need some guidance as to which company to look at or go with

Have you checked your MVR, You said the lady hit you, Any tickets issued?
If its not on your MVR don't bring it up.

 

Try Schneider...they have local routes. You can look at whats open on their website. If you see something you like...simply apply for it. I was called a couple days after I applied.
There is a guy in orientation from Swift. He quite Swift because he couldn't make any decent money. There is also a guy from CR England. He quit after 6 months with them because they abuse people so bad..they are currently getting sued for it.

 

Scheinder has local intermodal and so does JB Hunt

 

$500 a week to start? you have to really run for that. what is the milage rate they are goin to pay you? at the rate i make i only made that much 2 times in 2 months. with the bigger companies you need to run around 3000 miles a wk, you might only be getting 2000 a wk. just show them your a runner and you will get miles. i just switched terminals with western, and will be running mostly ne region and will be home most weekends.

 

Noboby is going to be able to tell you what type of job is best for you except you. But the impression I'm getting from you is you're running 90mph and going nowhere. First you should know that recruiters work for companies and not drivers. They'll tell you just about anything. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not so good. Either way it's not the type of advice I would bank on. Second you've got to come clean with your past if you want any sound advice whatsoever. I don't mean you need to go into detail but if you've got 3 accidents, two tickets so on and so on no one will be able to help at all if they don't know.

This may sound a little harsh but it's only intended to help. You've got to change your attitude. When you say they nit pick you and then you say you have a felony that's like saying the sun is hot. Right off the bat you're limited to jobs solely because of that felony. I'm not judging and there are a few drivers here that have great jobs that made a dumb mistake when young and have worked through it to better themselves. However, companies do have policies and some require 5 years for a felony to none at all.

All the companies have policies about tickets and accidents and I'm sure you know this. But what you may not know is how much can they find out. So you need to figure out everything that's on your record, make a brief statement on what happen without placing blame and admit if you got a ticket or not. You can commit career suicide just by lying on a job application. Or being over zealous trying to make the other person look totally at fault even if they were.The companies look at that and wonder what else is there and they will not even take a second look.

Step back and look at the position from their view point. There are about to turn over a very expensive piece of equipment to where any thing can happen from losing the truck to a multi million dollar lawsuit. So what can you do? First have all the facts on your past. Good and bad. You already show good character by being a father so you go from there. I would recommend that you stay around where you are now. Put a couple of years behind you and then move up. I know it's tough but the worse thing you can do is stacking up months of empty time with no driving experience.

Sit down and make a list of what type of job and what type of truck you would really like to make a career at. Set some goals so you'll need to look at benefits,long term benefits. You get it all down and have a clear picture on what you want to do and then you start going for it. With your past record you're going to need to do everything you can for employment. You can not sit back like some students in school with a perfect record and let the recruitrers find them work. I don't believe you even have a chance at on-line applications so you'd be better off hitting the bricks and talking to every company you can. Besides, you never know. Even if that company does not need you they might know someone that does. You're going to do it the old fashion way and you may even come out on top. Good luck and don't stop.