When looking for a company to work for......

It matters not, as long as they're hiring in your area. Benefits of having a terminal in your area are you can get maintenance done on your off time and get to know the folks who work there. Negatives are... well the same as the benefits! They might require you to leave the truck there...

 

being close to a terminal could be a convenience or a curse depending on how you look at it. convenience, cause if you decide to quit, your close to home. curse because some companies will make you leave the truck there if you live with in 50 miles or so. (depending on the company.)

there would be other things i'd look for in a training company, ie, pay when out with the trainer, what is expected of the trainer, how long will it be? what @ health insurance, or time home policy, does the trailer say cr england on it? once out on the road, do they have a sliding pay scale, what about detention pay or breakdown pay? will they pay you to search for mt trailers. do the trucks have apu's, are you allowed to have a power inverter installed? do they have a inward facing camera staring at you as you drive down the road? can you bring Fido or Garfield with you? what about your wife or kid? if no apu can you idle? any bonuses' like mpg or performance? forced dispatch? do they run new york city?

and that's just a start. add your city to your profile and it'll help if you ask questions in the future.

good luck to ya future Driver, and Merry Christmas.

 

You don't NEED to start OTR. There are local companies (i.e. LTL gigs) that will take on recent CDL graduates and put them through company provided OJT. If you want to go OTR...have at it. If it's not something that you want to do (you don't sound particularly thrilled with the thought of it), know that there are other options out there. You just have to beat the bushes and look beyond what the people are your school are telling you.

 

Poster above me is correct. With driver shortages as bad as they are and only getting worse, most local companies who used to not hire student drivers will now hire and train you, provided you went to an accredited school and have all your endorsements.

 

This is the key. Get all of your endorsements and put in for your TWIC while you're still in school. The first question that both of the LTL companies I've talked with asked me (before even bringing me in for an interview) is "do you have doubles/triples and hazmat endorsements?" If you can't answer that one in the affirmative, then they're not going to give you a shot.

 

Google for nearest TWIC office to you.
TWIC does transfer state to state.