Help a trucker wannabe out!

AfterShock,

I agree with what you're saying, but I need to emphasize a point. My driving privelages where suspended in the state of NJ because I didn't pay a surcharge. I only knew this when I went to apply for my permit so we are talking 2 months ago. Granted this was not due to any moving violations, and granted I have had two moving violations in my life both of which were 11 years ago, and granted I have never been in an accident in my life, and granted I have no criminal background whatsoever (although I do like the show the A-Team, and some consider that a crime). The point is, I don't have a completely clean "driving record". That's why I was denied by, of all places WERNER. For goodness sakes, WERNER denied me.

My choice may be to take a mediocre company and then dump them if neccessary to get into a company of my choice. To be blunt, if I were to go with Swift for 6 months and then go with Schneider, I do believe Scheider would hire me. That would be the end of my "company jumping". Furthermore, if it turns out I like the company I work for regardless of what anybody thinks of them, I'll stay with them. I don't care if I'm the only satisfied employee in the whole freakin company, I just want to work for a company I like, and will treat me okay.

I'm applying for the better companies. They may just not want me. If they don't, I'll have to go with somebody, won't I?

 

Just an update on my job search. I got a call from Western Express this morning and was told I have been pre-hired. I would be able to go to their orientation in a couple of weeks since they are currently short on trainers to cover all of the students they have hired.

Once I was informed of this, the phone conversation turned into a comedy of verbal nuances. Essentially the recruiter gave close-ended, forward-driven, commitment sentences. Here's pretty much the way the coversation went:

Rec: "Now that we are through the pre-hire process I'll go ahead and have you scheduled for an orientation in a couple of weeks."

Me: "If I choose to go forward with this at some point, would I be given a specific date for orientation?"

Rec: (Immediadely sounded concerned) "Well, we have 83 trainers currently, so it will likely be a couple of weeks. Let me see what I can do."

Me: "I appreciate you providing me with the option of moving forward with your company. It gives me something to consider."

Rec: "Let's go forward with this and see what date we come up with."

Me: "I'll certainly consider that, thanks. Why don't you call me back with a possible date and we'll see where things go for there?"

Rec: "I'll see what I can do."

Me: "Thanks for providing me with the possibility of working with your company, I appreciate it."

Rec: "You're welcome. Your driving record is very safe so naturally we look forward to you driving with us."

Tonight I'm going to give Swift a call at 5 PM and see if they want me or not. But, just so AfterShock isn't too disappointed:

I have filled out a bunch of applications to some smaller companies of better reputations:

Shaffer
Schneider (yesterday)
Prime, Inc.

and some smaller companies I don't know much about but are known in the area to be good to work for (and likely pay better then any of the larger companies):

Star, Inc.
Builders, Inc.

That may not sound like a lot of applications, but let me tell you the smaller outfits asked for incredible amounts of information. One of the applications was 23 pages, and might as well have been an application you fill out AFTER you are hired.

Let's see where this goes. My 8.5 years of working for a very political corporation, and the skills I recieved for selling stuff for 4 years prior to that have equipped me with a unique and uncanny ability to provide unlimited, positive sounding yet non-committal statements of procrastination, exonoration, and negotiation.

 

Thanks for wishing me the best, I really appreciate you. I hope you share your experiences with us as well. The more information we can provide to those starting out in this career, the better.

As for the school you attend, I *highly* advise you go with no less then a school that is P.T.D.I. certified. In fact, under CSA 2010, all drivers may be required to have P.T.D.I. certification regardless of experience. More then likely drivers who have less experience i.e. 2 years or less, may be required to go to school to get that certification. Can you imagine driving a truck for a year only to find out you need to go back to school for a month?