Can't find a job

...sounds like you have obligations at home...

What's exactly is wrong w/ OTR?

 

most regional companies require at least 6 months experience OTR. I'm in the same situation you are - about to get my CDL from a private school but I don't want to drive around with a trainer for 8 weeks or whatever, so I'm just getting my own authority off the bat

 

Check with moving van companies . They are starting their busiest season . You might have to accept some straight truck work going from homes to warehouses but it's work and experience for now .
Also check city , state , and county jobs . My county in KY just advertised for temporary 6 month openings for truck drivers for the road department . A concrete company is hiring drivers for $15 an hour . Check around concrete , gravel , and asphalt plants .

 

In truck driving school, I never thought I would go OTR. With such a high demand for drivers in my area I thought I would have no problem getting hired. Boy was I wrong 20 applications later. Experience is needed in this field unless you know the right people I guess. I had no choice but to go OTR and it has been the best decision I ever made. Getting paid to see the country and meeting new people from all over has really opened my world.

 

I have absolutely no idea how old you are, but let's say you actually like driving a truck and do so for the next 25 years... that is 1300 weeks. You are not willing to invest 8 weeks to learn a craft that will support you for 1300 weeks? That is .006% by the way.

Instead you will invest thousands and thousands of dollars into a truck and trailer and your own authority with zero experience of any kind in this field?


Wow.

 

20 applications?

Seriously?

the last job I had, it took more than 50 and this was in good times when it was an employee market.

For those who think you can get the job you want, weekends off and all kinds of bennys, many times in this business you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. It this means you are working OTR for a year, big deal ... many of us did it to get the experience and to reach our goals we set for ourselves. The idea that there is such a demand for drivers seems to be BS, it comes from recruiters and schools where they milk people for seat time and then get rid of them if they mess up.

I would advise people to ask questions and be prepared to do things you don't want to do if you want to stay in this business until you have the experience.

 

You have to consider the source of the news about job shortages in this country. One source will tell you there is a shortage in one occupation or the other. Then another source will tell you the industry is rebounding and there are no jobs available. There are jobs out there, they just may not be the type you want or available in your area. There is, and probably always will be, a need for OTR drivers. Why, because it is not the nine to five, home every night job. It is not for everybody. Local driving gigs are tougher to come by because they offer better work schedules.

 

As noted all throughout the forum, MANY people have one hell of a time trying to get an over the road, (OTR), truck driving job.