Am I that BAD??

My company doesn't much care about the schooling part, but they do want me to be wary of oil field & Local experience. They prefer guys who have a few years experience pulling a 53 footer, and sleeping in the truck. Local guys and oil field guys who haven't met those two requirements tend to not stick around very long in our experience. They either leave when the oil fields get hot again (and who can really blame them??) or they find out that driving 3000 miles a week isn't for them.

I usually base it on my conversations with the driver, having at least 2 years pulling tractor/trailer, and obviously, the MVR/PSP.

 

I had a thing for small mom pop companies. I wouldn't work anywhere else if I had to

 

there is a middle road - less than 100 trucks. Bigger than mom & pop, but with benefits and the same laid back atmosphere. I think the magic number is around 100-200 trucks before things get to "clinical" to be considered friendly.

 

Small mom & pop outfit: BT Express Global Services in Weatherford, Oklahoma (flatbed)
Maybe around 30 trucks.

 

Thanks for keeping us updated, SOG. Good luck, we're pullin' for ya.

 

Thanks for the update! Sounds like things are going your way, good luck!

 

Even more puzzling to me is that, generally speaking, local driving experience is considered beneath OTR. I am sure many will agree that navigating city traffic all day long is far more demanding than cruising the interstate all day long.

Have you been looking at Craigslist? I often see companies looking for experienced oil field drivers or log truck drivers.

 

Its not that your bad. What I think is happening is the carriers want a record of your training somewhere. A very good friend of mine was having same problem. He finally got a job with a small company and is making good money and is happy.

 

I think you're shooting yourself in the foot. You don't need to go into detail about your driving experience except to say what type and where. I would say I drove then took off to do something else. It's most likely you'll need a refresher course but you do not need to go to the slums to drive. You have just as much or more than some when it comes to experience. Be confident when applying and talk to them with what you know. You had to run a log book so that's just one small indicator that you were out there.

Look for the job that is going to be a match on what you want. Make sure you're driving the type of truck that you want. If it's tankers then local tankers are going to be tough to get because most of it is gasoline haulers and there's plenty of experienced gasoline haulers in something like a drivers pool. You might want to do dedicated where you're only gone a couple of nights then home. Anyway, you have the luxury to look around so do your homework. Be cool and good luck.