If You Could Do It All Over Again...

It's not going to be as easy as calling up a recruiter that's for sure, it's going to take some work.

I don't know what it's like in your neck of the woods but in Oregon you can't throw a rock without hitting a farm.

The first thing to do is start calling some farms, calling up the guys running the grain silos would be good to, you might get a lead there. You could physically go to the grain silos and canneries to take notes on who's driving in and out. Then take that info, look them up on the net and give them a call or stop by and talk to them.

 

When I started out as G/Man did we had to schools to pay for, you were either motivated enough to learn from the ground up or you would never get in a truck.

My family owned trucks and it was expected of you to at least try, the motto was if you cannot take the time to learn then they had no time to teach you. We are talking 1969 and forward.

I would not change a thing

 

If I did it over I'd do it the same way . I've always worked for smaller regional fleets owned by people that held CDL's and had plenty of driving experience themselves. The OTR carriers consider drivers. An expendable expense . I didn't go the CDL school . Experience on heavy equipment on highway construction was enough .

 

Iv only begun my "training" but I wouldnt change a thing either. My dad, brother, and I all learned the same way (sort of). I went to the DMV and go the study material, took a written test and got my learners permit, then found a company that threw me in a truck with a driver. I was with him 2 weeks learning how to drive, took my road test, now Im on my own. My boss said you learn the most when your on your own, and boy is he right.

 

Hey pokerperv,

I wanted to PM you the message below but I can't yet because I don't have enough posts. On the off chance that you are still following this thread, I thought I'd just post it here and cross fingers that you'll see it and reply. Thanks!

 

I got laid off from a company, took unemployment briefly, and used job retraining benifits to get a CDL. This gave me something of a "free agent" access to some of these companies (I went with USA Truck myself) but I always had the option of going to other companies (as long as I didn't have an accident)

I only stayed at USA for about a year or two, giving me experience. But if I had to change anything about that time (remember I left) I would have #####ed about a better truck seeing as it seems to be completely random who gets 9400's and who gets Prostars.

If I had to do over college, I'd get drunk and laid more! I never graduated and my "education" only seems to make me frustrated that I'm often the smartest guy in the room.

And although the turnover at my current company is high, it remains to be seen if I'm doing worse by staying or jumping ship for another job.