Want to drive..who for though?

If you file unemployment the state will pay for it so ive heard

 

Beat the bushes, you ol Hellhound. You have friends. Friends all have friends that know of drivers who are where you want to be, doing what you want to do. Network. Talk to them. See what they reccommend. See of they have any connections that can open a door or two for you. You dont become the big dog by going with the flow.

When I retired, I came back to local driving. I applied for a dumptruck driving job with a construction company. But, because I had my Class A and no other driver did, they demoted the guy driving the 8 axle to a dump truck, and I got the job running the 8 axle.
See, thats the thing about the smaller, local companies...they dont play by the same rules. You dont have to put your time in. The owner gets tired of a driver slacking, hears a knock at the door and it's someone with their Class A or even a permit, he hires them on the spot just so he can fire the slacker. All you need is a chance to get your foot in the door, and its wide open to someone willing to work.

I applied for a local job with a Class A permit. Got the job too. I did do the yard thing to practice backing and I did have a little difficulty shifting, but I made it.

 

Regardless of what company you decide to go with you need to do in depth research and determine for yourself which one is a good fit for you. As far as the bigger companies go they look at you more or less as a number. Noone truly gets to know you and most of the time they could care less if your having issues. Now on occasion you will come accross a DM that will keep you running and tried to get you home when you want it. As far as swift, I've got an amazing DM, nonstop running unless I need to take care of personal issues in which he gives me a day or however long I need to complete them.

Now as far as what company you go with, again it's up to you and do your research. I can't emphasize that enough. Don't go off of hear say. It's unreliable and bias. I know from experience that one of the people in my class was originally with a company that paid team drivers 33 cents a mile that the truck ran and at the end of the day the 2 drivers split that so they were really only making about 16.5 cents for every miles the truck went. They obviously left for that and because their equipment for training had been altered to make it alot harder to use. (Aka clutch spring was wound 2x's as tight as with a normal truck).

As for training, I would look into company training you for example swift, CR England, Schneider, ext. for the simple fact that regardless of what company you try to go to most are going to require 6 months to 2 years of clean experience(no accidents) to be hired on. So the ball and chain that you'll be locked into is really for your benefit. I know for previous government workers with swift it's a 13 month commitment after which you have your cdl for no charge. If you do decide to go this route you need to stick with it. If you end up going 12 months after training and leave you own the full amount of tuition. Reguardless of how long you were with them or what they might say.

Now some companies and even some of the smaller O/O "fleets" offer to take the tuition from the company and pay it. Again research your options and come up with the best solution for YOU. At the end of the day that's all that matters.

Good luck. I hope you find the right place.

 

Keep looking and making comparisons.

CTL Transportation gets you right in to hazmat/tankers. If in the hiring area, that's the route I'd go. They have their own CDL school and also sponsor with some private schools.

Here's some more with their own CDL school and provide hotel room and 3 meals a day. Need original birth certificate, original social security card and take a sleeping bag and pillow to use while riding with your trainer.

Earl Henderson Trucking
Wil-Trans
Celadon
Southern Refrigerated Transport
KLLM
Conway Freight might accomodate you, but don't know their policy on meals & lodging.

My first choice would be CTL Transportation and 2nd choice would be Earl Henderson Trucking.
Henderson gets you started fast and one of their new drivers posted the other day they now start you out at .38 cpm with a guarantee of "X" miles per week even if you don't run that many miles; which means you must not turn down loads or cause problems to get this guarantee. Any mature adult can do that.