California guy looking to get his CDL

Hey all, I've been a long time lurker here trying to do my research. I'm hoping to get some advice on which company to go with for getting my CDL and starting my trucking career.

I can't afford to pay for a school, and I don't have the time to do a community college. So I was looking into doing company training. I've come down to Knights, Wilson Logistics, Swift, KLLM, and Schneider. I'm in California, but I don't mind leaving the state to do the training as long as it's paid for.

What I'm looking for, is a great long term company that pays well and isn't a huge micro manage hell whole. I'm thinking about doing flatbed as I heard the pay is better and doing OTR or Regional.

I was also considering doing Roadmaster that is here in Fontana, but I'm not sure if they have a way of helping with costs via loan then doing a tuition reimbursement through a trucking company to pay it back. I have a meeting with them tomorrow to talk with them about it. If anyone has any experience with them, I'd love to hear about it as-well.

Thanks.

 

Thanks for all the recommendations. I tried heavily going with Jim Palmer, they looked incredible in every way. I spoke with an awesome recruiter there who talked with me through the holidays. It was all going great up until he said my employment history was too spotty and they wont hire me until I worked somewhere for at-least a year straight. Very upsetting.

I started searching around, I talked with tons of companies who kept telling me the same story. Not hiring out of California. Including KLLM. Prime just straight up said no as-well due to not having a full 3 year work history and hung up on me. I got really discouraged, I started to go with Robertson Trucking.. but that's when I decided to go with a heavily recommended tip on this forum.

That's seeing if the state will pay for my CDL School. I went by the America’s Job Center of California and spoke with the VA there. They were amazing. They set me up through the Workforce Investment Act and they will be sponsoring my CDL Training completely. Yep! I'll be starting everything in about a week. I'm super excited to get started on this, I'll definitely keep this forum updated as I continue with starting my new career/adventure in truck driving.

@Chinatown I do have a question for you, what are your recommendations for the best companies to start with once I get my CDL?

Also, for anyone googling around doing some searching that's in California. These companies don't hire out of California as of 1/10/2019: Roehl, Millis, CFI, Carter Express, RE West, Maverick, KLLM & FFE, PAM, USA Trucking, and Schneider won't do paid CDL training from California. I called all of these companies, applied, and spoke with recruiters. None of em were willing to work with me because I was not in their hiring area.

There's not a lot of options if you're in California sadly.. my recommendation is definitely applying for the Workforce Investment Act and not putting up with a contract. I qualified because I am unemployed and was recently separated from the military. But if you're on unemployment you'll qualify right away.

 

Thank you a million! I'll definitely check them all out and give each one a call as soon as I get my CDL in the next few weeks and keep you all updated on it and who I go with! Very excited!

Also a small update with my list, I received a phone call from Schneider this morning. They are willing to hire me as long as I get my CDL. So they do hire out of California, they just don't do company sponsored training for California residents.