Pay for your own CDL training or go through a companies training?

Bite the bullet and pay for your own CDL. If you look up the job corps, they may pay for your training.

I landed a good LTL job right out of school...but individual experiences will vary based on where you live and what companies are hiring.

Good luck.

 

Either way, you will pay for it in some way.

One difference; if you go with company paid training is that you are fairly certain to get a job with them once you graduate.
But if you leave before it is paid off, you will be held responsible for the bill. All or in part, depending on the company.

 

It depends on what you want and where you live, but I got my CDL on my own dime. I picked a school carefully and paid for it with a very low interest credit card. When I graduated I had more job options than I ever imagined - local (LTL, food service) or OTR. I ended up staying local, made over 60k my first year and was able to pay off that credit card balance in 6 months (while sleeping in my own bed every day and with 1 or 2 days off a week). For me, I would never want to be indebted to my employer (as in a "company sponsored" training arrangement) - that sounds like a recipe for an abusive relationship.

 

OP, I don't know you at all: age, work history, location education, goals. I would first look into getting a grant fist to go to a community college for your truck driving education. Pell Grants, WOTC, unemployment, state, and local grants and scholarships have put a lot of drivers through truck driving classes.

If that is not working for you I would say your next best choice is to sign on as a dock worker for a LTL or Package company and get them to pay for your CDL training.

If that is still not your style, pay out of pocket before signing on with mega company training. Some mega companies will pay you back but you won't have the obligation to work for them or sign their contracts. And, you can choose a much better training for your money then what the mega companies provide.

That said, I will give you 10 to 1 odds you will ignore all the good advice and sign on with some crappy 3 week training course at $7K and two years of work at a mega. Then come back here, after a handful of accidents, mishaps, and poor paychecks, and complain how you got screwed by said mega.

 

I was in this same situation a little over a month ago. I was trying to decide whether to go for company training to get my cdl or paying almost $6000 out of pocket. It took a lot of research of different companies and what they offered for training, the length of training, what i'd owe if I left etc. On the other side I had a school about an hour away that was M-F 8am-5pm for 7 weeks. This meant little to no income for those 7 weeks but in the end it would allow me a lot more freedom to do what I wanted & work for who I wanted. There are many companies now offering Tuition reimbursement to recoup your investment as well as a small sign on bonus. I choose to pay my own way. 3 1/2 weeks in I'm glad I did. I've interviewed about 10 companies so far (yes I interview them) and have narrowed it down to 2 that fir my criteria and situation. I feel that If I choose to go with a mega training company that I'd feel stuck and end up hating my job. Hope this helps..

-Abro

 

Forget the idea that a recruiter at your school is how you find a job. I thought that way too. You don’t need a recruiter and his speech to get a job. There’s a million jobs for new CDL holders. I found my job right here in this website and I had my own telephone recruiter after one call.