Is there anyone who'll hire me with three accidents on my record that are a year old?

Of course, your going to drive again, stop and breath. I didn't read all the posts, cause well I just didnt. But I get your damage. If I could offer some advice, when asked my cdl instructer (who is an old old man, since Chuck Norris was driving) drive the road, otr. Learn it. Why go into the most difficult situation with no experience? And he was right, ah well blah blah, but.. get on the road with us, learn and move on.

 

After many years of failures, mistakes and generally just poor judgment I have formulated a flow chart that I keep in the cab.

 

Jonathan this is a really important post for you to really read and ponder...

Everyone of us has made mistakes... and many of us will make more mistakes... It is whether we can learn from those mistakes, make a change to avoid making the same mistake.

I took a call from a driver and it was like hitting the driver recruiter jackpot.. 4 years 7 months experience, clean MVR, been driving with his 1st company for the whole time.. I went about the call the same way I did every call and started asking qualifying questions and noting his answers... then I hear some background noise from his end.. then he said "Oh crap... I gotta call you back!" and he hung up... there I was at my desk like Rose from the Titanic... "come back... come baaack..." because I never got his full name and a call back number... To this day when I think of that call I hear the theme song from the Titanic in my head... That was not the first time I started in with the qualifying questions with out getting at least a name and call back number if not their full name, number, city and state... it was that last call I ever did that on... I changed my entire way of handling incoming calls because of my mistake and letting a great candidate hang up and me having no way of getting ahold of him.. I just had to wait and hope he really did call me back... fortunately for me he did.. but, the feeling of when he hung up and the two days kicking myself before he called back was all the lesson I needed.

So, your turn... what was your mistakes, what did you learn and what are you going to do differently?

 

That's good lol

 

You know, I do recruiting and staffing for other industries.. and most all other industries have assessment tests that potential candidates takes to see if they are suited for the job.
Assessment tests have come along way, many of them are more like games and actually fun to do. like the problem solving ones, you do mind puzzles and play Tetris like games. There are also ones where you look at a picture, like an ocean scene and choose one of four words.. when I look at this picture I think of... vacation, pretty, powerful, indifferent
Anyway the test are fun.. and you don't have to do it all in one sitting like before.. you can do some one day, and some more the next.

When they are finished I get an email and a very detailed report, as they are not pass or fail anymore, and they ##### all sorts of things, from a candidates problem solving skills, how they would adapt do working nights, working alone even being away from home. The test are also industry and job specific...

They certainly could give new drivers an assessment test that would indicate their likelihood of being able to preform, handle the responsibilities and the solitude and independence required to be a truck driver. They already have the assessment tests to do so,

CDL schools or carriers that hire and train new drivers don't use them.

I find it annoying, they will put inward facing cameras in their trucks, all sorts of other gadgets like lane assist and stuff which all costs more than simply giving a new driver an assessment test that will give them detailed information that would be useful to know.

 

To add to this Jon you may want to change your username.

 

Same here, I don't trust anyone. If I screw up, that's on me and I can accept it and live with it. If someone else screws me up, that's a problem. I don't need the help these days but when I was a newer driver, I'd at times have people try and help me and I'd decline. If it took me 15 minutes and getting out 10 times to look, so be it. I'll either get it or won't but if anyone is gonna get me in trouble it's gonna be ME and not someone else...

 

Then, you need a serious plan. It's time to hike up your pro driver manties and get to work.

1. If you hit stuff you hurt YOUR career. Not your DMs.
A. Don't hit stuff. Use GOAL. Back slowly. Use a flashlight. Get a reference point. Use GOAL again. Circle around to sight side. Don't let ANYONE or ANYTHING rush you.
B. Don't set yourself up to fail. If you see it's a bad situation, you're driving that truck. Call it in. Use Google satellite. Plan your route ahead of time. If all else fails, pull over and hit your flashers. Go inside. Ask at the dock. Walk it out. Figure it out first. Then drive it.
C. Own your mistakes. We all hit ####. It happens. But you're driving. If you hadn't driven that strike would not have happened. Own it and learn more from it then just pointing the finger at someone else. Then move on.

2. Know the law about what companies can and can't force or coerce you into doing legally and practically.
A. Like that DM telling you to park somewhere you and your wagon won't fit. I'd have stopped right then, thrown my flashers on and told them to find me another place or it was coming back to the yard.
B. Learn who to talk to to get out of a bad situation. Like, in your case, safety. They would have pulled you from that account like a bad tooth.
C. Learn your DOT and HOS. If it's broke, it don't roll. If you don't have the hours, it don't roll. If they complain, get it in writing on the Qualcomm and call safety. Odds are they won't put it in writing customer that will get them fired, not you.

3. Be a pro.
A. If it can be done, learn how. If you screw it up, own it, learn something and try again. Repeat until you can do it, too.
B. Don't whine. Nose to the grindstone gets it done. Crying don't.
C. Safety isn't a few dumb catch phrases. It's a way of driving, backing and behaving that keeps you, the public and the inanimate objects of the world in one piece. Learn it. Live it. Be it. Every day. Even when you're tired or its raining or dark or whatever other bs reason you can come up with.

Everyone's a driver. Every little four wheeler. (Frankly, my daughter scares the bejeebees out of me) Only pros drive class 8. Only the very best get to make a full career of it.

You wanna be out here for the long haul? Earn it. Be professional enough to say no, to own your mistakes, to learn every single day. Start today, right now.

You're going to have to claw your way back up with a crappy paying second chance company because of the things you've done. Paying your dues there will mean nothing if you learned nothing from your past mistakes than "I shouldn't have listened to so and so." You won't last long enough to get out of there and into a decent paying company.

Best of luck, driver. You got the best advice I can give you, now get after it. I'll see you on the road.

 

Jon, first, thank you for responding dialog is good...
Second, I am glad that you got to have those experience you talked about, they clearly were important to you and something you have wanted to do and enjoyed the opportunity and experience to do them.
That is great, I too am a fan of travel as well as enjoying life and doing things we enjoy.

However, the reasons you gave for why trucking is for you don't actually have anything.. or very little to do with trucking.. and trucking doesn't always present that kind of opportunity... I mean, you may not always have the time to uber off somewhere for site seeing... also, sometime you can be very close to somewhere you would love to visit, but be under a loaded trailer that you have to stay with.. you don't want your trailer broken into while you are off site seeing..
Now it is true that you are not always stuck in your truck and times when you have the time and resources to go do some site seeing...

Just curious, but why a truck driver and not a train engineer?

As a newly hired Train Crew employee, you can expect to earn about $41,000 a year. As you advance to Conductor and Locomotive Engineer positions, you can earn up to $75,000 a year.