New Grad, 1st Job Search, Application Frenzy

Greetings from St. Louis!

As the title of this thread states - I’m a recent CDL grad, and am putting out applications like crazy.

My ideal would be something local - which I’m applying for, however, I’m also applying to decent quality companies which would train me over the road (opening doors for a local position in a year or two).

While I’m not getting any bites on my local apps (it’s only been a few days), I’m garnering interest from those OTR companies - getting offers for orientation, etc with any that I’m applying with.

My background is clear for employment with 14 yrs at one job and I’ve a clean bill of health, motor and criminal background. So I like to think I’m desirable. Lol.

I’d really like to hold out for something local but diving into savings for another month or two really isn’t ideal and I’m not getting the critical training i need in the meantime.

Here’s my questions, if anyone has time or interest in responding that would be great!....

Most major concern - am I burning bridges with potential future employers by courting so many of them at once? I’ve put in appx 25 applications this week.

Do the little local companies typically take longer than these big companies who pounce on me right away?

Thanks. This is a whole different game than jobs I’ve sought in the past, and I’ve been out of the game a long while.

 

@Vic Firth - thanks so much for responding. Yes for FedEx and UPS - not for Estes yet they want hazmat (I’m scheduled for fingerprinting Tuesday) + experience (but I’ll apply anyway once I have hazmat) and yes to O.D. - but they don’t have any dock to driver (training) positions open at this time here.

 

Hey! Thanks to you also for responding.
I think intermodal would be wonderful! At school we drove by an intermodal yard daily and I’d often remark that that’s what i wanted to do.

J.B. Hunt is calling me back in 3 months - they require that minimum for exp.
I applied with RJ Cormann for intermodal work. I found an ad on Craigslist, I don’t know anything about them.

I’m going to go to yards in person on Monday (assuming I don’t get kicked out for doing that, don’t know if that’s acceptable) and try in person. Or drive by to gather names to access their websites or find phone numbers.

There’s tons of that around here locally. So much so that it’s part of the landscape and I don’t notice the names of those companies.

I’ll scope out HubGroup. I haven’t heard of them. Thanks for the tip!

 

@Vic Firth thanks again! I did apply and was approved with WST and also Freymiller at the suggestion of @Chinatown

I’m definitely considering regional, or even OTR to ultimately land a sweet, simple local gig. Hopefully one of these locals contact me back first.

Am I applying to too many though and ruining future opportunities?

 

Thanks @Vic Firth I appreciate you.

I’m glad to hear it’s okay to apply and talk to so many.

Yes, my goal is to stick with whatever I start with for a reasonable amount of time, 1-2 years - as I’ve learned from my research here - with a company is the golden ticket. Be it local or the regional/OTR. It’s been a full time job researching here and then applying to respected companies, phone calls, etc. I don’t want to jump into something too blindly.

I’ve applied or inquired with every suggestion @Chinatown has offered to me, and then to others I see are highly regarded here including the ones you suggested.

This is sucky like online dating. Lol. They all look good on screen or sound good on the phone. I’m being pretty cautious. I don’t want to ruin the clear record with a bad decision.