Rejected by 2 carriers...WTF

Carriers use hireright dot com for background checks, and if you were rejected because of info from hireright then hireright is obligated by law to give you a free copy of that report. Also, hireright will give you one free copy per year anyway, without obligation. Or you can buy a copy at any time ($10 last I bought one). So the question is were you rejected by what you confessed to on your job app or by what was on your background check? IMO you should not confess to anything not on your background check, and incidents that have been expunged shouldn't be on your background check so don't confess. There are two levels of your records, there is the one that the public has access to, such as your potential employer, which doesn't show offenses that have been expunged; then there is the deeper level which only judges and certain law enforcement has access to. You should only confess to whatever is on the publicly available record. Don't confess to an arrest that is not on your record.

I was helping my cousin, who had a recent meth conviction followed by successful rehab, apply to the biggest US mega-carrier and they told him they couldn't touch him until 10 years after the conviction. So, since all of your history is over 10 years old it shouldn't be a problem, unless the carrier requires that you run Canada. Canada won't let you in if you have ever had a DUI or been in a fight and lord only knows what else. Canada is ultra left, so first offense DUI is a felony there, and getting into a fight or self defense is a serious no-no with lefties. To find out if you can run in Canada I suggest you apply for a passport; our gov't will ask you when you apply where you intend to travel and why, and you reply you want to go to Canada as a class A CDL driver to deliver and pick up freight. The US gov't will abide by Canadian policy as to whether you will be cleared for Canada or not. If you are issued a passport under these disclosures, then you can be sure your record will not keep you out of Canada, so you may apply to carriers that go there, but just don't confess on your job app about your expunged records. I strongly advise you don't run Canada or California due to draconian punishments for minor offenses, even minor traffic offenses. For example, in California, if you are accused of over hours on your log book, or falsification, it is a felony punishable by prison time, and they do send drivers to prison (Google it). IL and NV will also give you felonies and prison time for same. I read where IL is a minimum of 1 yr to a maximum of 3 yrs for log book felonies (over hours or falsification). I got a ticket in CA for not being current on log in 1998 and the fine was $1600; my lawyer told me I was lucky because this was the minimum fine for logs in CA. Draconian IMO!! As soon as I had the matter disposed I quit and now only work for carriers that don't go to California. My buddies shipper neglected to circle the X on a hazmat bill of lading, and he didn't catch it either, but then the scale he crossed told him they had singled him out for inspection because he had hazmat placards, and they did notice the X wasn't circled and the fine was $1300 in 1999. Draconian IMO !! Everybody on this forum can tell some California stories of their own. And you might think you will just run an honest log and avoid that but the log rules are so complicated that the debating and court appeals and legal challenges never end. So its not simply what your safety director advises you is proper on logs but what is interpreted by the officer who stops you. I would opine that there is not a truck or driver out there that I cannot find a violation on if I use standards as picky as California; if all else fails I can always find a minor rub mark on an air line and there is your out of service violation right there; their criteria is situational depending on whether they like or don't like your attitude or race or whether their quota is on target. As a rookie you will be under legal siege, so run legal to the best of your ability, study the FMCSA green book in your spare time, and join Interstate Trucker for legal representation. Don't admit to anything when stopped and turn all tickets over to Interstate Trucker the same day you get them, and, believe me, the tickets will come even if you are a good boy. If you can muster any defense whatsoever then you will advise Interstate Trucker of your possible defense. You may go to trial or you might be plea bargained, but do let a lawyer handle all tickets or you wont be a driver for very long because even if you are a good boy the tickets will come. The lawyer who heads Interstate Truckers says, "Trucks are a magnet for tickets". Nuff said.

Further, small carriers with only a few trucks, or even a dozen trucks, are much more accepting than the mega-carriers are, so it will be easier for you to get hired. You will never find anywhere an entity that has refined the art of "bait and switch" recruiting and stealing from your paycheck as you will with mega-carriers. Corporations are lean mean profit seeking machines with no conscience, and the lowest of the low are the Corporations in the trucking business . Over the decades they have all refined the art of huckster recruiting methods and stealing from drivers paychecks, and if an executive gleans knowledge of new improved methods in these kinds of illicit profits then he travels the circuit as kind of a hired gun to the various mega-carriers, so there are no secrets between the carriers. So take a tip, don't fall for the lies and hype in the recruiting BS of big carriers. Whatever is promised in the recruiting magazines is going to be, as a rule of thumb, about half of what they promise; so if they promise 3 days at home per month you should figure on 3 days every two months, but only if you scream and fight for it, and then on your second day home they will call you with a hot load, not just any load but this is a dream load with one pick and one drop and a sweet long 2000 mile run on interstates, but if you sucker for it and leave home early then suddenly once you are in the truck and notify dispatch you are back on duty then that load will mysteriously have evaporated and now they have to dispatch you for 4 picks and a short 150 mile haul on secondary roads to 8 drops in San Francisco (or something similiar, I am just trying to make a point here about dont sucker to leave home early for a sweet load that is only being used as bait, its a common scam). I have worked for a few mega-carriers ( those with over 1000 trucks) and the bigger they were the less I liked working for them.

Most of all I would ask you to re-think why you might want to enter an occupation that has an average of over 100% turnover? The turnover really tells the tale of working conditions in any given industry IMO. Did you know Boeing in Seattle only has a 5% turnover? (pre-2007 depression stats). But if the lure of the road and chrome on the trucks is in your blood, and you just have to have that big hood out in front of you (hopefully with some chrome with the city behind you and over 100 satellite stations on your radio and no boss looking over your shoulder and no office politics, then at least go with a small mom and pop carrier, and preferably one that isn't family run because family run means everybody in their family is your boss (heck I worked for for a small carrier where the owner had to hire his brother in law as a CPA and on day one it was announced the CPA had authority to fire drivers, and such is the nonsense with family run carriers).

And finally, before you apply, sure to look up a carriers safety stats here: http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx
Look at the vehicle maintenance score; a higher score is worse. A score of 25 means they have failed 25% of however many inspections they have had in the last six months interval. The site will tell you how many inspections they have had, how many accidents and their severity, how many tractors and drivers they have and so much more. The drivers score is how many of the drivers failed their personal inspection (usually log book violations) in the most recent 6 month interval. The scores are renewed in late Oct and again 6 months later. If a score is as high as 45 then the DOT officer at the scale you cross will be major motivated to spot check you, so if your carrier has a score of 45 expect to spend some time in inspections. If their score is 75 or higher then the DOT officer HAS to inspect you, no choice about it, if there is available man-power to do so at his scale. A carrier I worked for had a driver score of 79 which cause me to get spot checked at a small one man scale in Oregon, and from him is where I learned about the website and the protocol I mentioned above. Although he was a one man scale he told me he figured he could audit my logs as he keep an eye on weights of trucks crossing his scale. So carriers with high scores will be more desperate to hire you because applicants shy away from high safestat scores, but you really should hold out for a carrier with low scores. A carrier with a score of 30 on maintenance is doing a pretty good job IMO. If a carrier has a driver score of 45 or more then I would probably be assuming that they are pushing their drivers to run illegal; this has been my experience with carriers with high drivers scores. Typically no one will actually tell you to break the log law, but will instead impress on you over and over how important it is that your load be on time. You should be responsible and push to get the load there on time but do it legally. The future belongs to the drivers who have the self discipline to be a professional, to do things right, to do things legal. No load is as important as your safety and your life and your clean CDL record, so just let 'em sing their songs about "on time" and remember its all just kind of a political thing on their end, its what they have to say in their job, but its not what you have to take seriously. You are the captain of your ship and don't ever forget what happened to the Titanic whose captain was pushed to run faster than his own judgment would have allowed. Okay, I will get off my stump now, but good luck to you.

 

I had a DUI in 1981 when I was young and dumb.....It still shows on my MVR today.
I have had a couple places ask about it but was not refused the job.

For some reason the NCDMV sends out your lifetime driving record.

I think the other charges if drug related are the problem.

 

How about your DMV report? You got some tickets?

 

Do you have any proof of this? Show me where a driver went to jail for a log error in either CA,NV, or IL.

 

If you qualify for free CDL training you should do it and not give up. Somebody will hire you. Some people have better luck talking to companies in person and being honest with them.

 

Try Western Express! Are you still drinking?

 

You have no DAC report from hire right !!!!!

You have to work for a company first !!!

 

DAC contains information that is reported from subscribing carriers. If you have never worked as a truck driver, then there is nothing for them to report. In fact, not all carriers subscribe to DAC. It is mostly the larger carriers who use DAC. You need to read any application over carefully and only give them what is requested. If a charge was dismissed, then there should be nothing to report. Most applications ask about any violations or criminal convictions within a specific time period. If your charges did not happen within the time frame listed, the you are not required to list it. I would not expect anything that happened before the age of 18 to be accessible to anyone, since those files are usually sealed. I am not telling you to lie. I believe in being truthful and upfront. However, I also see no need to offer information that was never requested. If an application ask if you have "ever" been convicted of a crime then you are obligated to disclose it. If they ask about the last 3 years and you have a clean record for that time, then you don't need to list it. We all make mistakes in life. I don't think we need to pay for those mistakes for the rest of our lives.