I need your advice to get me on the road.

This is a request for advice on how I might overcome a problem with my work history that has prevented me from gaining new employment with a motor carrier. I'll explain my present situation.

I've recently graduated from SAGE CDL School at the Muncie Campus of Ivy Tech. I've obtained my Class A CDL with endorsements for tankers, doubles/triples, and HAZMAT. I've submitted applications to sixteen different motor carriers and I have received almost as many pre-hire letters in return. Sounds like a good situation to be in, right?

My problem is that I have been out of work for 2.5 years. I left my last job, which was not a driving job, in September of 2004. I was suffering from a serious medical condition and my treating physician recommended that I be hospitalized. I kept working for as long as I could, but I eventually had to give up and put in my notice. I spent almost two years under treatment.

During the last eighteen months of my illness, I became determined to recover, build myself up, and become an OTR truck driver. I've now managed to achieve two-thirds of my goal. I have a current D.O.T. long-form physical with no restrictions, and a release from my physician stating that I'm fit for duty.

I have hit a serious roadblock, however. I can't get hired on with any motor carrier I've made application to because my work history has that 2.5 year gap in it. All companies seem to want a prospective employee to have worked steadily for at least 18 out of the previous 36 months. It doesn't matter to those companies that I was under medical treatment for that time and unable to work. Even a letter from my doctor stating the fact that I was too ill to work has not helped me in this case. I was too proud to apply for disability or any sort of benefits, and I survived by cashing in my 401(k) from my previous employer.

If anybody can give me some advice that will help me to get my foot in the door with a decent company, I would be grateful. I'm seeking a career as an OTR driver because doing such work is something I have a strong desire to accomplish. For me, gaining such a job would be a personal triumph after a long and painful period of my life.

Somebody throw me a bone with a little meat left on it. I've called and faxed and filled out forms for many companies, but I've made no progress in finding a job. I need some suggestions.

 

While what you say is indeed not what I wanted to hear, it is exactly what I've been thinking. Thanks for the feedback.

Fortunately, the illness I suffered from was not one related to my mental health. Unfortunately, it was related to my body deciding to treat one of its own organs as a foreign body after I survived a massive bacterial infection.

 

Using Workforce Development is a good idea. I'd been trying to think of the name of that governmental service, but I'd been coming up blank. Thanks for jogging my memory.

 

It is called Workforce Development in Indiana as well. I'd been confounding the name with the Employment Development Department, which is an institution with a similar function that is native to the state of California.

 

As an addendum to this thread, I would like to thank the individuals who gave me advice, both in the forum and in private messages, and I would also like to report that I will be attending orientation with Transport America on Monday of next week. Hope it goes well.