Have CDL But have No Current Experiance

Amen. I almost signed on with FFE, they can blow me now. 2 grand and 17 days without pay? I drive a straight truck now local and I'm barely making ends meet. What makes them think I could quit that for a 2 thousand dollar "maybe"?? Swift offered me the opportunity to road test, free and clear. Pass and go out with a mentor. Fail and hit the bricks. Sounds like you went the same route I did in trying to get back OTR. The best thing to do would be to go with Swift. I took their road test and passed with very little experience to begin with. They offered me 240 hours with a mentor but I turned it down and kept my local job driving straight trucks instead. Swift isn't a bad company either. You won't make much money initially but if you play the game they'll give you your own truck and a decent shot at gaining some real experience. Go for it...

 

Thing is. Until you get some experience, other carriers wont even look at you.
There's a reason Swift, Schneider and Werner are sometimes known as beginner companies.
Get hired with one (I'd advise not being in debt to them at the start if you can help it) and get some miles beneath your tires. 'Then' look elsewhere.

Cheers.

 

So are you saying that a Company owes you a job? No one owes you anything. You have to earn a living. If you feel that a company is not willing to pay you what you believe you are worth, then don't work for them. There was a time in this nation that people who felt they were being mistreated joined together to make a difference. In the work place those were called Unions. I believe that Newbies who go to the big companies are being screwed over. But the fact is they let that happen. I make 45 cents a mile as a company driver. I am sure there is someone out there who would gladly do the same job for 42 cents a mile, and someone else will do it for 36 cents a mile and finally, someone who is just starting out will do it for free, just to get the experience. There are those of us who have paid the dues. Not only in trucking but in a lot of other areas of our life. We didn't do that for us alone, we did it for those of you who come after us. But know this, we don't think you deserve it just because we paid the price for you. Make the world a better place for everyone.

 

amen! wooly

 

I've read several posts on here, from people that went through Swift refresher course & all had very positive comments & no regrets.

 

Just go out and look at local companies. Talk to people and see what s out there.I was in the same boat and looked at paying for refresher courses or sign on with Central. You can pay upfront for the training and there is no contract for you to stay. I found a company in the neighbor town instead. I get 40 cpm on odometer miles. I was supposed to team, but on the second day they put me on a truck and send me down the road. The kicker was I ended up with a fully decked out 2013 780 Volvo with 35,000mls on it.

The company had a sign hanging on the fence. I called, interviewed and took a test drive and that was all she wrote. You have to make an effort to get what you want. This is a cut throat business like Wooly already mentioned. You have to go out there and sell yourself and make an impression on the guy or gal that does the hiring.

Good luck and do not sell yourself short.

 

I was able to get a regional job right out of truck school that paid $400 per week and home every few days during training, then I went over the road for a month with Pride Transport for $700 per week during training then bailed and went to driving a concrete mixer truck for a local company in my home town. I am currently at $18 an hour work 55-60 hours a week, overtime after 8 hours per day double time after 12 hours a day. Home every night and have every Sunday off. Experience is not always everything, sometimes luck and patience will help you out. I sent in my resume when they were not hiring and landed a job the same day.

 

I don't see how that has anything to do with what the OP was asking. It's a legitimate concern; Why should an individual have to put up another 2 grand on top of the 4 they originally shelled out for more schooling, simply because they haven't been over the road for a little while? There's no government regulation that requires refreshers, both the schools and the recruiters know this. Still, some use deceptive tactics to try and make it appear that way. Case and point; There's a certian refridgerated company that basically lied to me and told me that it "wouldn't be possible to acquire an OTR job anywhere without a refresher" because I'd been in local trucking the past year or so. It was their primary selling point for an 1800 dollar company sponsored refesher mill. When I confronted them with the evidence I'd found to the contrary my recruiter conveniently "lost" my information and never tried to contact me again. I wrote their HR department and got a response back basically saying that they were sorry I was mislead and that they would investigate the matter further with the recruiter I contacted.

Refreshers are a moot point anyway, because even if you attend one you'll still have to complete a set number of hours of behind the wheel training with a mentor. These "training hours" are defacto schooling, as you are under the care and direction of an "instructor" who takes full responsibility for your actions (including, I might add, paying any traffic or dot fine citations you may acquire while under their care).

I never saw the OP complain about low wages or having to complete training all over again, nor did I see anything that could be interpreted as undeserved entitlement. It was a legitimate question from a CDL licensed individual who'd rather not be saddled with unnecessary contract debt to a company padding their own pockets and/or the pockets of these scam mills (who I might add will ALSO receive federal dollars for anyone attending their program, even if it's for a second or third time).

We all know you've been doing this for awhile, and that you "paved the way", so to speak. But tooting your own super trucker air horn and responding with comments that have nothing to do with the OP just makes you look like you're trying way to hard to prove something. We know you're great, now let's stay on topic...

 

Im in the same boat! However I found a refresher for 899! I just got back home lastnight, Gotta go back mon-wed. Went to the DDA in little rock!

Every c.o told me to do it! SO I DID, Its really not a bad Idea if you can find refreshers thats in your price range! Think about it hard, IT wont be long when you start driving and make your money back!

I've had alot of fun doing my refresher and I had no clue how rusty I was! Not so rusty now!