Home Daily Off Weekends

I don't know any specific jobs in your area. If you are not afraid to work hard you can get local jobs without experience. Food service jobs pay well. Soda, beer, and water companies are usually easy to get into, but don't pay great for the work. If you have hazmat, you can try propane or paint companies. These jobs all require a lot of lifting so a lot of eexperienced drivers don't want them, but they are a good start for local jobs

 

I know one in Mebane, but that is too far from you in Rocky Mount. They normally need 3 years, but have been having a problem getting drivers, so might take less. Pay is around 50 a year, home every night, but work 6 days a week and unload the freight (furniture and appliances).

 

Great company, extremely hard to get into

 

I just signed up with them. They are very picky. I clocked that when I filled in their application online. Most places only look back 3-5 years. They go back 10 years. I had a not at fault accident back in 2/2005 and I had to explain what happened (the other driver was cited) .

 

R&L Carriers can give you what you want. Requires one year experience. Pay & benefits is excellent.

 

Yes! With your little experience no companies would even look at your application,But if you get a few years experience 3-5 send an application into old dominion a lot of people say they pay good but if you have your hazmat endorsment you could pull tankers but some companies like eagle transports require more years experience and also if you have like local foodservice companys they pay good but a lot of what you do is go to factories,schools and for some places you get paid by the pound maybe 35-50 cent but it just depends

 

There is a driver on here who went straight from trucking school to Old Dominion as his very first job. Check out the Old Dominion thread on motor carriers- the inside scoop.

 

That might have been the case a few years ago, but that rule no longer applies. Some companies that traditionally only hired drivers with 2+ years experience now hire recent CDL graduates and put them through 2+ month long company provided OJT programs. There is a driver shortage. Sure...some companies may stick firm to their experience requirement, but others do not for the right candidate.

SEFL decided to take a chance on me for a few reasons. One of which is that I already had all of my endorsements. The first question that both the ABF and SEFL terminal managers had for me (before even bringing me in for an interview) is "do you have your Hazmat endorsement?" If you can't say yes to that one, then yes...you may as well not even bother applying to a good chunk of local driving jobs.

Another angle that's open to recent CDL graduates (terminal dependent) is the food service angle. i.e. McLane. They offered me a job a few weeks ago. I passed up on it because I'm not a night person and 100% of the driving would have been at night.

It's important to point out that while the one ABF terminal was doing the Driver Trainee program (take recent CDL grads and train them up to run their LTL routes)...not all of their terminals participate in that program. i.e. Manassas, VA has a driver shortage, so they participate in that program. Richmond, VA does not have a critical driver shortage, so they stick to only hiring experienced drivers.

On pay for those (food and beverage companies)...you have to ask. i.e. McLane pays by the hour. Most of the beverage companies around here...as far as I know...are paying some sort of combination of mileage and quantities of cases delivered.

 

In the Denver area McLane and MBM start pay is 72K they are always looking for drivers. The issues with some applicants is they don't like the physical labor part of it.