From Driver to Driver Trainer – Jason Waldroup

Born and raised in California, Waldroup’s dad was a truck driver, so trucking is in his blood. He remembers when he first started his CDL training that he did not enjoy Team Driving (two drivers drive the same truck and take shifts driving the truck). “When over the road, it took so long to learn anything. If one person didn’t know a question, you had to wait for the other team member to wake up. It took a long time; it was hard to be receptive,” Waldroup shared.

After joining Paper Transport, Waldroup heard about the 3-week “Accelerate Class A CDL Finishing Training Program” Paper Transport offers. After his experience on the road with the driver team training program, he thought “that is nowhere near long enough for new drivers.” Yet, when Waldroup finally caved in and joined Paper Transport’s training team, he was pleasantly surprised about the 1-on-1 training time the new drivers have not only with the driver trainers on the road, but also with the driver instructors in the classroom and yard.

When asked if Waldroup liked training, he shared “I enjoy it a lot. I enjoy seeing a lot of improvements in a student.” Waldroup’s favorite success story was his first student. He reminisced, “my very first student I had here was approached to become a driver trainer. He is still here training and doing well. I helped him through it, and it was rewarding to see how far he has come.”

There are some doubts that come up when training. Waldroup explained, “be prepared for discouragement. Just because you aren’t clicking with one student does not mean you can’t help others. I’ve never said ‘I can’t help you, go find someone else.'” Waldroup’s advice before becoming a trainer is to try the mentorship program first. “See if you are up to answering questions and talking on the phone. That’s a good challenge.”