Looking to Restart my Driving Career

Hello everyone, how is your day? Well as the topic suggest I want to get my driving career going again. I obtained my class A CDL last May and was hired on at Schneider last July. I attended orientation then was with a driving trainer for a few weeks, after I tested out and had to try and find a team mate. At the time there were a few bad stars that aligned, long story short I stopped working for Schneider.

Since then I've been working part time at a home improvement company while still looking for some kind of local driving work. of course without experience that didn't happen. Recently I pretty much gave up on trying to find something local and have been reading about other OTR companies here on this forum. I've decided to bite the bullet and give OTR driving another shot.

So my question for people here: Which company will take a class A CDL (Hazmat, tankers, doubles/triples endorsements) holder with no criminal history and a spotless driving record who has never done illegal drugs, without ME having to pay for a refresher course. I've come up with a few companies that I've been considering after reading several topics.

The companies I've been looking at and reading about include: US Xpress, FFE, Knight, Central Refrigerated, Swift, Con-Way Truckload, and Gordon. I've read good and bad about these companies but not as many 'horror stories' as you read about C.R. England, Werner, and CRST which seem like easy companies to get on with. So what are people's opinions about the companies I've listed above?

As far as me taking a refresher course, if I had to take one I would if I didn't have to pay up front for it. I've done a little looking at these companies websites and I've been able to figure out that at US Xpress you have 18 months after graduating a driving school, which would mean I have until November to go there. Also I was looking at FFE's Facebook page they have a company paid refresher course. The other companies listed I'm not sure what they would require as far as refresher courses go.

I'm looking for some advice here. I'm looking for a decent company to get some experience with. I don't expect to make a lot of money my first year, as long as I can make a little and not starve out on the road lol. Whatever I would make OTR my first year would be a lot more than I'm making now, of course the more I make the better.

I look forward to getting helpful responses, feel free to ask me any questions.

Thank you.

 

1nonly, I understand what you're saying. I will make the decision myself. The main purpose of this thread is I was wondering what were the requirements as far as refresher courses go for the companies I listed, if I even am require to take one at all.

Thank you.

 

Does Crete hire from Southern California? It doesn't look like my school or any from California are approved by them and their closest terminal is in Phoenix, AZ. I've been kinda leaning towards FFE as of recently.

 

I think I'm going to start filling out some applications soon and see what some of these companies say. Thanks everyone for the advice!