How we got back into trucking after a fifteen year absence.
I used these here forums quite extensively in 2014 as a research tool. Many kind drivers answered my question, and others unknowingly shared their insight on threads that allowed me to learn. I had a lot of questions. And I feel I owe it to this community to share how I got back into trucking after a fifteen year absence. As I searched these forums, I saw that a lot of people wondered how to get a good trucking job after having an absence, and or no recent OTR experience- Do I need a refresher course? How long? Where? Will a company pay for it? Do I have to go out with a trainer?
Here's how I ( We, since it's me and my wife as a team) did it.
A quick bit of history: My wife and I went to truck driving school in 99, and went to work for Sherman bros, a flatbed outfit in Oregon. We gained experience and learned the ropes. We left there after a year and went to a different flatbed outfit for a while. We eventually decided to try and get local jobs, which I did. My wife took a job at a bank, but always kept her CDL. I drove local for over fourteen years.
Life gets in the way.
For various reasons that I won't get into, we decided to go back to teaming and really rat hole some money and set ourselves up nice. The questions above needed to be answered.
We got to work asking people on threes forums, and reading all the relevant threads. What we decided to do, was shop ourselves at a smaller, or at most, mid sized company. Where they didn't have all of these hard fast rules about refresher training, and time out with a trainer. A place where we could have a conversation about our experience and qualifications, and have our name known, rather than just be another number in a long line of recruits. We wanted to avoid going out with a trainer (especially my wife), and avoid doing an expensive refresher or having to marry ourselves with some crap trucking company for a period of time to get our bonafides back.
A simple email to a mid sized flatbed outfit not too far from home, followed by a visit by me to their facilities was the key. They had interest in us, and I got good vibes from them.
We worked out all of the questions, and it really came down to us passing a driving test for them, passing a physical skills evaluation (flat bedding I'd hard work) and drug test, and going through their orientation. Then they asked if I would go solo for a few weeks to get my skills up a bit, before having my wife join me and transition into teaming, with me sort of training her.
This is exactly what happened. We did pay for an 8 hour refresher course for wife and I out of our own pocket, so that we would feel more comfortable on the road test. And that was good enough.
We are now out trucking for Central Oregon Truck, out of Redmond Or., and they've been great. Honest and true to their word.
So that is what we did. I would highly recommend that if you are someone who wants to get back to trucking after a long absence, to seek out smaller companies, and to make that call, and market yourself. Don't assume that the rules at Schneider, Werner and Swift are the rules for the entire industry. There are little guys out there that are professional, and growing, and are willing to be creative to get a good employee into one of their trucks.
Happy trails.
How we got back into trucking after 15 years
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by easygojoe, Apr 1, 2015.
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