Sign the bid sheets when they have them posted, I would go and look everyday if they had one up. At my hub (huge runs 4 shifts in the hub) no one ever says anything or it's not announced. Most PT guys with years more seniorty then I had didn't even know where the bid sheets were posted.
So after you sign it they might call you. If they do you take a piss test get your DOT card and they will tell you to learn the 5 seeing high habits and 10 pt commentary for class. You get all of that done and you go to driving school.
Driving school for me was at my hub with 7 other guys mostly from smaller hubs around my state. I was the only RTD driver in there the rest of them were going full time. You mostly sit at a computer but we did drive in the country the first day, the highway the second day, then downtown on the third. While we drove we had to talk outloud to the instructor and tell him how we were applying the 5 keys and 10 points. Not too hard at all. Fourth day we some practice deliveries. The worst part for me was staring at a computer screen for 7 hours everyday.
Good luck man I'm around the same age as you and was by far the youngest one in my class. Take it seriously and really study that stuff ahead of time.