Will anyone hire me after school with my criminal records?

IMO, the companies that hire drivers with the worst backgrounds are terrible places to work. They know that the driver knows he's got no options but to work for that company. This job is too stressful even if your employer isn't stealing your money and taking advantage of the driver. The industry is very very slow. There is no driver shortage, there is a push to sell CDL school slots to people and collect govt money and cash from loans with no regard to whether the driver ever gets hired or not. If you ask a barber if you need a haircut, the answer is always yes. He has bills to pay and you asked him if he wanted some money.

There are success stories, but there are also lottery winners. Playing the lottery is not a good bet. I'd say you will be better off not getting a CDL and waiting until the industry hiring picks up like it did before and the start of Covid. The industry was hiring everyone and still crying they needed more. Drivers with no difficulty in their background are not getting hired right now, or waiting months and months to get hired. Why would an employer with a pick of many applicants pick an applicant with difficulties. I understand why you want to work and assume you will be a model employee. I'm asking why would an employer with many choices pick someone with your record?

A stale CDL and a bad record will not make you more attractive to an employer. I always recommend you find the employer before you consider CDL school. You wouldn't jump off a tall building and then start looking around to make a parachute.

 

Same as @Ruthless said.

Try Cypress Truck Lines out of Jacksonville if you’re interested in flatbed work..here’s a link to their site.

Flatbed CDL-A Careers | Trucking Jobs Hiring | Cypress Truck Lines

And next time you rent a book from the library, return it on time, lol.

 

I don't know. I'm not expert on that. @Chinatown has a better feel about those things. He seems to keep up with every company's hiring practices.

One bad thing about this job is that you may be stuck doing nothing all week in a truck, far from home, and not make but a couple hundred dollars in a week. There's no guarantee that you will make more money with a CDL if the trucking company doesn't have freight to move. And with a CDL, especially over-the-road (OTR) job you really aren't available for a part-time job because you are just as likely to be stuck in some far away truck stop for a day or two or three as you are likely to be at home waiting on a phone call to start working.

My strongest advice to everyone is ignore that the recruiter tells you, especially the good stuff, and the company web site. Both are a sales pitch to attract drivers. There is no requirement the info be true. Find drivers working for a company and talk to them. Have them tell you what did you earn last week. How many miles did you get paid for last week. When do you start work and when do you end work each week, what schedule do you work. The info you get from people NOT DOING THAT JOB are just guesses. Those guesses may be old, or lies, or about a different part of the company. You need info about the pay, schedule, and working conditions you are walking into. Give you contact info to the company, request the info be given to a driver working on the same customer account that you will work for and ask him to describe all of the details. What he did last week, month will be more accurate than what the average of the top 5 highest paid drivers will be what you should expect.

 

I congratulate you on asking this question BEFORE you go to school and not after graduating and being turned down by numerous trucking companies, like about 95% of people with background issues posting on the forum. I hope you find a great job. Just keep doing the right thing every day. Sometimes it's not fun but it's setting you up for success.

 

I do recommend what the other guys are telling you. But I also say "Don't give up". Because one carrier might tell you no go to another and then another. Someone out there will believe in you. Show them you are working to get better and all that is in your past. This country is made up on second chances so you need to take advantage of that. Show the employer what you are doing and those mistakes are in the past.