Potential Trucker Needing Advice

I searched Craigslist Knoxville Transport jobs for the keyword "local". 134 hits. That doesn't mean there are 134 jobs, but it's a starting point.

There are countless local and regional driving jobs: food and beverage, construction materials, concrete, dump truck, fuel oil, propane, gas/diesel, charter bus, school bus

My advice
1) Get every endorsement, especially hazmat and tanker, even if you don't want to haul either.
2) Apply for a TWIC card now. There may be a delay in processing due to the fact you were born in another country. Once you have TWIC, it should be quicker to get hazmat clearance in the future.
3) Apply for jobs online your first week of school. Re-apply (or update online applications if that is possible) when you get your TWIC card and each time you pass an endorsement test. (If I recall correctly, written endorsement tests are valid for 90 days, so take them when you're close to graduation. You always can take them earlier for practice. Nothing wrong with that.)
4) Apply in person when you're close to graduation.

If my advice was helpful, send me a PM.

 

I disagree with oldtrucker 66. Applying for a job on-line is the lazy way and you'll have to settle with a company that can not keep their drivers.

Lets just use a little common sense for a moment. How do you think a company would hire you when they have a stack of applications? Does anyone think there's a magical dust on the application that will force the company to hire you. Just what kind of company do you think it would be that just go through the on-line applications and call you and say "we've read your application and you're a perfect fit for us". Does anyone think the companies do it this way?

Only companies that need to fill their seats fast because they have drivers that do not stay long. The last few companies that I worked for did not even advertise. They let the drivers actively seek them out. They had no need to search for drivers. That's what these mega carriers do THEY search for drivers and not the other way around. And way do you think they do that?

The more you put into this driver career the more you'll get out of it. These mega carriers only care about getting the load to point A at the cheapest cost around. Do you want to work for a company that's hanging over your shoulder just waiting to fire you so they can replace you with another driver that will work for nothing. Just how much training do you think you're going to get? Do you think you're going to get hire on and make the big dollars because a recruiter tells you that you'll never get a job unless you go to this company? Just to let everyone that doesn't have a clue, recruiters do not work for you.

Get all your package together and GET OUT and go see some of these companies. Go on-line to get the address for some of these companies that look good and are not promising the world if you hire on. Check with the current drivers at the company and see if they are all young drivers or are they all ages. Ask those drivers how many they have seen that retired from that company.

If you just stay on-line and get hired on with no work other than filing an application please come back in a few months and tell us how great the company is. Just check out this site and see how many new drivers were turned loose and have had accidents. How many have lost their jobs?.

 

All big corporations care about is profit.
Expect to be a slave for 5 years.
Talk to other drivers,along your journey,while saving for your own truck,and go to work for a small company,or run your own authority.
If you have cash to buy your own truck,the journey gets much shorter,and profits much higher.

 

The same companies advertise in every city on craigslist.
If you have to be home regular,chose the nearest trucking company,with a terminal near home.