I read on another forum that SOME companies (not all) will consider completion of a PTDI certified training course to be as good as 1 year of OTR experience. This sounds a little too good to be true, but I wanted to check.
Is this for real?

I'm looking for a dedicated or local job that doesn't require experience. I have a complicated home situation that requires that I be in town as much as possible.

New one on me. Don't want to sound negative, but I highly doubt anyone will count that as over the road experience. Hell, they don't even consider local driving as a full count of experience.

I think you should reconsider this driving career if you need to be close to home. Is it possible to get a local job right of school, yes, but unlikely. You are going to spend upwards of $6000 to get your license. If you don't mind going over the road for at least a year to get experience then I would say give it a shot. Once you have a little experience you maybe able to get a local job.

Put yourself in the position of an employer who is looking for a local driver. The economy isn't so hot right now and a lot of people are out of work. On top of that 75% of the current experienced drivers out there would like a local gig. So you are the owner of a trucking business and looking to hire. Would you hire an experienced driver who has a proven record, knows how to back very well, knows how to take care of a truck, is refined in their driving so that they aren't tearing up tires, brakes, tranny's, fenders etc... not to mention since they have experience you won't have to pay as much to insure them or...... would you choose guy number two that just graduated a whole three week crash course who has yet to go with a trainer, cannot back, cannot shift, has no record and will cost more to insure?

Who do you hire?

Just wanted to put it in a different perspective so that it didn't sound like a negative post. Some drivers do get lucky and land local gigs. However if you aren't willing to go over the road in case things don't pan out then you are going to be wasting a LOT of money and time.

If home time isn't a problem and you don't mind being gone for 4-6 weeks at a time and can do this for a year then I would say go for it. You will have nothing to lose. If you aren't willing to go over the road, like I said, I would seriously reconsider.