I am the Newest Dazed and Confused

Hello All,

I am beginning to see that this industry is very special. I am one of those that wants to be on the road. I have held my CDLA for 4 years, and used it for my own purposes, a TriDump Cls 8 and a custom 47' air flat trailer with my excavator and bobcat. I am 57 yrs young.

No logbooks neccessary but lots of pics and exp. Needless to say I really liiked it and want to work for someone else, and due to economy, sold everything off about a year ago. And I had no problem getting and holding my own insurance either. No blems anywhere.

To the point:

I did not go to a CDL school
I studied and passed on my own
Took all the State testing, written and road in 04
And I drove over 200K miles getting badly beaten up in that wonderful truck.
But for a new carrer???? Everything seems to be online
Seems more schools than companies.
Heartland said my exp was no good, although 4 yrs....
and others said no school, not enough, gimme a year min OTR they say.
Trying to explain does no good

any suggestions? If I can only get to talk to a human....or rephrase, a recruiter that listens.
BTW, received back a form letter from Crete, saying my DAC at USIS came back bad. I did get through to USIS and persisted, they said my Social# was never even run through their system. Before this, and lurking on the board, I never even heard of a DAC let alone need one. Form letter just a poor xerox copy.

Are there really so many unemployed drivers out there that they need such sophistication of the application processes? Or must I pay the 5K as a penalty fee for an interview.?

I hope that I am not seeing the forest thru the trees, and there is a better way.

Rhino

 

Thanks RickG, I will add them to the local list. As I contiune to lurk on the site, I am gaining much more insight., Some days look better than others, but there sure is a lot of complaining going on.

It seems if I drive for a company, and it doesnt have an OR division, I not be making any forward progress though. The experience issue in the eyes of many may stay the same....no OTR...no place for you.... Oh WELL, gotta keep the search goin, I can be a persistent one

Rhino

 

Again, by another "recruiter" I was told it is the insurance companies that rule the decisions for hiring and experience for any companies I wonder if I got Travelers (who wrote me for four years with my own rig) to look at my old policies and safety records, and sent THAT to prospective employers. I wonder if it would mean a hill of beans or not. I seems that the school route is the only route....so far. I will keep trying.

In the meantime, if anyone knows how I could skip the recruiter/school thing, and get a face to face with an HR in a trucking company direct, it would be appreciated. Maybe then I could go over the details, with a letter like that it may help. Please keep in mind I am NOT trying to beat the system, but only be recognized as one that may be a little "outside the box" for profile, and at the same time, save 5K. I have no issues at all for refresher courses or anything like that, but at the same time, don't want to move ahead at .25 pm, when my gray hair says otherwise.

 

Guess I should look locally, spending all my inofrmation gathering time via internet, while the answer might be right in front of me in the daily paper.
Thanks,

Rhino