Have CDL, no school, no OTR experience

Posting in behalf of my husband. His current job, which he's been at for 15 years, is being outsourced and consequently, he's being laid off. Prior to that job, he worked for a local fertilizer business, mostly applying but also some hauling, for 10 years. He had to have a CDL for that but it wasn't really a tractor trailer situation. He's hauled hay, grain, and fuel on the family farm, but that's not the same. He has kept up his license and has most endorsements (missing hazmat but he can get that back).

The issue he's having, in pursuing a new career in truck driving, is he doesn't fit neatly into the categories offered on applications. He doesn't have experience to speak of but he also didn't go to CDL school. We're not even sure how to fill out online forms with the choices given. He applied with a company based here in Montana, that turned him down. If he didn't have the license they would train him. He told them he was willing to go through it anyway, and they said that wasn't an option.

Any advice on how to approach this situation as we pursue a new livelihood? By the way, he's 65, in super great health, can work rings around much younger men, and nowhere near ready to retire. This layoff stinks!

 

Jim Palmer is the company that he applied with that said no.