Getting started here... maybe TLDR?

About to sign off to see if I can get a few hours sleep before 4am rolls up on me here - but just getting this thread going got me motivated enough to look into a WA state cdl class A permit and take a practice test - holy wow a lot of that stuff is just common sense! Is it really that easy? I missed a few of those questions but they were pretty specific and I'm sure if I saw the questions again I'd get them correct... gonna have to take that practice a few more times over and see if I just got a lucky lot of questions... hmmmm

Something I didn't mention in the original post - I've never even set foot in a tractor trailer... the largest thing I've ever driven was an LMTV back in the late 90's in the Army (with a SPAM behind it!) and we also had a 5 ton. Wow that was ages ago...

 

Quick update here - Looking more and more into reefer and tanker at this point - not sure if running a tanker is something Prime does for initial training but definitely something I'm interested in down the line.

 

Quick update here - Looking over Prime and Jim Palmer, JPT looks like it may be a better fit for me as they run mid-west and west coast a lot more than Prime (and I can still run the rest of the country if I want to get back to the east coast for some reason). I'm in contact with one of Jim Palmer's recruiters currently and just about to have all the info on my application sorted. The accident I mentioned in the OP was actually 4 years ago today which puts it outside their period of investigation (I wasn't at fault regardless, but mentioned it to him initially as I thought it had happened in the more recent past).

 

Application is sorted and supposed to have been submitted late this morning by the recruiter - waiting on my insurance company to send over a document regarding the accident showing no fault in a day or so - If everything comes back in good order (pretty sure it will) I could start on Monday.




Well I could - IF I DIDN'T HAVE JURY DUTY NEXT WEEK

 

Welp - scratch a line through Jim Palmer for me... they declined me a day later, and the only info the recruiter would give me other than lip service was that they were 'going with applicants who were better qualified' and to 'try back in 6 months.'

So I have absolutely zero clue as to why they actually turned me down - they didn't even call my references? The fact that they run a school, but turned me down to the tune of 'try back in half a year' tells me they didn't like something... if they just have better applicants but wanted to work with me I'd expect they would keep me a little further down the list or at least give pointers as to what I need to work on. Kinda frustrated... I need to app to Prime next, but waiting a minute to see if anyone has any insight on this one first.

 

Total guess here - but I'm pretty much assuming it's my work history from 2015 on (due to the long stint of unemployment resulting from moving/assisting a family member with cancer treatment). I'm pretty sure the recruiter barely listened to me regarding this - also wasn't interested in any of my professional references I included for him, and basically only read my emails when I mentioned something I'd written, and he was basically just quickly scanning to rattle off enough to make me feel like he'd read them. I may be totally off, but that's the vibe I get, especially now after the fact. Really wish he'd have paid more attention, but I can't blame him for not having much interest in anyone until they get past the underwriter's screen.

 

Ok - Decent update this time (and thank you @Dan.S for chatting with me). I app'd to Prime with the intention of following up with their head of recruiting if I ran into more issues. The difference here being that instead of just telling me a garbage response as to why I wasn't hired, my recruiter followed up with me to help me sort the issues on my application. I didn't have enough recent work history - but only needed a couple more entries to sort it out... long story short, I added 2 more (verifiable) jobs to the app and she was calling me before I could even finish an email response to her. As long as everything clears I'll be training at their SLC terminal in a couple of weeks (still need to get a learners permit, have to put in notice at work, etc)

Info that may help others out here regarding prime - You cannot be offered a job in their tanker division if you live out west. Period. If I decide I really want to do tanker, I personally have the option of 'moving' to atlanta, and that would get me in the tanker club... but for now it looks like I'm just gonna run reefer and stick it out for the first year dispatched outta SLC (as long as I get through training).

I'll post more info as it comes a long if you guys are interested.