I have 9 months local driving experience...that was back in 2007, i went back to college and now decided to get back into trucking. Im 27 years old, no one will hire me because i have no recent driving experience. I have decided to go with swift, as i understand it i will have to go OTR for 4-6 with a trainer. After that im told i can pick a "comfort zone", and be home weekly. Just curious if anyone out there has any insight on this, or is the recruiter just telling me what i want to hear? I plan on staying with swift just long enough to find something where im home on weekends and eventually everyday. Any information/input would be helpful...thanks
Yes you can drive only a comfort zone if you choose but beware your options on loads will be VERY limited. Either you want to make money or you want to be home every weekend. You can't have both just starting out. I would suggest that if you being gone is an issue you need to choose a different career.
Yeah jujitsu said it! The temp you with the home on the weekends to get you in there and when you complain about miles and money then they will tell you that you have to run 4 weeks out if you want to make the big miles. Plus on those home for the weekends deals you end up delivering and picking up everyone's loads that are running the miles. The recruiter isn't necessarily lying he just isn't telling you like it is. Tell him you need to make $1200.00 a week and see what he recommends you do.
I just graduated from Swift Academy in Phoenix. A couple of our instructors told us that recruiters and driver managers went to used car salesman school. We lost a couple people the first day because recruiters gave them bad info. Mine almost cost me a grand by not informing me of a veterans discount. We had a guy in class that had his CDL a few years ago and let it drop. He had to go through the same course as the rest of us. Be prepared for that. Even if you still have yours,without recent experience you may have to jump thru some hoops to get hired. Mostly skills test I believe. Docking between two trailers for sure. We have to do that when we come back from our mentors. If we can't I think we get to practice for a week! On our time. Happy Trails!!
I'm usually out 4 weeks at a time. They say if you want to make money you can't be home weekends. My last 2 weekends were spent sitting last weekend in cranbury nj and the weekend before in el paso tx.....so I fail to see the advantage of being out 4 weeks straight if I'm spending my weekends not driving and not being at home.
If you want to get home once a week,put in for a dedicated regional account.You will be close enough to your home that you can take your reset there.Downside is that reset also counts as your hometime so if you want to be home for a few days in a row you have to wait till you get one year in,then you qualify for vacation time.Dedicated means you are working for one company so you will always end up picking up back at the same location.The runs are short but your pay per mile is higher 44cpm and they will keep you running.My son has been on a dedicated regional for 3 months and they keep him moving all the time.I don't know if it will slow down after Christmas...we will see.
If you want to make money and be home weekly, your only real options are a dedicated account with a big fleet or driving for a small fleet like I do. My dispatcher usually gets me home every week for my reset but this last time I was out 12 days and ended up recapping before my reset this weekend but that included two nights coming through El Paso to do my 10hr break so I got to spend some extra time at home. Running this way I take home between $700-1000/week which is good money for the El Paso area. My last job was at Walmart and after 7 years and working as a reciever I was lucky to take home $700/bi-weekly. We get a lot of weekend runs that go through El Paso. Like the one I'm under now. It picked up on Wednesday in Reno, NV and delivers on Monday in San Antonio, TX. Or runs that pick up in Arkansas or Oklahoma and deliver in Arizona or California and have extra time on them. Really only worth taking if you live in El Paso at the halfway point. So we pick them up.
At this point in life im not concerned with making crazy amounts of money, just enough to pay the bills..which arent many - so yes i would like to be home on weekends or every 10 days or so if i can, im just trying to get recent experience so that i can get a local driving position, since i havent driven in a few years my options are limited..i will do what i have to do, but if i have the option to make a less money yet cover my expenses and be home i would rather do that...just looking to gain recent experience at this point
