Will a company hire me if I have been long term unemployed

Try TransAm out of Olathe KS. They are the "We are Marshall-we'll take anybody" of the trucking industry. Ask for Jonette Owens in recruiting.

 

I'd say it's got a lot to do with the employment market where you live.

I live in a (relatively) high unemployment area, so my employer can be choosy. Any gaps in employment for previous 10 years must be documented by military deployment, work place injury or college/university transcripts. No more than 3 jobs in the past 5 years. Good credit, clean abstract, nothing that would preclude crossing international borders, etc etc etc.

As choosy as they are, I understand why. They would not consider giving a half-million dollars of equipment and freight to someone with nonverifiable work history. Heck, they won't hire drivers who haven't filed their taxes, since it demonstrates a basic disrespect for the social contract.

 

If you've been working the whole time your resume isn't blank, being self employed it would have more on it than somebody that was an employee. I was an IT Contractor for over 10 years and took what I've done, translated it into a resume, did the best I could with dates and job descriptions and explained that that's what it was and that some job descriptions and dates would overlap due to having multiple concurrent contracts. In the job description where it said my title it was always "Independent Contractor" or "Self Employed" One of them was my sole contract for almost 4 years and their no longer in business. I brought them a copy of a 1099 with 90% of it redacted just enough so they could tell I was paid by them. Wasn't in issue. A lot of explaining to do as they weren't used to that but not a problem in the end. Corporate and their 3rd party verification company was clueless but the terminal manager is cool so it wasn't a big deal.

 

1.The BOLD part sounds really really fishy to me.. I would guess you were doing something illegal..
2. I can't believe anyone would go to school with out getting pre-hires 1st..
3. most decent companies want at least a 3 yrs verifiable work history ..

 

Your explanation sounds fishy. First, don't lie, that's the most important thing of all. They will find out. Companies have services and computer data they buy and all they have to do is press a button on their computer and they can find out your credit history, tax info, tickets, criminal record, etc. Everything about you is out there and available you can believe that. Women raise kids for 20 years without holding a "real" job, go to school, and get jobs every day of the week. Just say you haven't been in the workforce and haven't been employed in a d.o.t. regulated industry for how every many years on your statement. Making up some phony baloney story about being a web designer isn't the thing to do.

There have been posts about women, and men, who stay home and raise kids for several years. People leave the workforce and take care of their elderly parents for a certain number of years. People get an inheritance, and decided to leave the workforce and enjoy life for 5 years, whatever. And they all have gotten jobs in trucking after doing this. The most important thing is don't lie about it or try to make up some b.s. story about being a web designer or some excuse story. Own your time you took off from the workforce, be proud of it, and go from there. Just say you weren't working and weren't in the workforce during that period of time, it's not complicated.

If you are honest, don't have tickets or a criminal history, I would say your chances of getting a trucking job are about 99.9%.

 

Did you pay taxes ? What kind of proof do have ? Piece work and no proof ? You'll know if you try..

 

I wouldn't worry about it at all to be honest. Sure you might not get on at the best trucking company in the world but they wouldn't hire you anyway fresh out of CDL school. You could tell them you spent the last decade playing video games in your mothers basement and you'd be good to go for 99% of the companies that would hire a driver just out of school.

 

I'm gonna guess he was working on porn websites.....

 

I was self employed for 20 years. I brought 10 years of tax forms with me to orientation. The company I hired on with didn't even look at them. They made me write a note that said I was self employeed for my personal file. That was it. Didn't even need it notorized... But I came prepared with documentation of it... Just in case