New Guy with questions!

I am new to truck driving, live in Orange County, Cali, clean driving record and good work history. My one flaw? 5+ year old felony (mail fraud) I'll tell my side of the short story and let the judging begin. I was in the mortgage business and a client fudged some income numbers to purchase a home. He ultimately lost his home and the bank QC'd the file and determined there was fraud. I was the loan officer who signed the loan application therefore I was the one who gets the blame. No excuses from me, a law was broken and I paid the price.

I have done some research and called around to a few companies and understand that I will be limited on job offers. I will have to wait at least another 18 months to apply for Hazmat or TWIC and probably not be able to cross the border to the North. (although I have had 3 background checks in the last 5 years and all have come back clean) However its out there and I own it.

Werner, Western Express and May Trucking told me that it wouldn't be an issue with them because of the age and nature of the charge so there is hope to get this new career started! I realize that pay will be low and home time will be rough but it's only a year and I will be able to look at other opportunities.

I am looking for your opinions and experience related information on this. Am I destined to work for the bottom feeder companies to start or is there another way?

Any and all info is helpful and appreciated!

BTW, I can pay for my CDL training if necessary.

 

Hardened criminal, ya that's me. Haha. You would of thought I killed someone with the way the US attorney treated me. He was begging the judge to give me 12 months in prison. WTH?? When someone finds out and asks what I did, they always say "That's a felony??" Why yes, yes it is!

 

Thank for the input Joseph and KW. I know that most people like to post rants about bad companies and that accounts for most of what you get. That exists in every industry. One person thinks its the best company ever and the next thinks they should all be shot. It all has to be rationalized by expectations. I'm not looking to get rich and I understand that you cannot start out at middle management in a new career. Everyone has to pay their dues. I have talked about this with my family (supportive wife and 2 great boys) I have been fortunate to be home for them more than most fathers I know up to this point even been their football coach for a couple of years. They accept the fact that I most likely will only be home a couple of days a month for a year or so.

I have read in the forums about May not being a terrible company to start with. I will put them on the top of the list for now.

Question: If I start out with a company close to me and end up moving to a different state were they do not have a hub, will that totally screw me on hometime? Should I plan on looking for a different company if I move? How does that work?

 

I know what you mean. I worked in the loan business for a while and the major banks were the worst. They would have reps come into our office and try and tell us that we should just have the borrowers sign the forms and let the bank rep and underwriter figure out what should be on them. Uh, Ok. That doesn't sound shady at all.... They know that its not their butts on the line but ours.

As far as finding something local, I have called around and most need some sort of experience. I'll keep asking around. Although I don't mind putting in a year OTR. I almost took a job working for a cell tower company that would have me out of town for a month at a time.

Anyone know of outfits in SoCal that I should check out?