Smith & Solomon?

its not great, but i don't have anything to compare it to.

 

Hi, I've been posting my bf's story here about me and him searching for a truck driving school for him and I just wanted to conclude by saying that he is Not going with Werner and instead found Smith & Solomon Truck Driving school and enrolled today. He will be taking classes in Linden next week! If anyone has any info about the school, or job placement after school or if anyone happens to be learning in the Linden location - any advice you have to offer will be much appreciated!

 

My son got his cdl through smith solomon 2/09 in Linden; good school they guarentee you will get it;and he did first try. The thing they don't tell you is there are no jobs. My son sent out many applications and got one pre hire from Werner.He hasn't gone with them because they send you through their training then tell you there is nothing available.They do this because they get paid by uncle sam to train you even when the job they train you for doesn't exist.lol Read through some of the posts here and you will learn that now is not a good time to get into trucking.

 

I'm happy to hear that you think S&S is a good school and that people are receiving their CDL's from it. Other people have also told me S&S is a good school here and outside this forum.
I understand you're concern about there being low job placement in the trucking industry but there is low job placement everywhere which is why my bf is trying this new avenue of truck driving instead of continuing to search for a job in his previous field. I feel that whether he gets a trucking job in a month or 6 months, a cdl license is something that can only be good for him to have and in though the jobs are few I have faith that this will work for us.
Good luck to your son, I hope he find a job soon.

 

What with All State Career?

 

My son has a full time job with benefits but only pays 20 G. He wants a better job thats why he got his cdl ;unfortunately there are many unemployed experienced truckers applying for the same jobs. Until the economy improves he's staying put ,any job is better than no job. If you read through these message boards you will find many desperate drivers who even if employed are barely getting enough miles to survive. I wish you and bf the best of luck. Is S&S still offering the training for 2,800? My son did the weekend classes enjoyed every bit of it. He got his tanker endorsement and is going to get his passenger endorsement from MV maybe drive a bus.

 

Sorry, Whosedog I must have misunderstood your previous post.
In response, believe me, if my boyfriend had found something else he would have taken it because truck driving is a complete career change for him. But with him being unemployed, no other jobs coming in and unemployment ending soon he decided to go to school, learn a skill and we believe this is better than applying to the same field that hasn't provided any leads in months.
I don't know how much the course is costing him and I'm not sure about the 'endorsements' he's earning.
Do you believe that driving a bus has more job opportunities? I'll look into that as well.

 

Right now it SUCKS out there for everything - PERIOD! If you can land any kind of position it will be temporary at best. TMC, Werner and Swift are the only ones hiring short term and its quite frankly-better to go get some experience than none - even if you make a much lower training wage ( and you will right now, I'm in the same boat )

Only good school/Company left is Watkins & Shepard out West in Montana - you'll need to pay $4k for the schooling out of pocket (no more financing) and they will put you out in a truck once you've completed their 30 day intensive training - they have a lower rate of pay than most of the larger companies however, they seem to have the miles and between that and the great training - that's what counts most in my book!

 

The endorsements you get from the DMV when you take the written part of the test. He could take them now when he takes the written cdl or return and take them another time. They can't be that hard mostly common sense cause my son didn't study and got tanker along with his class A CDL. Some other ones are doubles,forklift,passenger hazmat(but hazmat costs more to take) He figured the more endorsements the more employable he was. With the passenger you could drive schoolbuses,tourbus ,NJ transit or limo. Most schoolbus jobs are part time AM and PM no benefits but if you get lucky and land a fulltime job with a school district you'll also do class trips etc.(Great benefits State of NJ pension and all.) Nj transit starts you as a floater fill in for drivers who are out sick or on vacation,so you never know what route you'll be on.When a route becomes available you can bid on it. NJ Transit starts $13 per hour,private bus co's $12 per HR, town Board of Ed varys, my town pays $21 per hr (even the part timers) At least with the bus jobs you're home every night not gone for weeks on end like the long distance truckers are.