Second thoughts…

I viewed trucking as a dumb parlor trick that paid the bills for years.

I don't have trucking in my veins. I tolerated the entire experience because it turned lucrative.

Now I'm 19 years in, I have a career in a field I'm skilled in, and the money is flowing pretty well.

And at my current company? I might even admit to kinda liking my job finally.

There are a lot of different roads you can take to find happiness in this industry. You never quite know.

 

You might have heard to be successful whether at a job or anything else that you need to surround yourself with like minded people

If you hang out with all the negative people complaining about trucking in this case then you eventually will see what they do even if it’s not there
If you hang with and learn from those making it then the opposite will be true

The only part of this that will have to totally come from you is whether you like the job itself or if the juice is worth the squeeze

There’s a reason why some are broke Az broke and others making money and still in demand

I personally treat every load like it’s my best and when things slow down do you think agents would rather work with a pleasant person or that guy who complained or gave back jobs to grab a better one?
When it’s busy anyone can make a buck but when things slow then the agents will pick those who do their work

Don’t sit at the round table and listen to all the bad whether that’s at a TS or right here.

 

Recognize the answers from recruiters are not binding on anyone, especially the trucking company. Imagine the recruiter for the US Army telling a recruit "you can sleep in until 9am once you get to basic training". Now imagine telling your drill sergeant "hey drill sergeant, I can sleep in, my recruiter said so." You'll be doing push-ups until next week.

 

As others have stated a lot of this is dependant on You

The biggest mistake I see new drivers that would otherwise make it, is not doing thier research, then compounding that by jumping ship too early because they are unwilling to live with thier mistake long enough to become more desirable to a better company.

 

Here's my scoop: No matter where you start, you're gonna be micromanaged. That is part of the complaints you hear. The next one (and probably the biggest complaint) is that you aren't getting home for nearly a month once you leave for orientation. You can only bring so much with you to hop in a trainer's truck, and you're gonna be out for 2-3 weeks after orientation before you are even considered for home time. The final straw is that a lot of these "training" companies have relative rookies training newbies for nothing more than an extra logbook and more pay. You won't learn much from them, but if you get a trainer that's actually trying to train you, cherish it and soak it up like a sponge.

With that said, stick out a year, no matter what. Yeah, some days will suck, some weeks will suck, and even some months will suck. Heck, the entire year might suck, but you now have shown future employers that you have the fortitude to stick it out and don't bail the first time the truck breaks or the shipper is late, or your home time target date was missed by a day. If you do that and can keep your record clean (no violations, failed inspections, or accidents), the world is your oyster, and you might be calling a company like ours and finding a good career without having to jump to a million companies to find what works for you, because the ones willing to hire a job-hopper aren't the places you want to be

Good luck, stay the course, and reap the rewards down the road..

 

Unless a company is expanding, those that constantly advertise in all the publications and have the slick recruiting are doing it for a reason, like they can’t keep drivers. Probably a good reason the can’t.

 

Absolutely.

 

Always remember that recruiters are sales people. Some of them will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you in the seat.