New CDL-A graduate, Can't find work ANYWHERE.

That would defeat the entire point of why I got my CDL. Good salary + ability to stay in a low cost of living area. $60-70k a year buys a nice house and a nice lifestyle here, 60-70k in a city is starvation wages. Regardless I don't think relocating is in the cards considering I don't have a personal vehicle right now, I have $30 to my name, and the only reason I'm not homeless is because I'm staying with family. The people telling me to lose weight, like I hear you but there is absolutely nothing I can do about that short term and I need to find work yesterday. The point is I have a 2 year DOT card, I've already been given the all clear to operate this equipment medically and that's all any company should need to know. Its not my fault if they have bigoted preconceptions about what work I can or can't do. I doubt any work on a semi is going to be more strenuous than hauling around a van load of heavy ### auto parts all day, which is literally what I was doing before. I'm just kind of disappointed and surprised that based on what people are saying in this thread, it seems to be kind of industry wide even though I don't think I would be the largest person at any given truck stop at any time.

At any rate, I appreciate all the useful advice that's been given here. I'm going to go through the thread and get applications sent out to all the companies everyone has listed if I haven't already applied to them. I don't even really care what specific type of work I end up getting right now or truly what the wage is. I just need work so I can start getting experience under my license. If there was a company that hired every CDL-A driver for min wage no questions asked I'd sign on without hesitation at this point.

Admittedly, I wouldn't have quit my prior job if I had known the trucking industry was in a down turn. I just remember during COVID hearing about how truckers were making more money than ever, and a CDL was a golden ticket to the upper middle class and thinking to myself "and here my ####### is sitting here driving a cargo van for a slave wage with no prospects for advancement". Guess maybe I should have jumped ship back then. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20.

 

Western is first on my list of places I'm sending an application out to.