Looking for outlook prospects..

Apologies if this is the wrong thread to post in, I'm VERY new to forum posting and could barely figure out how to even post to begin with.

Hello and first off thanks for reading my post here, I originally asked this type of question on another trucking forum and had just a bunch of generic "You ####ed up, your career is over before it even began, why would you do that." type comments and NOTHING helpful in the slightest in terms of trying to actually get a plan to follow through with.. I am a 28 year old guy who has had dreams of being a CDL driver for.. ####.. The past 7 years now? I always had personal crap come up in my life where my father passed, then my grandparents went into hospice one after the other. Pretty much situations where I was left to deal with the fallouts of said situations since no one else in the family wanted to and my mother ran off with her boyfriend she was cheating on my father with at the time a year before he passed.. I currently have my permit for CDL through the state of Georgia DDS and am looking for a company that will hire me given my circumstances if anyone has any recommendations.

So last month I received 2 citations after accelerating to pass a truck that had brake checked me on my motorcycle multiple times, cop caught me and didn't care when I told him about the truck which I understand, it's my word against what the cop saw. Anyways, I got 49 in a 25, and failure to maintain lane, I was able to plea the failure to maintain lane down to just a city ordinance violation but the solicitor was unwavering on the speeding citation. So only the speeding ticket will show up on my MVR but I pled NOLO in court so I will not receive points for it.

I was speaking with a PRIME recruiter previously and was informed if I could not get failure to maintain lane ticket dismissed/changed to non moving, and the speeding ticket reduced to 14 over instead of the 24 over then they wouldn't be able to help me.. So PRIME is off the table, but I found that MILLIS TRANSPORT is a "second chance" company that also offers training, I was told that as long as I can get ONE of the two citations reduced to a non moving violation they could work with me, even if the speeding ticket was 100+ over the speed limit (Recruiters words not mine lol). Anyway, the ONLY thing that concerns me with going forward is that about 102 days ago I dabbled with a specific substance that was LEGAL in the state in which I did it, but will show up on a hair follicle test for 90 days (supposedly, I don't know really what to base this all off of). It was the only time I have ever used said substance, I would say I was 'peer pressured' into it via a group of friends at the time but I accept responsibility that I am the one who decided to try it. I received the 'happy feelings' from said substance so I was under the influence of it, and proceeded to repeat the actions the following day. (At the time I didn't even realize this would be an issue with CDL related proceedings, I thought it was like alcohol in this regard.)

My question regarding this is.. My plan was to wait for 90 days after the initial exposure to the substance, which I did. Buzz my hair, which I did, then wait ANOTHER 90 days so I can grow out the required 1.5in of hair length to pass a hair follicle test for MILLIS TRANSPORT since I see HEARTLAND EXPRESS purchased them and requires a hair follicle test now.

I am looking into other companies that offer trainings and have found a few that 'supposedly' according to google and other forums, do NOT do a hair follicle test. These would be TMC, PAM, CARTER EXPRESS, XPO, and STEVENS TRANSPORT. Would any of these trucking companies be a good fit for someone really just trying to get their foot in the door, especially given my current circumstances? I'm not too worried about the low pay some may offer, I just want to get started in trucking and get my career rolling, I've been coasting for TOO long with no direction, feeling lost and alone. Not to make a sob story out of it but the citations gave me certain feelings of.. 'ending'.. some things.. So this is very serious for me, I WANT THIS, I am willing to do whatever I need to do, I already have my permit, I just need some guidance from people who have more experience than me if anyone is willing to share and guide me with what they think I should do..

I highly appreciate any insight given and look forward to hearing back with some hopeful comments.
Thanks in advance,
Max.

 

I feel I should also quickly put a subnote here.. These were my first citations in 10 years, I have already paid them off and am NOT on probation.

 

Also the speeding citation was not marked as a reckless driving citation as in GA it has to be 25 or over to be reckless driving, not sure if that matters since I saw another forum post here state something about it needing to not be labeled as a reckless driving incident, CMV or PMV, does not matter.

 

I'm also wondering if it would be better to just go to a private CDL school and then try and get hired with a second chance company like Western Express that hires CDL grads but NOT permit holders.... Just some food for thought I guess.

 

Thankyou very much for the reply, that was something I was already seriously considering. Good to know someone else thinks that's at least an avenue I can take.