My experience so far after CDL school..

I went to Roadmaster driving school to get my CDL, I have had it for about a month and man has it been very discouraging! I went into this knowing I did not want to be an OTR driver, I said but if I have to do it for 6 months I will. I have had more interviews in the last 3 week than I have had in my life! 1. I live in South FL. Florida has a lot of stuff coming in but nothing going out. 2. I have been self employed for the last 7 years. So on to the job search I have sent my resume out to every ad wanting class A Drivers.. I do not send it to the ones that say must have 6months - 2years exp. My resume clearly states I just got out of school and I have had my CDL 1 month. Every company I interview with say I wish you had experience blah blah blah. I just had 3 interviews driving for goodwill out of 33 applicants it came down to me and another guy, he ended up getting the job and not me. I have a spotless driving record. I have never been in trouble in my life. My background is as clean as it can get. I am a USCG captain, I have my TWIC card so that means I am cleared through TSA and homeland security. When I was in school we sent out applications and I had pre hires from US xpress, Knight and Stevens. The good is I also have a house in Chicago so I go back and forth. I have talked to a bunch of companies in Chicago that will hire me, The only bad is my primary residence is Florida so I need to change my license back to IL. Now the bad thing about that is, Florida and Chicago (Illinois) do not reciprocate so I will have to take all my test all over again, Road test and endorsements! So I am unsure of what to do! I am a fishing guide here in FL so moving back to home in Chicago would be Hard since there are not Tarpon in Chicago!! lol.... I did have a good interview with a beer distributing company hiring an entry level trainee position. The first thing the guy in the interview said to me was '' i wish you had more experience'' After about an hour into the interview they found out about my background and liked it. Before I owned my own Businesses, I was a union carpenter then a project manager. They liked that I had all my OSHA classes and I was a certified trainer, and had safety meetings every week with all the trades. They also liked that I owned my own retail business ( i had 2 bait and tackle shops ) They asked for a lot of customer experience. They said they really liked me and would like to hire me but they do an extensive back ground check. My only worry about that is they do a credit check and depending on what credit bureau they go through my score is between 610-650. So I am a bit worried about that. The guy that did the interview with me was a big fisherman and after the interview he walked me out to my car and we talked about fishing for about 45min. He actually ended up being from Chicago too! I had a guy in an interview ask me, '' Since you have been in FL have you been employed? '' I told him, Well I have owned my own business isn't that being employed? He proceeded on by saying, no a real job! lol... I told him I could show him my business licenses and a 1099 with the important stuff blacked out of course. I refuse to show anyone a W-2 !! I guess to sum it up is I really do not want to go OTR. I have heard so many horror stories about trainers and the big mega carriers, I live a very healthy life style I eat very healthy and I am in the gym 6 days a week, I know some truck stops have gyms in them but I can't count on that. I know that truck driving is not for everybody I get it! I have buddies in Chicago that drive and never spent one day over the road. I read everything I can, most everyone says you need the OTR experience and some do not. I think I will give it another month or so and if I can't find anything I will head back to Chicago. Thanks for taking the time to read I just wanted to share my story!

 

Sorry I think I posted in the wrong section!

 

I ended up getting a local job here in Florida with a good company, I start orientation on Monday

 

I must have heard no experience at least 30 times! I was determined to get a local job! I have a very clean background, and a clean driving record so that helped out a lot! The job I got is the one I wanted so I'm stoked. Do you have any experience? Look into all the beer distributing companies in your area, local tanker companies. I am not sure if you have trimac in your are they will hire and train, be persistent that's what I did. There is a company out there that will hire you! The company I got hired with, I went and talked to drivers that I would see delivering and talked to them about the company. About 70% I talked to said they were very happy there. I also heard the turn over rate is very high because you bust your butt and people just want to drive and that is it! Keep at it and hopefully you can stay local!