Changing Companies

Truck stops have magazines advertising companies that are hiring, internet on breaks, when I was in school recruiters came to talk to us, so I saved all their info in case I need it. Also school I went to has life time job placement.

 

Just wait and keep your ears open, the best driving jobs are not advertised,

 

That's a fact. Good companies have no need to advertise since there is a waiting list for new drivers. Word gets passed around about what company is doing what very fast. Sometimes that's where the CB radio comes in if you can avoid all the idiots on there.

 

^ This ^. Talk to other drivers out there on the road. Use this forum and other Internet resources to ask questions and do research. Then, the last person you should talk to in the decision making process is a recruiter. Ask the recruiter just things that a specific answer (i.e. starting pay, home time policy, benifits, etc.). Don't ask recruiters for subjective opinions.

after you've made your decision, give your current employer a notice and set up a start date for orientation at the new company. Try to clean out everything but essentials while on hometime so you have minimum junk to carry with you after turning in your old truck. After you start with the new job, they will be willing to get you by the house within the first week or so to load up your gear.

it takes a little bit of planning and foresight, but it is possible to make a relatively smooth transition while being out on the road.

 

Who are you currently commited to??

 

no driver is committed to any company. at best drivers only stay because the pay is really that good. if experienced drivers are at a major company. it is either close to retirement. or they are waiting for another good job to come with a small company that pays better. so in trucking it's normal to see drivers changing jobs every 6 months to a year. it is always due to pay. medium to large fleets don't pay much. and the really small fleets rarely have openings. so it works like this. medium to major fleets give driver 2 to 6 months of good pay. and then cut them back to 300 to 400 every 8 days. so when that happens. drivers will either ride it out for a year. or with in a few weeks goto a new company to keep up the good pay. dubbed as job hoppers. after a while many come to there senses and take normal jobs at home so they can get a second job or have more free time. the amount of work verse the pay. works out to be about $8.00 hour average most of the time. and in most states now that is below minimum wage or minimum wage. right now I am saving for college. in 2 more years I am getting out of trucking and going to school to get a degree so I can get a better job and a better life. trucking was fun and great back in it's hay day. now it's more of a low paying bums job.no offense to any one out there. plus all the fun has been sucked out of it.. before I forget. I currently make $7.99 an hour as an over the road driver. and that's after 15 years of doing it.

 

Exactly...I got the job that I stayed on for over 30 years and retired from by my sister knowing a gal that worked there in the office. She got me an interview and gave me a good recommendation. Don't know just how that works in today's world , but knowing someone on the inside , especially if they are willing to help you out sure can't hurt. But , in answer to the OP's question......I think the best way to get into a really good job is to go talk to folks..up-front and in person. It's really easy to sit and fill=out app's on a computer and push enter and they go to all sorts of places....but the folks doing the hiring really do take a second look at those that take the time and effort to come in sit down and try and get the job. I know that every thing else being equal....experience level / driving record / and general /overlook < I would hire the person that took the time to come see me about a job over the person who just did an app over the internet...

 

That's maybe the way it's done with the maga carriers but not all the industry is like that. Back in 1999 I was grossing over 6 figures and drivers were staying there. The object is to better yourself so you can better the job. If you go out and do stupid things and get your record tarnished then I would agree your going to be stuck at low paying jobs. The better companies do not have to advertise for drivers because the way the company works gets around very fast. Unfortunately my company and the rest of the major oil companies have sold their trucks and now their loads get hauled by a common carrier. But those drivers are not left out in the rain. The company that gets all the new work hire these experienced drivers because they want the better drivers and there's minimum amount of training involved. Also the major oil companies are large companies and they treated the drivers like the way they should be treated. That's the gasoline business. There's also other types of driving that most new students don't know about because they think that hauling freight OTR is the only path they can go and they do not research the industry. I started from the very first load I hauled with a goal of hauling gasoline and worked a some very shady companies to get there. There's always good money in specialized hauling. Look into the future and speculate what job type will be in demand and require top drivers. I bet if you were to start now with the goal of hauling high level radioactive waste by the time you get there the government will have decided where the high level stuff is going to be stored. It has to be hauled sometimes by truck. That's one example upon many. If you go into this field blindly then you can count you'll be getting the loads that experienced drivers do not want.

 

I'm sure that you have had some bad experiences...but I think you're way off on most of that info. Spent my entire adult life driving a truck except for time spent in the army. And none of that time was as you explained it. Pay isn't the main reason for staying with a company...not by a long shot , it's a great benefit of a great job of course , but not the sole reason....there are many more variables to be considered , such as retirement plans /insurance benefits / working conditions / type of trucking done OTR , local , regional / not to even mention schedules / home time....if you see a company with drivers that have been there for 15 to 20 + years then you've found a place that "get's it".....they know how to attract good drivers and also they how to retain them....and if you ask 10 of them , I'll wager that only 3 or even less will give you pay as the main reason for them staying with that company so long...