I want to drive, but my work history stinks.. PEEE-YEW!

Howdy folks, I'm a wannabe driver here, and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me their experiences concerning hiring practices in the trucking industry, particularly regarding an applicant's previous work history? As the title says, my work history stinks. It's not that I'm a bad worker, but I haven't been living the kind of life where steady work is available, and I'm thinking that I might have a pretty hard time of it trying to find anyone to give me a chance.

You see, a few months after I finished high school, I picked a direction and started walking. One thing led to another, and now I'm pushing 30 years old and have spent nearly all of my adult life traveling around the world. I've done a ton of work during this period to keep myself going, but nearly all of it has been short-term and unofficial.

I've been back in the States for about six months now, and have been looking into going driving. I have no criminal history or driving issues, but I'm concerned about how I can potentially present myself and get a regular job at this point. It seems a lot of companies want a 3, 5, or even 10 year working history. If I have to provide this to get a job, they're going to be calling about 50 individuals around the world.

Is anyone really going to call a dairy farm where I milked cows for a few months, and can they speak enough Serbian to get a proper reference from the farmer? Can the same person speak Spanish and call Guatemala for the next reference? Realistically, who is going to spend a couple days paying for overseas calls when they can bypass my application and hire someone whose work history fits neatly into little boxes?

Before I came back to the States recently, I did spend a year working on a farm in an English speaking country, and can get a good reference there. Aside from that, I have very little work history in the US that can be verified. One is a gas station, and another is a company that has gone in and out of business several times since I worked there and may or may not even be operating.

Is this enough? How important is work history in this industry, and have any of you been able to get your foot in the door with a non-traditional background?

 

Thank you both for your responses. It's hard to say what'll come, I suppose, and I probably won't know until I narrow down some companies to contact. I'll hope for the best and update here with what I can find out on the telephone.

 

Great info chompi, thanks for that. Notarized letters might be a serious problem, depending on from whom they expect to acquire signatures. Technically speaking, nearly all of my 20's has been a gap of employment. Walking up to someone and asking to help with the sheep shearing or harvest for a bit of money is different from filling out an application and working for a company. There were also many times I worked for someone and didn't even ask for money, just a place to sleep and some food.

I wonder if I'd be better off to not mention working while overseas and just say I was on a long holiday?