How difficult is it really for new Driver to find employment?

One other thing, make sure you go to a company that will give you a manual transmission to drive. And get that year in a manual. My dad drives for a very good company and was telling me the other day they hired a driver that had been with a starter company for his first year in an auto. Somehow I guess he passed the road test, and was given a 13 speed. Long story short in less than a month he had torn transmissions out of 2 trucks and was terminated. This company has top notch trucks so I assume they gave him the Benefit of the doubt on the first one but come number 2 they decided to part ways.

 

Trucking company should have given a better road test and let the guy do a few trips with a trainer. Most of the better companies out there that hire new cdl grads have switched to automatics.

 

One poster alluded to it, but the reason to stay away from certain companies is the lack of training. Some will turn you loose with a minimal amount of time with someone teaching you how to go down the road. Others will have you training with somebody who has 6 months experience, so they have not driven in 4 seasons of weather.

If you can avoid these, you will be so much the better off for it.

A short list to avoid; Swift, CR England, CRST, Trans Am.

 

Without professional training it will be hard to get hired. There are many companies who train but your pay will suffer for longer than it's worth. You also need to determine whether you want to be a local home every day/night driver or if you want to hit the road.

I went to school and went local right away with a beer distributor. Home every night and I got paid more than half the OTR guys get started out at. After a year and a half of that got my Doubles/Triples and HAZMAT and got on with an LTL. Now I'm doing local flatbed. The experience of the different kinds of driving was cool and add my spotless driving record and most jobs are open to me now. Doesn't take long!

Your big thing will be to get a game plan together and base your decisions on your long term goals. Do you have friends / family down in FL or a place to live? Remember when you go down south the pay is a lot less, granted so is the cost of living. Here in VA (same in NY) most of the LTLs and even smaller regional companies are Unionized and have very good pay, benefits and retirements, which also has the same effect on the non Union companies because they have to compete. Down there that's probably not the case as people are brainwashed against them. Regardless of any stupid political views on Unions they create a level of competition thats good for all drivers whether in one or not. I agree with the other post about getting hired in NY first if you go OTR and that's an option. If your going local think Beverage, Construction, Trash and if your up for insane speed and work look into Food Service, those guys run around like lunatics but get paid REAL good! I'm considering that myself.

Keep us updated, good luck man.

 

Actually to be honest if a trainer has not got at least 5 FULL years experience under their belts in my opinion your missing out. It takes this long to experience bad weather everywhere. It takes this long to get a working understanding of basic things we old hands take for granted. I don't list carriers to avoid because just about every carrier out there that trains has bad trainers. They also have great trainers. Two of the carriers you advised to avoid Swift and CRST has some great people training. I know them. I know a retired guy right here in Hampton Roads that was a Swift trainer with over 40 years experience as a trucker and close to 15 years training.

 

Starting out in an auto has the advantage of allowing a new driver to concentrate on all the other stuff involved with driving a class A. Backing, negotiating tight turns, dealing with traffic etc.

Learning how to shift can come after they learn how to drive a big truck.

I am in an auto now and there were many times (such heading into Brooklyn for the first time during rush hour morning traffic) that I was glad I didn't have to think about changing gears.

It wouldn't be a hardship to pay for lessons in a manual truck, just to brush up on my shifting and floating etc if I had a driving test coming up with another company.

That guy could shift well enough to pass a test to get hired, if he did in fact damage 2 transmissions then there is a good chance he was reckless and would tear up whatever he was given to drive.

 

True, there may be good trainers, but as a rule, they don't. CRST just got a waiver to have permit holders be able to drive while no trainer is supervising!

 

I call BS on the waiver till you provide a link. They don't issue waivers to allow permit (people with class A learners) holders to drive without a licensed driver over 21 in the vehicle!

 

OK I found a link and read the article. This is only a waiver to allow permit holders who have passed the skills testing to drive with a licensed driver in sleeper so permit holder can get home to get the actual CDL issued. It has NOTHING to do with training!

 

Not quite the same thing, but the driving school I went to in FL had students in trucks on public roads without an instructor or any CDL holder also in the same truck.

Apparently, as long as an instructor is supervising the driving, it was legal. We would be driving in convoys of 5 trucks, 2 students in each truck. The instructor would be in one of the trucks with a 2 way radio as the only verbal contact. Sometimes trucks would fall behind in traffic and he would lose visual contact until they caught up again.

Someone may or may not have tested out the top speed of the trucks or seen what would happen if they yanked on the trolley brake while doing 55+mph during these times when the instructor lost visual contact.

Sounds crazy but that's how it they did it. This was a county school district community college program so not some shady fly by night outlaw outfit either. All the trucks were plated as county fleet vehicles too.