Starting out, CDL but no school

the insurance companies pretty much dictate who and who does not get hired. your basically considered a new driver. maybe you can find a school that will do a refresher course since you already have the license.

 

Welcome to the TTR Forum. I won't say you can't find something. I do think you are going to have a hard time. You have no over-the-road experience and you have no tractor trailer experience.

If you owned $50,000 - $150,000 worth of equipment would you put someone with zero experience in this type of equipment or operation in it? Would you be willing to pay an additional $2,000 - $3,000 per year in insurance to do this. Would you be willing to have the insurance give you a reduced operating radius so you could give someone with no experience training?

IMHO, you have three choices. One, you can go door-to-door with all the companies in your area and see if you can get someone to take a chance on you. Two, you can call trucking companies and see if any will take you with a refresher course and if you find one take a refresher. Three, you enter the industry through training and pay your dues like most other drivers have done.

Since you're new, I'll give you my standard advice. Maybe there is something in it you will find useful.

You need to research and find out what the important questions are. You can make an above average living but you will make sacrifices that other jobs don't require. Read the "good companies" and "bad companies" section on this forum and get an idea of what company you want to work for and what kind of trailer you want to pull. Don't just go to school and then try to figure out where to go.

I don't know your financial situation. Don't take training from a company if you can afford it or get it with financial aid. You will be their slave for up to year. If you leave they will trash you DAC and credit record. Check out your local community colleges and employment office.

Just know that most training and trucking company recruiters will do nothing but lie to you. They will let you talk about what you want and then tell you what you want to hear. Trucking is about moving freight to make money for the company. Your home time, family, paycheck and everything else comes second.

It is not like any other job. Local is usually backbreaking delivery work 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week. Often you unload dozens of times a day or you are a salesman. In my area most dump truck jobs pay less than a good factory job. Regional is lots of loading and unloading time, fewer miles than OTR and not as hard as local but will wear on you and push your HOS limits. OTR is out 3 - 5 weeks with 3 - 4 days home, less manual labor and more miles.

You'll probably have to pay your dues before you get the gravy job. Weekends off, if you are lucky enough to get something like that starting out, may be home Thursday afternoon and leave Saturday night or home Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Loads deliver on Monday early and you leave in time to get them there. Often your home time will be in the middle of the week.

Regardless of your driving choice, after school you will go through company training. For OTR this can be six weeks to three months with little or no home time. The first phase is usually $400 a week and the second phase is $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training.

One last thing, you don't want to wait around too long after training or you'll have trouble finding a job. If you get out before you have a year in, when you try to come back a few months later you will find they want you to start over.

 

Big John is giving good advice to you. The most important advice I think he is giving is making a list out of what you want out of a company then go to them and ask what they want you to do to get hired. If you contact these companies on line then you're only a name and away your application goes.

 

Yes, I have to modify my advice to make this clearer. GasHauler and I are both old school. Neither of us would consider applying for a job online. Now we are aware at some point we may have to fill out that online application but that is not the way to get a job.

A phone call is my second choice but still more personal than online. The way I figure an in-person interview is like this:

If I am there for the interview the employer is hiring and the employee is looking. I am qualified or I wouldn't be there. Think about it, there is no reason you can't leave with that job. You have a chance to sell yourself face-to-face. If you have the proper experience, attitude and confidence that is your job!

Even without the experience you still get to sell yourself based on your strengths. All you have to find is someone, who has it within their power, to give you a chance. Some companies may have insurance that will cover new drivers.