Newbie question about prehires

CrazyJ, you can also look at Crete, Con-Way, Millis transfer, Western Express, Star transport, FFE, WEL companies, Wiley Sanders, Givens, and Marten. I hope this helps, I understand wanting to be home for the family as I 4 kids and a wife and am coming off of 15 years in the Air Force and being deployed all the time. The one thing we newbies have to remember is we have to earn our way in this career. We need to go out and get the best possible training, do atleast a year or two OTR so we can hone our driving skills so we can get those "home daily" jobs. I wish you the best of luck in finding a company that is right for you. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. There are a lot of very nice drivers on here who have years of knowledge that are more than willing to help you if you ask.

 

Pre-hire does not mean anything. It is simply a way to get you travel all over the country for free, and maybe they will hire maybe not. Does not mean a thing.

If you want to be at home look there is always a way if you look hard enough, and figure it out. Try a cement or rock & sand company, etc...

 

I have my CDL but I got it in 2008 so I'm going to Roadmaster starting 1 Nov to basically get a "refresher". I know I have to start all over as I was never with a company.

As for pre-hires, I presently have 4 of them. I plan on applying to a few more during orientation. I then will look at to what they have posted at their web sites to help me decide. Right now I'm leaning towards Roehl as I think I may be a fit with them. I almost got with Werner in 2008 but got sick and had to end up staying with my current job. However, since I live in Florida my choice of companies that will hire is probably less than other areas. Eventually, I want to get close to Wisconsin as I have some family there.

I have enough time at my current job to get early retirement even if it is reduced. Plus I have two college degrees, one of which is in safety. I hope to later use this background to get into safety management with a company. But in the meantime, I need the road time so as to have that experience if I ever want to do anything in the transportation safety field.

Pre-hires just mean that the company is at least interested in you. My husband has been unemployed for 2 yrs and hasn't heard a peep from anyone he has applied to. I also put in at places to see about getting secondary employment but not much for me either so the reason I'm going to about putting my CDL to work. The pre-hires gives you some sense that you at least have a chance with some company. Then you decide once you are out there how much you are going to make it work or not or give up and go with McDonalds and flip burgers. It seems the magic time of driving is at least 1 year and then you can look around to find a company that fits if the one you are at is not working that well.

 

dont trust any company that sends you a bus ticket to attend 4 day orientation without some type of gaurantee of a ride back home if you dont qualify for some reason, or have enough money to get a bus or rental car yourself. alot of these companies will wait until you get there to start running your DAC, work history, etc.

pre-hire is not hire

its like pre-approved for a credit card (or whatever else) but you wont know for certain until you fill out the paperwork and they do the office work.

 

One thing when looking at any trucking company do your homework has much you can. Always ask question even if you think they might be stupid. I work for a few years back there not a bad company. It just trying to find the one company that you can your time in. Good luck and be careful out there.

 

I think, after 10 years in the industry, that Roehl IS the best company of that group. Do some research on this site and others, and try to speak to as many Roehl drivers as you can. Also when you go there for orientation, talk to them there at the terminal as well. The company can change their mind about you in a heartbeat - but you have the same right as they. Do your homework, then put your time in with whomever you choose to go with, and if you're not happy after a year, do some more looking. The trick is to make a good decision early so there's no job-hopping. That's one thing that'll ruin you fast in this business.

After you get your year in, if you're not happy, check out Calex. They've been berry berry good to me over this past year. As long as you live at one end or the other of their freight lanes, they'll give you a look at that point. (Their end is the Scranton, PA area...Everything they do is out and back from there, so their drivers get regular home time.)

Best of luck!

 

Maverick or roehl