Quesetions for potential employers

Play down the IT background...... turnover is brutal in this industry and very expensive. You want to avoid giving the impression you'll take off when the economy does.

I understand what your doing but I question it....... this is a hard life and far from the oak desk. Demands are high and rewards, paultry. Are you sure this is for you????

 

And to help out...... the interview will not be anything like your industry. The recruiters focus will be your experience, schooling ( truck ) and your driving record. You will be road tested. Do you know how to modify the equipment to your advantage ? ( slide 5th wheels and axles ) if they let you ?

If you're hired you will do orientation. Pay for that will rival less than one days IT salary. They will teach you their rules.

How do you tell who's good.......same way you know the diff between Acer and IBM. That help?

 

Truck issues are the least of your worries; if it breaks, they fix it. They will teach you the truck and you will learn more yourself over time.

The biggest problem you face now, is learning to navigate the PR and advertising. You are entering a white-washed twilight zone of American Labor.

Rampant worker abuse in the trucking industry is the biggest secret in the American society today. Coming from your background, it will be a shock to see how some people are treated. It will be an even bigger shock to see many people accept the poor treatment.

You are smart enough to recognize company schills; they are everywhere, even on these boards, telling people to suck it up, they're lazy, ungrateful, and unworthy of better.

You are about to find out you made a questionable decision; the tail end of this industry is rapidly going down the tubes with the importation of foreign labour to take over the domestic transportation jobs corporate management has already driven down to third world levels of worker treatment, pay, and respect.

I worry for your future as a new trucker. You would have been better off driving a cab--much better off.

 

As a former Network/Security Engineer let me tell you a wee bit something about the IT field that 90% of the people don't know.

By Sept 2008 39% of the IT jobs in this country were eliminated. By July 2009 that number rose to almost 50%. For two years I submitted my 30 years of experience resume along with 800-1500 others. IF I was lucky to be contacted I was either told I wasn't local or my experience wasn't recent enough. I live 47 miles from one of the largest Tech Centers in the nation. RTP is rivaled only by Silicon Valley and I wasn't considered because I wasn't local. My experience wasn't recent enough on Protocols that haven't changed in a decade.

The jobs that are trickling through are paying 50% of what they used to pay. Since 2001 my annual salary has dropped from 6 figures to barely making it past 50K.

I have listened to and read all the bad things about the trucking industry. If 50% of what I have heard and read is true than we former IT people should fit in well. Unrealistic deadlines are a way of life for any IT person. Employers taking advantage of you - 2nd Nature. Time off -- Till I lost my job I hadn't had any vacation in 8 years. Home time -- What's that?? Sleep? I got plenty in the last two years. Prior to that I got none.

Try dealing with a client whose computer is broke or their network is down.. It's not my fault you spilled your coffee on the keyboard, or tried to do something on your computer you were qualified to do.

That brings me to all those people who get pumped out of IT schools who still don't have a clue what they are doing and I had to clean up their mess, not get paid for it and yelled at because they didn't know what they were doing and made matters worse.

Sound Familiar????

I know this will sound ugly, but just remember this, most of us former IT people have the intelligence to listen to those with more experience and the fortitude to actually do the job right.

Would you rather be on the road with someone who learns from their peers or some knowitall wannabe?

Trust me, we have paid our own set of dues..

 

Words of truth from CW there.

I also come from an IT background and have seen the decline.

No I am not willing to take your crap and maintain your database for $12hr.....

I'd rather make less in a truck. But I won't go OTR, does not fit my lifestyle.

I've actually found I can make more though. There are local driving jobs that pay decent.

 

Wow you got offered $12.00?

All the pay in the world is not worth the aggravation. Let me in a truck.. Least on the road I don't have anyone standing over me demanding I stop everything and give them a status report, and then yell at me because I am not done yet.

My favorite line to tell some of those people, "OK which on of the priorities should I stop so I can do your priority"

Sorry Drivers, but the horror stories just don't work with me.. Give me advice, I will listen.. Give me grief, rumors, half-truths, naysaying and you will be talking to my back; though, I will eventually weed out fact from fiction. I am going to be brother on the road and if you happen to see me do say "Hey"