Have Class A CDL, not a trucking school grad...What to do?

Greetings Fellow Forum Members,

Although I’m new to posting here I’ve been reading the forums for quite a while. My story is long & I’m sure unhappy with my failures but still trying to find a way to get OTR. Still haven't found a company or O/O yet who'll give me a start in the business.

Here's my story. I got my Class A CDL on my own over one year ago; I did the easy reading of the CDL manual, took my written tests, paid about $250 to a small business that put me in a Freightshaker auto-shift daycab flatbed for about 45 minutes three times then drove the truck to pass the skills test. Woo-hoo, a ridiculously simple thing to do, but I soon discovered I had a license worth the paper it was printed on.

About two weeks later I was enrolled at a very large (un-named for the time being) carrier's school here in Texas. Was there for 2 of the 3 week in-school training period, financial issues sent me home, I never returned (as I hoped/tried to), later found I'd been DAC'd (didn't fulfill my contract, you know, the old "free" schooling -work for them for 1 year-$75wk paycheck deduction-then, when fully paid back, given your certificate of graduation). Yep, I got a bad DAC report for something that had nothing to do with driving, but instead for a bill for about 4K that I know must be paid but won’t until I get to work. After losing my former strength (from sitting at the computer for the last year searching for a job), which was just enough, at the time, to pass the large carrier's "Workwell Physical", I would not be able to re-enter their school to complete my training there. Plus, though unimportant to many, I have a small dog that Id like to have as a rider and really want a pet friendly company(which the one I was going to work for USED to be.)

Sorry, this is long ...

My DOT med certificate just expired. (Mine was only good for a year--BP was too high the day of the med exam--normally very low!)

Clean:
No arrests or convictions ever (felony or misdemeanor).
No accidents, tickets for well over 5 years.
Do not drink. Do not use drugs.

Per FMCSR Part 391-Qualifications of Drivers I fulfill ALL of their requirements.

What I've been hearing for a over a year:
1) "Our company requires that you have experience (anywhere from 1 month to 3 years)."
2) "We only hire experienced drivers or those who have graduated from a PTDI approved truck driving school."
3) "We only hire experienced drivers or those who still need to get their CDL and they would go through our school."
4) "We'd like to hire you but our insurance carrier requires 6mo, 1yr, 2yrs verifiable OTR experience."

What I've been hearing recently:

1) "Get your Hazmat / X endorsement / or HM, tanker & dbl/triples."
2) "Get your TWIC card."
3) From trucker acquaintances--"You've got your CDL. You ought to be able to get a job somewhere! Have you tried looking for a job in oilfield trucking?"

What I've done recently:
1) Took and passed tanker, Hazmat and dbl/triple tests.
2) Got fingerprinted and photographed for HM endorsement. Waiting.
3) Going next week to fork over $132.50 for a TWIC card.

Would like feedback PLEEEZE... Am I wasting my time? Throwing away the borrowed money that I am living on to get my TWIC card? Does anyone out there have any suggestions? Anyone think I have a chance to get into the trucking industry with the way I've done things? If so, let me know. Thanks everyone and God bless.

~Abby in Pearland & Houston, Texas 4/2/2010

 

I have worked in the trucking industry for a while but not as a driver. This is how it works: when you get your CDL-A you will be usually offered a job with one of the bottom feeder companies like Schnieder, Crete, Werner, Swift, etc. Because you are new you are considered accident prone for the first 6 months to 2 years, you will be sent to additional company training to make sure that you know what you are doing. These companies dont care that you went to anyone particular school or that you went to an accredited school, or that you went through the full program at a school, they care about you having the CDL-A and that you can make it through their training. Recruiters will tell you otherwise and many times to make you feel good if you did go through a particular program for training. Because these companies hire from the newbies, they have tons of rules and tons of turnover.

You need to avoid the big companies and find smaller ones that dont have their own schools. Its not easy but they are out there.

After 2 years of experience, you will get the better big companies and will not have to go to school. They will give you orientation and then get you a truck.

I recommmend that you add on passenger and drive a school bus or similar until you can get a real OTR job. Keep in mind that just a few years ago, the companies were taking just about anyone, now its slow so they are careful on who they hire.

I too did not go through the full training and did it by contract. Companies really dont care. Getting the CDL-A is just getting to first base. You got a lot more work to do.

 

I also was going to say drive a school bus. But I'm surprised you can't get into Werner or Swift. Wish you luck Abby.

 

One more thing, if you already have CDL-A and then entered but didnt complete a company training program, you shouldnt have to pay that company a cent. Because you cant use that training anywhere else. Its like working for McDonalds as an assistant manager and they send you to one of their Burger Universities. That training is for McDonalds and you cant use it anywhere else. If you work for Burger King, well that is a different training program altogether and they would make you go to the training even if you came from McDonalds and have the school behind you. Sure, you may get some added skills from that shool, but in reality that training is company specific and except for looking nice on a resume, is worthless to the next company that will make you go through their company specific training.