What kind of questions should I be asking employers?

Recruiters are all eager to tell what you get paid for. Ask them what you will have to do that you DON'T get paid for.

 

On second thought, don't ask that. They might think you are too smart to work there and not hire you!

 

You're correct, I don't have my HazMat yet but I passed the test and now I'm just waiting for my background check to clear (which it should since my record is clean).

@Chinatown Those definitely aren't the only companies I'm going to apply to, I'm going to apply to anybody and everybody I can think of.

Thanks for the replies you guys/gals. My instructor bumped my test date to next Tuesday, a full 2 weeks sooner than my previous test date. So now I have to double time it on getting those applications out there.

 

How strict is your accident policy? Some companies, when you're new, will fire you, for having an accident, even if it's something like taking out a mailbox or high hooking a trailer in the yard.

 

I'd ask how fast the trucks run and if they won't run the posted speed limit,mainly 70mph,i would run from them. why start out and grow to hate trucking due to ALWAYS being in the slow trucker cluster?

 

Cwr327.... Greetings and welcome to the show. Here's a friendly piece of advice from a guy who's got 25+ years in the game. Try to get on with Schneider Tanker. They will train you (from how I'm understanding it). But more important you'll gain valuable tank experience that can possibly lead to other better paying jobs. But make no mistake and have no illusions, you will have to put some serious windshield and seat time in. Relax and take your time and whenever you feel intimidated remember that that all of us veteran drivers were also rookies too at one point. Good luck bud.

 

Hey jakkyl, thanks for your reply. I'd like to go OTR for 1 or 2 years and then decide if I want to find something local. I talked to a Scheider recruiter but I only told her that I was interested in dry van and reefer. She said they have no solo OTR positions available for someone with my experience but I could do their regional 11 western states. It's 30 cpm starting and 35 cpm after first year. 2 weeks on 2 days off.

This didn't sound all that appealing, but maybe I should ask her about their tanker division.

 

It's probably a bit dumb, but paid holidays are a pretty important benefit to me. I figure people in the office and shops get them, so if a company can't be bothered to extend that same courtesy the drivers, they must not think very highly of them.

Same goes for paid vacation.

 

Yes and no. I had all of my endorsements while I had a permit, the difference is that they are not all applied to the permit as you pointed out. They are basically "pending" completion of attaining a CDL A.

I know, semantics...