Employment gap? Why on every application?

If a starter company is rejecting you because of your employment history you've got to be setting off some other red flags... Mine is terrible and I got offers from several companies, but my background is crystal clean.

 

After 15 years trucking I took 1 1/2 year off then a 3 month job, quit that, then a 3 week job, quit that to come to where I've been 21 years. There was never any question of my time unemployed

 

At Stevens Transport, was there per diem and how much was it, (cents per mile)?
Was their per diem, if they had it, mandatory?

How decent were the miles? What was your average?

God bless every American and their families! God bless they U.S.A.!

 

There is a per diem at Stevens. It was optional when I was there, but be careful taking per deim out of your pay if you have lots of othet tax deductions. My per diem being taken out of my check pre-tax screwed up my mortgage deduction. I do not want to give you a per diem number, because it may have changed.

Miles at Stevens were 2200-3000 miles per week for me, but I am very aggressive (but polite.) If you dont push for miles you will probably run 2000-2500 per week.

 

The answer to your question is in your little green book and has nothing to do with the trucking company's hiring policy. That's not saying some companies won't use that information against you, but it wasn't their idea.

Many don't even care if there are employment gaps. They just have to ask the question and cover their rear.

 

On top of regulations, it shows a lot about a person's attitude and work ethic. I'm involved in the hiring process (doing road tests) and we had someone who came in recently and checked out in everything except work history. He listed only one work place per year (in 3-6 month blocks) for the past 12 years and claimed those were the only places he "wanted to list".

Instant red flag, but okay, we'll wait for reference checks. Third most-recent check comes back, he was terminated after 3 weeks for a single vehicle rollover pulling fuel. He didn't bother mentioning this when I asked about why he left that place, nor did he list it on the application.

 

This topic hits home. In 2006 after building a house my wife decided to walk out and left me with everything (except my son, I got the dog). Lost 50,000 of income but kept everything intact until 2008. When it crashed I lost everything, and my dog died. Credit wiped out. During this process never missed a day of work. Just kept stroking. The only thing that saved me was my work history. It was the only thing I had left. My local bank was able to see I was going through a divorce, looked at my work history and took a gamble on that alone.

See here's the thing, these companies look at numbers. Let's say they have ten trucks to fill and ten applicants. 2 are vets, 6 have work history, and 2 have shotty work history. Who gets the job? Doesn't make anyone a lesser person, it just is what it is.

There is no driver shortage.

 

It's mostly because of the huge amount of liability and government prodding. The two combined creates a system where drivers feel like they're applying for the FBI instead of driving a truck. I don't think companies even care about half the information they're required to ask of you.