About to graduate from my CDL school, now what to do?

I'd work on that list. You have a couple I'd not consider. Of couse that is based on what I have read and not on experience.

Here's my standard advice. Maybe you will find something helpful in it.

You need to research and find out what the important questions are. You can make an above average living but you will make sacrifices that other jobs don't require. Read the "good companies" and "bad companies" section on this forum and get an idea of what company you want to work for and what kind of trailer you want to pull. Don't just go to school and then try to figure out where to go.

I don't know your financial situation. Don't take training from a company if you can afford it or get it with financial aid. You will be their slave for up to year. If you leave they will trash you DAC and credit record. Check out your local community colleges and employment office.

Just know that most training and trucking company recruiters will do nothing but lie to you. They will let you talk about what you want and then tell you what you want to hear. Trucking is about moving freight to make money for the company. Your home time, family, paycheck and everything else comes second.

It is not like any other job. Local is usually backbreaking delivery work 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week. Often you unload dozens of times a day or you are a salesman. In my area most dump truck jobs pay less than a good factory job. Regional is lots of loading and unloading time, fewer miles than OTR and not as hard as local but will wear on you and push your HOS limits. OTR is out 3 - 5 weeks with 3 - 4 days home, less manual labor and more miles.

You'll probably have to pay your dues before you get the gravy job. Weekends off, if you are lucky enough to get something like that starting out, may be home Thursday afternoon and leave Saturday night or home Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Loads deliver on Monday early and you leave in time to get them there. Often your home time will be in the middle of the week.

Regardless of your driving choice, after school you will go through company training. For OTR this can be six weeks to three months with little or no home time. The first phase is usually $400 a week and the second phase is $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training.

You don't want to wait around too long after training or you'll have trouble finding a job. If you get out before you have a year in, when you try to come back a few months later you will find they want you to start over.

One last thing, if you have anything that makes you less desirable than your competing job applicants, a phone or in-person interview will often bring the best results. Even if I am the best candidate I will choose face-to-face if at all possible and phone if not. Sure you may have to fill out that online application but that isn't the best way to get a good job. You have to do something or be someone who stands out from the crowd. Do regular follow-ups by phone on the jobs you really want.

 

Here are some threads for company research:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/trucking-company-dac-reports/

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/discuss-your-favorite-trucking-company-here/

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/report-a-bad-trucking-company-here/

 

Your better off staying where your at,if you think your going make $40-$50k in your first year of trucking like these mega carriers say,then stay where you are.Don't get me wrong,there good money to be made but a lot of people get there CDL-A thinking there going make $40k-$50K per year first year that is,doesn't happen.The good paying companies required 2 + years experience.Also stay away from Werner,they are a joke,Swift and Maverick I don't much about but Werner,stay away.

 

I think after you graduate,

you're suppose to hang around here,

and gripe about being unemployed !!

 

If its a option I know the oilfields are hiring right now if you have a pulse. I'm hoping to get my CDL and go to work in the fields they make #### good money but its long hours. Seems like your already working those kind of hours so at least then you'd get paid for it.

 

Research,research,research then research some more. Countless rookies wind up leaving a company after a few weeks or months because they rushed in. Search the forum but take it all with a grain of salt. More often than not a company found on the best company thread can also be found on the worst company thread. Hang out a truck stop and talk to some company drivers. Somewhere on here a member compiled a list of questions to ask potential employers. I wish I could provide a link straight to the thread. I think it may be in the experienced drivers advice section. It's worth checking out. The point is be as confident as you can that you are making the right choice for YOU. The worst thing you can do is be a job hopper your first year out. Find a company that fits your needs and stay there at least a year. It won't all be peaches and cream all the time, but stick it out, get the experience and you'll be in a better position to land a job at a better company, than someone with one year experience at four different companies.

 

If home time is important to you and you are already making excellent money than why leave? You are going to put in long hours OTR and be physically and mentally stressed out as well and not be home for at least a couple weeks at a time while quite likely making less money than you currently are. I would stay where I am if I were you and maybe try to look for something local that meets your needs, I just don't see what you could gain by going OTR.

 

If it were me I'd stay right there and learn all you can about heavy towing. My brother in law years ago talked this service station owner into buying a heavy duty tow truck and they made a killing.

Look at it this way. Learn all you can from them so you can become their competitive. Use them as mush as they use you. You will not gain that information anywhere else.