Tips for finding a good local job

I always look at the employees parking lot, sounds stupid but hear me out. If you see a lot of nice cars, trucks, motorcycles ect. then they are making money not just paycheck to paycheck. If the drivers are driving pos hoopties then keep looking.

 

Yep. Cars with red tail light lens tape, duct taped bumpers, donut spare used as every day tires, headliners falling down.

 

Good advice, but not universally true. I know drivers making over 90k driving cars from the 90s with over 200k miles on them. Some drivers don't care about flashy toys, myself included. And some of them just keep the expensive stuff at home in the garage.

I'd say take an average. If you see an equal amount of big tricked-out pickup trucks and Harleys as older daily-drivers, it is a good sign they're making good dough.

 

There's a lot of factors that goes into finding a good local job.

1. Location - Do you live in a densely populated area or out in boonies in the middle of nowhere.

2. Commute time - Are you willing to commute an hour one way or something within minutes of your home.

3. Experience level - Do you have 1-2 years or more experience, because for the most part, the highly sought after jobs usually require experience. The high turnover rate jobs might have training for new students or offer sign on bonuses to entice new drivers.

4. Physical Labor - Most local jobs involve some type of physical labor, such as foodservice or LTL P&D, unless you have a Linehaul or drop and hook/live unload type of job.

5. Starting payrate - Union jobs usually have a progressive payscale, so you may have to wait years before you start making the big bucks.

6. Benefits - Are you looking for jobs with the best benefits/free healthcare.

And so on and so forth....

Googling which company your interested can help, but it's funny how TTR usually is one of the first sights listed, so using that search engine on the top can answer a lot of questions. You can also check out Indeed.com or Glass door, because they also have reviews and salary on companies you're interested in as well.

 

Simple Google search. Stop and talk with one of the drivers. Research the company through the safety database. For me, it was always looking at the equipment, and the drivers in them. Not painting with a broad brush, but saying it like it is.

 

Looking up the SMS stats often tells you a lot about a company.

That, the pay scale and the customers they serve can often tell you all you need to know about a company even without knowing anything else. Not always, but often.

 

I went thru the same thing a few years ago. Couldn't find any info on the company at all.

As others mentioned, CSA/SMS. Just don't get too anal with it, as a small company can rack up a bad score with few violations. Speeding, etc, no biggie. But equipment violations were most important IMO.

But the biggest factor for me was simply gut feeling. Office building was spotless, HR & other office employees were friendly and laid back.

I snuck over to their loading facility and talked to someone there who worked with the drivers (only three drivers and none there at the time). Got a good impression there too.

It ended up being a great place to work, but left after a few years for a day cab job.

 

Talk to their drivers. unfortunately you can't learn everything typing on a keyboard.

 

My gittin' to work vehicle is a '72 GMC. Don't much care to track diesel fuel and yard dirt into the new truck, and no matter how hard I try, I can't keep 5th wheel grease off my clothes because some Yahoo greases the glad hands on our dollies with it. Wipes right off the duct tape patching the seat.