Mississippi Trucking?

I've got a little dilemma here. Pretty certain I'm moving from CA to MS when my lease is up in June 2019. I've had my CDL A for 2 years now but wont have any recent experience when I get to MS. 88M (truck driver) in the army for 3 years, worked for Virginia Linen Service, home daily with a dedicated route then moved to CA and worked for West Coast Sand and gravel for about 3 weeks before I got hired on with Caltrans (CA Dept. Of Transportation) as an Equipment Operator and been here for a year now.

I have a family and need a local job where I'm home every day. I'm prepared to go OTR for a year to be qualified for any local jobs in Jackson. Problem is from what I've seen even OTR jobs require veririfiable experience or that you are a recent CDL Grad. I went to CDL school after I had my CDL just to get some money coming from the military until I got a job and used it to get my Endorsements. I have TPX.

Basically when I get to MS I will need some retraining and I am fine with going through the Major companies training programs but I'm not a recent cdl Grad. Any advice? Or know if these requirements are just BS?

 

KLLM Transport near Jackson has a refresher program. Check them out.
Schneider will pay for refresher program and probably has some local/regional runs in Mississippi. Try to get on with their tanker division for the best pay; probably $65K per year right out of the gate.
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I'll see what else I can find after I run an errand for the better half.

 

Look into Total Transportation while you’re at it.

 

Why are you leaving Caltrans? Heard theres years wait to get in there

 

West coast sand and gravel have some really nice rides.

 

Thanks! I'll check it out

 

Called them up already and they said I either have to have verifiable experience or be a recent cdl grade otherwise they cant being me on.

 

I like my job but I cant afford to live in CA anymore unless I live in a 600 sqft shoe box for 1400 a month. To get in I had to take a job 2 hours away. That's 400 in gas a month out here. Trucking pays almost the same in the Jackson area as I make here but the money will go 5 times as far. I lose the state job but gain a much better quality of life.

 

Ahhhh my home turf. Tons of places hiring. Sysco, US Foods, Averitt etc for day cab jobs. Total has went downhill from what I’ve heard and I used to work at KLLM.

Some decent places to work around that area.

 

Maverick will hire you with no experience. You will have to go out with a trainer for 3 weeks but that is all. I was hirer by Maverick and had not set foot in a big rig in almost 3 years. Only experience I had was CDL school. Best wishes!