Getting local job with no experience

In so. Calif. I got my CDL thru a local sand/rock/cement powder hauling company. Calif. has a program that lets my company hire new drivers, train them, and administer the road test to get the person licensed with doubles and tanker endorsements. Then, have to drive for a year in order to not have to pay them back if you leave for another trucking company. If you leave and don't stay in trucking you don't have to pay them back.

Problem is now, with the economy so bad, Robertson's Transport (Rialto, Ca) is not hiring anybody. Right now I am lucky to get 2-3 loads per week. When it was busy a year ago powder drivers were getting 10-12 loads per week while the transfer and bottom-dump drivers were getting 4-7 loads per day; since one powder trip from cement mill to a Robertson's Ready-Mix plant could take up to five hours could only do 2-3 loads maximum per day. Where I am based at (Cabazon) could only do a max of two loads a day. Fortunately, since I still have my real estate appraisers license (appraiser for 30 yrs) I can just about get by.

So, what I am saying, anyway, is that local newbie jobs do exist, just have to find them.

dave

 

Yes, it is possible. That's exactly what I did. Went to truck driving school in September, 2003, then went to work with a local expiditing company the Monday after I graduated. Not exactly local, as I was out for 2 to 3 weeks at a time, though. I was driving a straight truck also.

Worked for them for 1-1/2 years, then while I was home one Monday, I walked into the office of a local company that built dump trailers. They had 3 tractors and 4 53' step deck trailers. Asked the owner if they were hiring drivers and he said, "That depends." I responded with, "Depends on if the right guy knocks on the door?" and he said yes. I walked back out of the office, knocked on the door, walked in and said, "Here I am. When do you want me to go to work?" He liked my attitude, told me to be there the next morning and down the road I went. Stayed with them for two years, till sales slowed down, after the mess from Katrina was mostly cleaned up. They sold a bunch of dump trailers down there. Then they called in me and the other two drivers, who'd been hired on after me and said they had to let one of us go. I took the voluntary layoff.

However, I had plenty of skills before I got my CDL. I was a tractor trailer driving Instructor, then an Instructor Trainer, in the Corps. Just happened to be in the right place, at the right time. You really don't want to get behind the wheel of a big truck, without a trainer, unless you've done it before.

The odds of landing a local gig, driving a tractor trailer, right out of driving school are nearly non-existant. Even if the company's owned by a life long friend, his insurance carrier is going to want experience.

 

A local job could be career suicide for you. Coming out of school docking is usually not a beginners strong point. Local work is all menuevers and docking. 14 plus times daily and many will be tough SOB's. When you go OTR you dock maybe 2 times daily. You get a good feel for the size and as you gain comfort you settle into regional that will have you docking more frequently. OTR usually has you delivering at large DC's with room for adjusting and reseting unlike tight local spots. I dont think a local job out of school is probable but it may be possible.