(Photo: TruckStopImages)
by FreightWaves’ Linda Baker
Covenant Transport, a subsidiary of Covenant Transport Services (NASDAQ:CVTI), has created a hiring program aimed at increasing the number of people with military backgrounds who become professional drivers.
“On a day when we honor our nations’ veterans, we couldn’t be prouder to announce our newest military program, Operation Victory,” Jason Rice, senior director of recruiting, said in a statement.
The program accommodates veterans with different levels of professional driving experience.
All veterans entering Covenant Transport’s highway services division with a military occupational specialty related to driving will receive 100% of that time credited toward their truck driving experience when determining their compensation packages.
All non-driving military occupational specialty jobs will be credited 50% toward a new truck driving career.
To be eligible for the program, veterans need to have been generally or honorably discharged dating back a period of seven years.
For example, a veteran entering Covenant Transport with four years of military transportation driving experience who was generally or honorably discharged dating back a period of seven years will receive 100% credit for those years as driving experience.
In this way, veterans with driving-related experience can begin a driving career at Covenant’s highway services division without having to repeat CDL training.
A service member entering Covenant with four years of service unrelated to driving will still net 50% credit, or two years experience.
“I’m excited about the growth of our highway services veterans program, where we want to become the veteran’s choice employer for driving careers,” said Chris Schoate, Covenant’s recruiting manager and an Army and Air Force veteran.