Help!

I have been off the road for a long time but I have a Class A with every endorsement except hazmat. Every company I call I get turned away or told to go back to school. Can anyone make a suggestion? I understand I am going to start on the bottom again, I just want to get back into the game.

Thanks

 

Swift, Werner, Schnieder have you tried any of the starter companies?

 

Decided to just go to school again and suck it up. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I'm in the same boat, have had A CDL, for 15 yrs. but have been driving a dump truck local, for the last 5. I just got laid off and can not find a job with any one because of no recent otr. Keep being told to go to school and start over. But the way the econmy is now, school just might be a gamble on getting a job. Good Luck......

 

Even though it's like riding a bike (once you learn how you never forget), all the companies want recent experience. Each company differs on what they consider recent. My dad has 30+ years under his belt, but because he's been out of the seat for over 5 years, even he would have to go back to school.

 

Well, called a private school by me and talked to the owner. He gave me a nice discount because I already have class A. When I went over to the school to register the owner had me fill out a job application for TMC (one of the companies I was contemplating). I got a call yesterday that TMC has pre-hired me. So it seems that school may turn out to be a good gamble. Time will tell.

 

Best of luck to you. Please keep us posted. You got lucky, I think this is a bad time of year for trying to get a job.....

 

I worked for MPW Industrial Services . They have branches in several states and always need Class A and B drivers . You have to do work setting up and tearing down waterblast hoses and vacuum lines on jobs and may work 12 hour days for 2 or 3 weeks straight . You would drive trucks 300 miles or more between jobs . Depending on the branch , when working locally you will be on call 24/7 to respond to spills at power plants or steel mills . They do a lot of work for A.K. Steel . It's tough work but good experience . Within a year you could be a supervisor with a company pickup .

 

I have come to the same conclusion TP, going to SUCK IT UP!

 

Tomorrow I will finish my refresher course. I was surprised at how quickly I remembered how to drive and back-up. It was actually funny. The first day on the road, with a trailer, I made some turns without thinking about what I was doing, and the instructer asked why I was there. Made me laugh.
TMC has followed through on thier pre-hire and I will be starting orientation on Monday (Dec 15). I am thinking about starting another thread to catalog my experience with TMC.

I have found a great deal of information on this website and enjoy reading it daily. When you filter out some of the things being said by wanna be's and those people that are venting (which is thier right), this is a great place for drivers to exchange information. Thanks to all of you who post on this site.