Question regarding experience.

Some companies recognize it and some don't. Several companies will hire you and put you with a trainer/observer for a while.On the applications put you're a intrastate flatbed driver; forget the dump trucks.
What type OTR trucking do you want? Where is your location; Tennessee? Put your location on your profile and drivers on this forum can point you in the right direction for a good job.
In the meantime, get a DOT physical and register it with the DMV.

 

I don't think the medical stuff relates to experience at all. However, since your medical status is now on most driving records, you may have to explain the whole government exempt thing when applying for outside jobs...

As far as experience goes, some companies look for verifiable experience. What they can actually verify one way or the other. Some companies go by how long you've 'held' a CDL, weather you've been driving or not.

So, as long as you're willing to have your future company call your present company, go for it... And you will have to have that physical before driving outside the government.

 

Hi TnTrucker, wait, let me get this straight. You are a govt. employee, probably make a decent wage, home every night, bene's up the ying-yang, no health card baloney and you want to give that up for these crooks out here that will take you for whatever you're worth, low pay, lousy benefit's, and no, generally these places don't take any previous experience, especially if there's a lapse of any kind. Stay where you're at. I don't have a very high opinion of the trucking industry right now, and I spent my entire working life around trucks.

 

McElroy Truck Lines has weekends home.

 

Are you state or federal? I'm federal, but we still require a medical card. But that's about it. Everything else, we're exempt from.

 

I assume you are not logging your govt job, bit if you have an outside job, that requires logging, you are supposed to log all time you work, even at a different job and that goes against your 70.

You might want to look into that so you don't get yourself in a bind.