Who will hire a driver that been off the road for 7 years ???

I'll put in my 2cents worth. I have been off the road for 13 years, have good driving record, no arrests, no DUI or any other problems with the Law. I am 54 and have only had 3 tickets in my life. I have, in the past, 6 years OTR. I began contacting trucking companies, they treated me like "nuclear waste", would not even talk with me. I kept looking till I found a small company that was interested in me. They run tractor trailer dump and they have "promised" me the next opening which should be in 2 to 3 weeks. I have a valid class A CDL, current Med card and am working on HazMat & Tanker endorsement as well as a TWIC card. The company has a Tanker Division hauling propane, gasoline & liquid asphalt. I kept going by the terminal about once a week, finally they gave me a road test and promised me a job.
I will let you know when they hire me.

Don't give up, keep looking, if you have a clean record someone, somewhere will hire you.
Phillip

 

same boat get offers all the time but when i say i took 3 yrs off wanted to be home everyday they all laugh

 

They will probably require you take a refresher course. I just posted on the other thread that the companies that have schools may let you just do a little refresher or they put me with a trainer for just two weeks. It is usually the insurance companies that set these standards. Good luck to you! Welcome back to the wonderful world of truckin!

 

As I posted earlier, I have been off the road for 13 years. I welded for 10 years and taught welding for bout a year and a half, also worked as a maintance supervisor at a local rest home for a bit. Then I decided I wanted to get back behind the wheel. I ran in to the brick wall of "our insurance company will not let us hire you with out "recent" experience, it has been quite discouraging. I continued to search and then on Monday a week ago a friend of mine called and said that the company where he works was going to hire a driver. I went the next day and applied, they said that 13 years off the road might a problem, but after a week of interviews and paperwork renewing my Med. Card & my CDL the insurance company said "we will insure him". I go in tomorrow to get my company ID card and go out with a trainer either Fri or Mon. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
All I can tell you is hang in there and keep looking, go in person to any companies that are with in reasonable driving distance.

 

Someone who needs a driver at a low cost will definitely approach, and the driver must be just in need of one more chance to prove himself.