New Starter DHL

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi,
Just a bit of hopefully helpful info for new drivers.
I passed my CE in March 17 with Stobart. I’m ex military and got part of the course paid as resettlement. Training to me appeared very good and the advantage was getting to build a rapport with the examiner during the course. It had the added bonus of a guaranteed job interview at the end.

Long story short: passed the test after a good drive but nearly failed by stalling it on the turn 10 yards from the finish line. Never liked the three pedal opticruise!
Passed job interview-manager ex military like me. Fact is as an ex military policeman it meant some painful banter…
Offered a start date for induction and then onto nights. Rate offered was shocking.

Before the start date I intervened in an incident. 25 years policing without injury…I got sucker punched and knocked cold. The ‘gentleman’ then proceeded to stamp on my head several times.

Result: lots of added metal to my skull. Stobart informed who said they’d get back with a new date. They didn’t and I got promoted to Production Manager at work.

HGV put on back burner.

Fast forward 2 years…concerns about the way the company spent money resulted in lay offs. Then more…I start toying with moving on but have let my medical lapse. Sorting that took longer than expected but in the meantime I applied speculatively to DHL in Stoke working the Dunelm contract, to see how they react to new drivers.

Phone call ensued…very helpful lady tells me to reapply when med sorted.

Weeks later- made redundant. Still waiting on med.
Finally get sorted and job mentioned above expanding again.

Apply on the Monday- phone call asking when am I available for interview and assessment. Set for following Thursday.

Turn up at 10…brought in quickly but a bit of hanging about. Given a quick test on driver regs and highway code but not pass or fail…get a couple wrong on hours…
Quick explanation of what I got wrong.

Office being audited by outsiders so a bit hectic. Delays on getting a wagon for the drive…but fed coffee and decent guys so didn’t really care.
Quick interview…no dramas. Pay hours etc explained.

Panicking about the drive. Last time I’d driven was nearly 3 years ago on test day!
Truck finally arrived. Expecting to do a test scenario on walk around checks but straight into cab and taken through how to boot up the tacho. Then handed a check sheet and given a walk through talk through…big company and advice given to report everything. Like paperwork completed just so!
Nervous about what to expect on assessment drive…taken through all controls and we’re off.
Assessor very laid back…plenty of advice given on an urban and county A road route. Went ok…knew my background.

Back into the yard and reversing…lots of advice reversing into clear bays with lines. Then after 2 goes in a clear area, couple of goes next to another trailer. Then into unloading bays with pipe guides. Seem tight as ****! Assessor full of help and I probably learned more in that time than during both my C and CE courses. I was oversteering before and hopefully now grasped small wheel movements. We’ll see…

Then uncouple the trailer and back into the office. Quick debrief with the manager, offered a start with at least a couple of weeks being supervised.

All drivers on 3 months probation.
Money seems good at a touch over 34K.

Still slots available.

The company quite impressed me with their friendly attitude. I may be after a job but as an ex monkey I dont take being needlessly mucked around.
Great onsite canteen with healthy options and decent prices …and clean shower facilities.

A long post…but hopefully a bit of encouragement for new pass drivers- Not only was I a new pass, I hadn’t touched anything over 3.5t in 3 years.
It’s days with early starts…but once working on my own will have my own cab.

I start on Tuesday for induction…and if this post generates interest, I’ll update it as I find out more.

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2

A great first post if you don’t mind me saying so. :smiley:

I’m pretty sure this will serve as encouragement for other newbies who have one or two little problems along the way.

3

Ta very much.
Thought I was destined to a Stobart only option…and from my interview there I wasnt much taken with the way drivers were spoken to…

I was also offered an assessment with Culina in Stafford. The guy made it clear from the start that they’d mentor new passes and that a variety of shift options were available.

Money was slightly less and travel to work more but I was wary of DHL and thought that if nothing else the assessment might be a useful warm up for Culina.

I called Culina to cancel. They’re still recruiting for several slots.

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4

I don’t want to be “that guy”, but honestly, everything you’ve just put about the interview process sounds eerily familiar, and if I had the choice between Culina and DHL, Culina wins every time. I had someone PM me asking about my experiences working for DHL, so I’m just going to post what I put, here. Then you can draw your own conclusion -

I was at the Rugby depot on the Nisa contract, so class 2 multidrop basically. My issues stemmed from management. They were re-opening the depot after the failed KFC debacle and as such, had an entirely new managerial team who didn’t have a clue what was going on or how to do the job.
As a fresh pass, I was promised training… which consisted of a 2 day powerpoint presentation. I soon came unstuck when I went on my first ever drop only to discover that I had no idea how to undo the ratchet straps, and the pump truck they sent me out with would only turn in one direction.

Also, I never recieved a contract to sign due to numerous admin errors, which means I didn’t get paid. All this happened in June… I eventually got MOST of what I was owed in October.

They’re VERY paperwork heavy, everything done in triplicate.

Some of the issues could be attributed to teething problems, some to incompetence, and the rest are because they’re hiring new passes without an adequate training structure in place.

I’m glossing over quite a bit, but basically, if this isn’t your first LGV job and you have a basic knowledge already, you MIGHT be okay. If you need training or you’re going to get some experience, then I hope you have thicker skin than me

5

Monkey241:
Hi,
Just a bit of hopefully helpful info for new drivers.
I passed my CE in March 17 with Stobart. I’m ex military and got part of the course paid as resettlement. Training to me appeared very good and the advantage was getting to build a rapport with the examiner during the course. It had the added bonus of a guaranteed job interview at the end.

Long story short: passed the test after a good drive but nearly failed by stalling it on the turn 10 yards from the finish line. Never liked the three pedal opticruise!
Passed job interview-manager ex military like me. Fact is as an ex military policeman it meant some painful banter…
Offered a start date for induction and then onto nights. Rate offered was shocking.

Before the start date I intervened in an incident. 25 years policing without injury…I got sucker punched and knocked cold. The ‘gentleman’ then proceeded to stamp on my head several times.

Result: lots of added metal to my skull. Stobart informed who said they’d get back with a new date. They didn’t and I got promoted to Production Manager at work.

HGV put on back burner.

Fast forward 2 years…concerns about the way the company spent money resulted in lay offs. Then more…I start toying with moving on but have let my medical lapse. Sorting that took longer than expected but in the meantime I applied speculatively to DHL in Stoke working the Dunelm contract, to see how they react to new drivers.

Phone call ensued…very helpful lady tells me to reapply when med sorted.

Weeks later- made redundant. Still waiting on med.
Finally get sorted and job mentioned above expanding again.

Apply on the Monday- phone call asking when am I available for interview and assessment. Set for following Thursday.

Turn up at 10…brought in quickly but a bit of hanging about. Given a quick test on driver regs and highway code but not pass or fail…get a couple wrong on hours…
Quick explanation of what I got wrong.

Office being audited by outsiders so a bit hectic. Delays on getting a wagon for the drive…but fed coffee and decent guys so didn’t really care.
Quick interview…no dramas. Pay hours etc explained.

Panicking about the drive. Last time I’d driven was nearly 3 years ago on test day!
Truck finally arrived. Expecting to do a test scenario on walk around checks but straight into cab and taken through how to boot up the tacho. Then handed a check sheet and given a walk through talk through…big company and advice given to report everything. Like paperwork completed just so!
Nervous about what to expect on assessment drive…taken through all controls and we’re off.
Assessor very laid back…plenty of advice given on an urban and county A road route. Went ok…knew my background.

Back into the yard and reversing…lots of advice reversing into clear bays with lines. Then after 2 goes in a clear area, couple of goes next to another trailer. Then into unloading bays with pipe guides. Seem tight as ****! Assessor full of help and I probably learned more in that time than during both my C and CE courses. I was oversteering before and hopefully now grasped small wheel movements. We’ll see…

Then uncouple the trailer and back into the office. Quick debrief with the manager, offered a start with at least a couple of weeks being supervised.

All drivers on 3 months probation.
Money seems good at a touch over 34K.

Still slots available.

The company quite impressed me with their friendly attitude. I may be after a job but as an ex monkey I dont take being needlessly mucked around.
Great onsite canteen with healthy options and decent prices …and clean shower facilities.

A long post…but hopefully a bit of encouragement for new pass drivers- Not only was I a new pass, I hadn’t touched anything over 3.5t in 3 years.
It’s days with early starts…but once working on my own will have my own cab.

I start on Tuesday for induction…and if this post generates interest, I’ll update it as I find out more.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Thanks for the info Monkey241, it IS encouraging to me - a brand new pass :slight_smile:

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6

Wildarmtins:
I don’t want to be “that guy”, but honestly, everything you’ve just put about the interview process sounds eerily familiar, and if I had the choice between Culina and DHL, Culina wins every time. I had someone PM me asking about my experiences working for DHL, so I’m just going to post what I put, here. Then you can draw your own conclusion -

I was at the Rugby depot on the Nisa contract, so class 2 multidrop basically. My issues stemmed from management. They were re-opening the depot after the failed KFC debacle and as such, had an entirely new managerial team who didn’t have a clue what was going on or how to do the job.
As a fresh pass, I was promised training… which consisted of a 2 day powerpoint presentation. I soon came unstuck when I went on my first ever drop only to discover that I had no idea how to undo the ratchet straps, and the pump truck they sent me out with would only turn in one direction.

Also, I never recieved a contract to sign due to numerous admin errors, which means I didn’t get paid. All this happened in June… I eventually got MOST of what I was owed in October.

They’re VERY paperwork heavy, everything done in triplicate.

Some of the issues could be attributed to teething problems, some to incompetence, and the rest are because they’re hiring new passes without an adequate training structure in place.

I’m glossing over quite a bit, but basically, if this isn’t your first LGV job and you have a basic knowledge already, you MIGHT be okay. If you need training or you’re going to get some experience, then I hope you have thicker skin than me

And thanks for this info, too Wildarmtins.

I’m a bit shocked at times when I hear tales of what some big companies get up to, but it’s good to get a heads up. Actually, I’ll admit it - I’m going to need to (wo)MTFU!

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7

Thanks for the comment Jo.
I read the other comments too…but I guess the difference is in class of trucks…
As ex military they are leaving themselves wide open if the mentoring they have promised doesnt happen…
We’ll start finding out Tues.

Im optimistic …but also a realist.

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8

Well, good luck with it. Let us know how it goes.

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9

I will…good luck with the finding work.

Just identify companies and speak to them…I thought DHL would #### me off without a second look, same with Culina.

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10

Muchos to all CONTRIBUTERS, and best of lucks to all [emoji106]

Please do, all, report back on your days to come, good to read DHL will look at new passes, Culina are on my list already but hadn’t thought of DHL…

Big thanks Gentlemen [emoji41][emoji41]

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11

Depending on the depot you might end up in a brand new Globetrotter XL. DHL have had a thousand this year. Seen them parked up at the docks in Immingham waiting to be taken.

12

Radar19:
Depending on the depot you might end up in a brand new Globetrotter XL. DHL have had a thousand this year. Seen them parked up at the docks in Immingham waiting to be taken.

I was a drivers mate for a couple of hours the other week and went out in one of those very nice too if you don’t mind all the bings beeps and bongs.

13

My assessment was in a Globetrotter…think it was the double clutch auto.
Lovely to drive…and loads of buttons [emoji23]

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14

Hi mate,

I work for DHL on Class 2 and after passing my test a year ago my friend at an agency got me in here after a few small assignments to start off with, I passed my probation and am now permanent, all in all it has been a good experience with DHL.
Good pay, great pension and benefits, 4 on 4 off, I can’t complain to be honest. Like you say very paperwork heavy but that is just DHL I suppose.
Report any incidents/damage and follow the training and standards and everything will be fine.
Good luck mate and enjoy, keep us updated [emoji1303]

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15

Different contract to you I guess Chris.
5 days a week …longish days (to me anyway and early starts)
Agreed on paperwork and ensuring everything is reported.
Enjoying it so far :wink:

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16

Monkey241:
Different contract to you I guess Chris.
5 days a week …longish days (to me anyway and early starts)
Agreed on paperwork and ensuring everything is reported.
Enjoying it so far :wink:

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PM’d you mate

17

Radar19:
Depending on the depot you might end up in a brand new Globetrotter XL. DHL have had a thousand this year. Seen them parked up at the docks in Immingham waiting to be taken.

A lot of dpeots finally have the new Volvos thank god including us. They are excellent to drive as always. All come with a 33 litre fridge freezer, leather seats with heating and cooling and the usual refinements, so a little better than poverty spec. 53mph but they overtake the Mercs we have, the I see predictive GPS cruise is a complete pain in the arse though dropping your speed way too much for no real reason when the truck won’t gain any momentum to free wheel back up to 85kph. But they are still a nice truck full stop.

They don’t have adaptive cruise control surprisgnly but have lane departure and a heads-up display that warns you if your driving to close to another vehicle and the obligatory AEBS.

They are fitted with the new standard FFC that uploads incidents automatically via 3g with a sim card in them.

However they haven’t got blind spot cameras on them or the 360 birds eye view cameras that were touted about having in the very near future.

The other drawback is they are close coupled to fridges not having sliding 5th wheels so it’s a split couple scenario unless you are built like a lamppost or have a mavis rail on trailers.