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New Hire

Brian Kelly

New member
Yesterday I received a conditional offer for RURAL CARR ASSOC/SRV REG RTE. I have scheduled my drug test and submitted info (again) for a background check. My question is what should I expect next. Is there no interview with the local PM? Once I get a start date do I just walk in and say, "Hi I'm Brian, show me what to do"? Is training paid?

I was in the Navy for 6 years and Director of QA for an aerospace company that supplied Boeing. I have enough gov't experience that the lack of info doesn't surprise me, but I am curious of what to expect.

Thanks in advance.
 
The next step if hired you get what is known as Shadow day. This is when you report to the office observe the carrier and go for a ride around on the route. This is a test by them to show you what the job entails and to ask you if you are still interested in the job. If you say YES you go to training at another facility for a few days.
 
We have a person doing a shadow day on Friday....does this mean she hasn't even gone to Academy yet?

Yes is my response from my Mayberry. They do not want to spend the dollars for training if possible. The training facility for my area is up to 200 miles away from the home office of hire. They are trying to get out of the cost of EMA, food and hotel costs for training around here.
 
@ Brian … Welcome to the forum. How did you find us?

You asked if training was paid for. Yes it is. You will be paid the current rate for RCAS for your shadow day. If you accept the gig you will be paid for your time at the training academy.

Not knowing where this training academy for your office is... Last I knew, if it's far away and involves hotel stays, mileage travel and food costs they should cut you a check prior to your training to cover these expenses. The worthless hours spent at training are paid later.

Anyone know what the current per diem for food is? When I did it years ago I want to say it was $7.50 per meal. Or $22.50 per day.
 
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@ Brian … Welcome to the forum. How did you find us?

You asked if training was paid for. Yes it is. You will be paid the current rate for RCAS for your shadow day. If you accept the gig you will be paid for your time at the training academy.

Not knowing where this training academy for your office is... Last I knew, if it's far away and involves hotel stays, mileage travel and food costs they should cut you a check prior to your training to cover these expenses. The worthless hours spent at training are paid later.

Anyone know what the current per diem for food is? When I did it years ago I want to say it was $7.50 per meal. Or $22.50 per day.
Closer to $60.00 per day
 
Yesterday I received a conditional offer for RURAL CARR ASSOC/SRV REG RTE. I have scheduled my drug test and submitted info (again) for a background check. My question is what should I expect next. Is there no interview with the local PM? Once I get a start date do I just walk in and say, "Hi I'm Brian, show me what to do"? Is training paid?

I was in the Navy for 6 years and Director of QA for an aerospace company that supplied Boeing. I have enough gov't experience that the lack of info doesn't surprise me, but I am curious of what to expect.

Thanks in advance.
Welcome Brian, you may wanna make a new Profile with a name that does not identify you. I am so happy you found this site so quickly. It will help you immensely with "real" information. Ask anything that comes to mind, there is ALOT to learn, so ask ask ask. I am interested in the NEW method for hiring. Keep us posted on your progression through this system please. Best of Luck...
 
The next step if hired you get what is known as Shadow day. This is when you report to the office observe the carrier and go for a ride around on the route. This is a test by them to show you what the job entails and to ask you if you are still interested in the job. If you say YES you go to training at another facility for a few days.
Not necessarily, most new hires trained on LLVs have already been through the 3 day initial training /safety courses and the LLV and the next day is their shadow day.
 
@ Brian … Welcome to the forum. How did you find us?

You asked if training was paid for. Yes it is. You will be paid the current rate for RCAS for your shadow day. If you accept the gig you will be paid for your time at the training academy.

Not knowing where this training academy for your office is... Last I knew, if it's far away and involves hotel stays, mileage travel and food costs they should cut you a check prior to your training to cover these expenses. The worthless hours spent at training are paid later.

Anyone know what the current per diem for food is? When I did it years ago I want to say it was $7.50 per meal. Or $22.50 per day.
Hotel and per diem are only if
Mileage is greater than 50 formula is
Mileage from home to training - mileage from home to station = > 50 = the difference
 
With the new fast track hiring process, there is no interview. :rolleyes:
Oi veh , in our office we asked for a sub replacement last September... with the new system 3 peeps were offered the job, 2 declined and one no response...…..so on to the next in line after those three....no response...…..time time time went by and finally allowed to post again...…..that happened last week...…...so far we have heard nothing...…. my thoughts.... well its good they go by scores...…...they eliminate nepotism, they offer the job by email..... you hear nothing...… then are told they declined IF they are kind enough to do that rather than NOTHING, then ???? well we don't know we have never really had trouble finding someone to train in our small office, but now it appears to be happening...….with face to face interview you can somewhat explain what they are up against..... without it they don't even know they have been hired for a whopping guaranteed 4 days a month, surely there is a happy middle ground somewhere??
 
In the past 6 months we had an ARC convert to RCA (this took a month - for an already existing employee), hired a complete fruit loop as an RCA who didn't make it past day 1 of training because they scared the regular so badly, a CCA who quit during training because they didn't know they had to work in snow, and had a person who was offered another posted RCA job, but had to restart the process because they clicked the wrong button on the offer screen. Was there a person who could intervene and reset the accidental decline? Nope...have to re-apply next time it's posted. See you in another 6 weeks!

Man fast tracking is great! :P
 
Out Shadow day person starts Friday....going to be minus 10 sitting in the spare seat of a virtually unheated freezer of an LLV.

She is going to be the sub for a severely overburdened aux route....evaluated 5.5 hours, I have been an rca for 5 years and have NEVER done it in less than 7 hours....ever.

The regular person on the route, he's a 5/1....never does it under 6 and many days 7-8. He gets overtime every week. Good for him, great guy but the route is ridiculous.

So, no...I'm not hopeful.

Brian, good luck. Being you were in the service...thank you very much for your service.....you will adapt, even overcoming this lack of communication. Wish I could be there to help you and or train the new person in our office.
 
Thank you everyone for the replies, very informative. I heard about this group through a Google search that intitialy took me to Federal Soup then a response that mention Ruralmailtalk. I'm hoping my PO is looking for the 1-2 day per week person as I own a bar that is fairly self sufficient. If they need more than 4 days, I have some serious thinking to do.
 
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