Folk's, it's really simple!

Thanks for your reply bduke & your wishes for good luck to me to find my career.

My eyes are crossed from reading every single post & thread on this board, what a great source of info this forum provides...both Good & Bad...

I have now been accepted with pre-hire letters to 4 different companies to start orientation and go out with trainers otr for 4-6 weeks. Now just trying to pick the best one possible to get my start and some experience in. Endless research but well worth it being I want to make the best decision possible. Hopefully after getting my 3-6 months in I will have lucked out in my decision and will be able to stay with them for a while who ever I choose. If not, then back to the research for companies who only offer positions to experienced drivers. That is the tough part, when just getting my CDL it seems the only ones offering the beginners training are the driver mill companies with huge turnovers..Your right in the respect that I don't think you will be seeing any posts from drivers that have 10 years or more in with these companies, just the drivers who are not happy with them.

Thanks again to the experienced drivers who post their opinions, don't let the posters who don't care to research dishearten you enough that you get tired of responding or giving your opinions, there are a good bunch of us newbies who take your words as gospel, I being one & thanks for that!!

Be safe everybody.

 

Good Luck in your decision, you cant do enough homework especialy when there are so many to choose from. Ive been there. Just remember, one company might be good for one, but not good for somebody else. We are all different and expect different things. If you need to be home every week, make sure that company can provide that. I think you'll make the right choice and remember if your just starting out, learn all you can. With experience you will soon be able to pick and choose what company you would like to work for. Again,
Good Luck and DRIVE SAFE

 

Knighton5 summed it up! I just wanted to add patience, and professional attitude to his equation. Good luck!

 

Thanks knighton5 & chompi for the words of encouragement and advise.

I have made my decision and hope its a good one, it should be for the time I have put in researching!! I leave this weekend for orientation in SC on Monday.

Again I want to mention a special thanks to the guys that take this seriously and answer questions and concerns and who actually care about the other truck drivers on the road including us newbies, I could not have possibly made an educated choice or decision with out you guys and my hat is off to all of you!

I look forward to joining you guys on the road!

Be SAFE everybody.

 

Is it an unrealistic expectation to look for a job with weekly home time as a new school graduate? I should be graduating on 11/7/8 from my school. I have begun resigning myself to OTR with the trainer co's. If I could just find a good co that would take a new graduate that I would want to stay with, that would be my first choice by a wide margin.

 

Sounds like you want weekly hometime.. ?? Your location says Southern Cal (correct me if I'm wrong). You are in a very good area with a LOT of companies, and you could be home weekly or twice weekly. Continue what your doing by researching all message boards for info plus go to a local truck stop to talk to different drivers from all the companies to see what they say. I always tell a new driver to write down what you want or need as a truck driver. Hometime, pet, money, APU's, refers, dry van, flat bed, etc.... whatever you need to make you happy as a driver, then find those companies that offer that for you. Once you find those companies that offer you what you want or need, talk to those drivers and WEED OUT the (so called) losers. If you live in LA, you could get alot of dedicated runs to Las Vegas or Phoenix, with Swift or Knight or several others. I wish you luck and keep asking questions, your in a situation to learn alot. DRIVE SAFE

Companies I could recommend? Knight, Interstate Dist., Gordon, Central, Swift, US Xpress, Schneider, but it really depends on what your interested in.

 

How do you get a job with another trucking company after being terminated for something stupid?

 

Depends on how "stupid" the incident was. Care to elaborate?

Also, as with any potential employer, it is best to just be up-front with them. I'm assuming you are going to a new trucking company or outfit where you will be required to use your CDL. Know exactly what is on your dac report. You can ask the company you left what they reported. Or request a dac yourself, although it has to be done by mail. or know someone who has access to dac and request they pull one for you instantly. And simply carbon copy what is on the dac as your 'reason for leaving'. You can elaborate at the interview. I was in a similar situation, and I was just honest on my application if they asked "reason for leaving". I knew it would come up anyhow and I learned it looks better on you if you mention it in the appropriate spaces first. Don't let them find out first.

Dont elaborate too much....at the same time don't make it look like it is totally the company's fault if it wasn't. Perhaps explaining what you've learned from it may put them at ease. You are not the first one to get fired from a company and certainly not the last. Turnover is fairly high in the industry, so ironically that can be used to your advantage.

I ended up getting the job and I make more money with a lot less work with a much better job. That reminds me, I need to 1) conclude the BTC saga and 2) open a new exciting chapter. I will not disappoint. In fact, a new subsection may be started because of the explosive info I will reveal.

 

Companies I could recommend? Knight, Interstate Dist., Gordon, Central, Swift, US Xpress, Schneider, but it really depends on what your interested in.

Knight does not train student drivers except at Squire and being from SoCal I don't think they will .

Interstate Dist pays trainees to low in my book but they have good equipment and are pretty decent to the drivers when I worked there.

USX will burn you up and spit you out as a trainee. And not recommended unless you care nothing about being home more then 1x per month at best and can put up with lots of crap. Prior military training or a history of dealing with or over coming sustained duress is advised with this outfit.

The rest I have not worked at The minimum is usually 10-14 or a restart if less time out but even they would prefer you stay out 3-4 weeks or be relegated to the B-team with a big C next to your name on the 10 screen for casual driver.

A friend of mine got hired strait out of school. He works for a packaging company locally driving around a pup trailer. In a place the size of LA you should be able to find a local outfit if you want to be home weekly. The big outfits ain't going to get you home weekly.

 

Thanks for the info! I'm about 40ish miles from Fontana where there are a ton of trucking co's in SoCal. It's looking like Swift right now and then we will see. I'm doing my road test for the DMV tomorrow in San Bernardino and then I'm done. I'm kind of nervous, but so far I have done really well with the written exams, Airbrakes, Vehicle inspection and backing/parking skills tests. I'm a little worried about my gear grinds (not real bad) in the lower gears on the straight 10 gearbox. My instructor seems to think I'll be fine. I have worried every test I have done and all have come out fine, I just need to remember that!