Trying to break into Trucking at 61

Just go to a private school and pay out of pocket or get state assistance for it. Once you graduate with a CDL you'll have no trouble finding a job

 

Arthritis in your hip kept you from looking for work but you want to drive a truck for 10 hours a day? Good luck

 

Right hip replaced and fully recovered..maybe you missed that part?

@Kepeck27
I suspect that the reason you’re getting rejected is because of your recent work history..

If you can’t fully document your history it’ll be tough getting on with a mega..

As another suggested, get your CDL from a private school and go from there.

 

What is your location?

 

@Kepeck27 --

Schneider veteran here...

My latest gig: hazmat tanker duty--hauling fuel. Home daily.

Like you, when I first started...I had a pretty stealthy job history....& getting hired by a first carrier was rather tough.

Suggestion: with that said--& to get past that roadblock--do as suggested above, & go to CDL school privately at a community college or tech school, nearby.

Advantages:

• You won't get fed the material/info in firehose fashion. Learning there is more relaxed.
• The quality of the instruction is often better.
• When you finish/graduate--you exit to a truly level playing field (like I did)--with no contractual commitments to any specific carrier. You are indeed a free bird.

When I graduated with my CDL, I later went out into a job market with pretty good freight volumes.

You, on the other hand....will be graduating into the current freight volume slump. And your hiring experience will probably reflect that.

To turn the tables on this problem--when you get your CDL--go ahead, & get ALL the CDL endorsements--tanker, hazmat, & also....doubles/triples. A TWIC card wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

The above endorsements will help you stand out from other rookie applicants.

Later on--those endorsements will be also door-openers, & money-makers for you.

As requested above--tell us what city/state you are nearest--& the Forum can then make more specific/better suggestions.

-- Lual

 

Pay for a private local school, then I would Try the local building supply stores you used to use when you were a contractor and try to get a job delivering to job sites

 

Having a multi-year gap in employment is probably the issue. Most newbies seem to focus only on getting a "free" CDL and then only think about an employer as an afterthought. This just feeds to 80-90% drop-out rate for 1st year CDL holders. You need to identify specifically what are your home time requirements, income requirements, or if you get home. Most newbies come into the forum asking the equivalent of "what should I eat?". The answer is it depends on if you want a meal, a snack, a meal subscription plan, etc. You need to be able to trade off your ideal preference in home time, for example, with the freuqnecy of getting home. Or, how much weekly income would you give up to get home more often or how much money extra per week is necessary to consider not getting home as often, but stay home longer when you do get home. When you pick an employer to focus on, and eventually get hired, you are picking your income, working conditions, type of freight, sometimes region where you mostly drive, what type of insurance, etc., etc.. The way you succeed is to have those details worked out in your mind and then shop for the best employer that meets most or all of those goals in your area. Nobody can answer where you should work until they know all the answers and te relative weighting of each of your preferences.

If you don't have the answers in your mind before you pick a company and you just pick a company based on recommendations you are likely to pick a company that doesn't fit you, which makes the stress and strange working conditions of trucking much more stressful and quit after an especially bad day or two. Avoid CR England like molten glass in your underwear.

Here's a long answer about why you should pick the trucking company first and only then decide about how to get the CDL. Almost anyone can get the CDL, but the goal is to work at a place that fits you, not me, not someone else, but you. If I forced you to wear $5,000 Italian hand-crafted loafers that fit me, but not you, the expense and the care with which they were made is irrelevant. Your feet hurt when you wear them. You wouldn't recommend a man go buy a "Getting Married" package from a church, caterer, flowers, limo, etc and then only accidentally hope to meet a woman on your way to the chapel on the big day. CDL school is not college, it's not a network from which you will get all future jobs. It's a 3 week course to pass a state exam and then begin the real training at your first company. Almost nobody taking a 3 week CDL course is prepared to work in the industry based on that 3 week course. 95% of the stuff you need to know and do in trucking is taught to you at your first employer.

Money for CDL Training

Every new CDL driver needs Tanker endorsement.