses into strengths and confidence that would complete the training and graduate the students from "training to trucking"
I was let go. And at the end of the day I at least knew that I left the job having done all i could possibly do in the best interest of the students.
The upper management however had an agenda and I was not to be a part of. 
Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to get rid of me without finding the replacement.to my knowledge it has not ran well since I was involuntarily resigned.
I would return if I was asked.But im not sure if I would be comfortable there .Not as I was.

My experience has deteriorated over my time here. I've constantly worked toward advancing myself with the company and shown more initiative and overall drive than anyone else I've worked with. I am ALWAYS passed over for advancement. I've asked. I've explained my reasons. I've been told I would be a great fit for a new position. I never get it. Nobody will talk to me about it or give any reason as to why I'm always overlooked. They take the ones that have less experience than I do, with the same relevant work history. I always come in, sick or otherwise. I've thrown up while working, and I keep going. I stay when I can barely walk or think. I show the drive, but they always pass over me.

The benefits here are a joke. Health insurance with such a high deductible that it's almost pointless. No life insurance, no short/long term disability. No flexibility for NEEDED medical procedures. They want you to use every ounce of PTO you have, then just take the rest unpaid.

Stay away from this company at all costs. The owners really only care about their own paycheck and couldn't care less about what the needs of the instructors are. 

This company has potential to be something great! I think each of its yards do not have enough involvement from management. I also think the lack of management with expert knowledge on the subject and a vast knowledge of the curriculum and training techniques makes it hard for many newer yards to progress. Which leads to many inexperienced instructors to make up curriculum and training techniques and be put into higher positions with not enough management skills, so when an employee is hired that has many years of experience there is a lot of conflict and animosity even at the lower level management and then the lack of a proper procedure when it comes to complaints and investigating accusations is astonishing considering the size of the company. Many rights/laws are being broken. This company needs someone who is more experienced in HR to re-write the employee handbook to give its employees a better resource to go to.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Best part is helping people change their lives with a new career.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Company management from the bottom up seem to not know what’s going on. The people that are out in charge of the office are not familiar with the rules and regulations of truck driving or are they familiar with sales and marketing. Which leads to classrooms becoming empty and the instructors sitting at home fighting to draw low earnings.  Yard management employees have zero control over their yards and are micromanaged 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Depending on the people you work with things can be great. I worked with some great people, however upper level management ran half of us out 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Start time around 8 end exactly around 4:30. Great hours and Home time until student to instructor ratio drops. Then you’ll starve

I was told to focus on the students and let the managerial task fall behind, then when the owner wants something done... its all focus on yard improvements and no focus on students.  Regional office manager want things done her way and often lied about true facts, then when caught she turns it around and blames the employees for her mistakes and has the mentality of "if it doesn't work just get rid of them and find someone else" wasting company money and resource doing so.  Office manager is a constant liar, does not know how to do her job, tells students false information raising their hopes just to be crushed when hey are not true and does not have own up to her mistakes.
This is what happens when you throw people that don't know how to even drive, let alone know how to manage a trucking business works. No one accepts responsibility for their mistakes in this company.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver trainer 140 salaries reported	$28.83 per hour
Truck driver 23 salaries reported	$25.37 per hour
Branch manager 20 salaries reported	$46,875 per year
Business development specialist 37 salaries reported	$56,351 per year
Student advisor 40 salaries reported	$26.25 per hour

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