At a crossroads.

Ok, here's the deal. I obtained my Class A last June after I completed "training" at an accredited CDL school. I didn't want to go OTR right out of the gate becasue my wife was 8 months pregnant with out first child that we had been trying for, for many years.

I ended up getting a local job running bobtail flatbed and dump truck for a local landscaping company. That lasted for almost 3 months until the business really slowed, and I was missing work due to there being no deliveries. Got a job offer from another local outfit to run quad axle dump trucks on a Friday morning, but they wanted me to start that following Monday. It was a buck more an hour and more frequent driving. Had a long talk with my boss at the time and he said he totally understood and that it was all business. I left on what I thought were good terms for this new company, ran hard there for a couple of months before they ran into "contract problems" and went a month without driving. They threw me out on a ranch doing random manual labor.

Got offered a job pulling 53 ft dry van trailers full time. Had a talk with my boss and left on good terms to pull the dry van shuttle trailers. Things were going great for a month then the hours dramatically fell off due to the warehouse not getting enough orders. I was pulling maybe 3 hours a day then I was sent home. Obviously I couldn't pay the bills like this so I split, and moved to a new Landscaping business where I was running dump truck and T/T flatbed hauling sod. Did that for about 3 months then of course, work dramatically decreased to the point I went 2 weeks without work. Never could get a full weeks worth of work there. Couldn't ever get a hold of my boss half the time and I eventually split. That was mid February. I've been looking for local work but there hasn't been #### for job postings around here. Everything is 1 or 2 years experience MINIMUM. (Temple,Tx)

Bit the bullet and applied to System Transport becasue I figure that just going form one ####ty local company to the next is NEVER going to give me a successful truck driving career. So I figured I'd suck it up, go regional and do that for at least a year and THEN maybe I'd have more luck local. Everything was going fine at System Transport regarding the hiring process, until the jobs came up, but once I explained the reason that it LOOKED like I was a habitual job hopper which I am not, and the fact I had only 2 jobs prior to getting my CDL with no time gaps for 10 years, helped the situation. (2 Jobs in 10 years with no time gaps) I've just had a hell of a time getting on with a local company that is worth a ####. Long story short ALL of the CDL jobs I had came back with "not eligible for rehire" and regardless if they hung me out to dry and made it to where I couldn't pay my bills, on paper it makes ME look bad. So what would happen if I applied to a regional company and just didn't put any of the driving jobs I've had? Would they make me go for a refresher since I've had my license since last June? Or should I lower my standards and look at some of the less desirable companies that are regional that would accept my driving job history? And yes, I know I shot myself in the foot by not just going OTR or regional right after school, and I'm feeling the full effects.

Thanks,
Dave

 

I see, noted. Well I have a clean MVR, no criminal record and up to date medical card. I can drive 8,10,13,18 and even super 10's but on paper, insurance won't cover me when it comes to the companies that are worth a #### around here it seems, regardless of what I've capable of. I do plan to choose wisely regarding anything that isn't "local." Unfortunately, the companies that take people like myself with less than a year all seem to be a bit sketchy. I know the usual suspects to avoid like Swift, Werner, England, Express, CRST etc. But at the end of the day they all sound the same. Cliche statements of rainbows and unicorns, you know the usual lies and bs put in the job postings written by some flighty moron who's never sat in the drivers seat. Although attitude can go a long way in making a ####ty situation seem ok, I certainly don't want to be stuck at some POS company, but at this point, with the bank account running low, I'm trying not to be too picky if you catch my drift.

Dave

 

lol Clever. That is a good idea though, I hadn't thought of that yet. Would definitely help my case. Thank's for the heads up.

Dave