Will employment history keep me from entering the trucking industry??

Some companies will hire you. Some won't. I was self employed before trucking and so had no employer references. A couple of companies asked to see my tax returns and I told them to get lost. I ended up at Swift. The recruiter told me point blank they don't care about that.

The DOT makes trucking companies request ten years of driving references if you've been a trucker for that long, and three years of employment history whether trucking or not. What the companies do with the info is up to them. They may want to know how you've been supporting yourself if you weren't working for so long and may even ask for proof. A gap in employment history is red flag that you may have been in prison somewhere (which some companies are OK with and some are not).

 

its not going to effect you like stated above some companies will cry some wont at the end of the day you will have to hand in a few more apps but youll get a job no doubt and while your in school you can get the ball rolling by calling them up if your in a big city i would defiently start with ltl companies first abf ups fed ex saia estes dayton old dominion and go from there those companies pay very well in trucking

 

You will be questioned closely by companies for why you have huge amounts of time between employment. As the other poster said, gaps that big indicate prison incarceration etc. I think that your situation with providing home health aide type assistance to your aging family is outstanding, there is no problem here with me. My ex provides me with support of that type now and then while I return the favor in form of problem solving and additional driving when necessary for her so she does not have to. Little Rock takes alot out of her when she has to drive to the VA and stay there all day.

You will need some time in trucking school. Understand from the beginning that you will be taught a minimum. Barely enough to get past the State's CDL Examination and road test. It's really hard to explain just how raw and green you will be starting out with just this statement, your first year to 18 months with the industry is unbelievably dangerous to you because companies today simply fire you and then record your situation into DAC over preventable things that do damage and cost money. You might find yourself unhireable for months and years if at all with certain problems.

You will want to be very careful who you hire on, companies do abuse newbies because the newbies do not know anything and will cheerfully be abused until they quit in 90 days completely burned out, if they did not kill someone or someones first.

You will discover that there are problems that cause you to become afraid in trucking somewhere, at that point you have to overcome that fear and push through it because the industry has no room or time for those who cry tears and want someone to hold their hand. You have been around in life many years, but trucking will present you with some things that you would prefer not to deal with at all. If you were for example to come to memphis and try to sleep in the truckstop there, you might be interrupted by hookers knocking on your door several times a hour. And the hookers are frightful, they are not pretty at all. No sir. Memphis is not exactly a nice place and there are several like it around the USA.

I encourage you to learn how to drive with a manual and not a automatic. If you did, the state will not put a restriction on your license, believe it or not those are a bad thing, restrictions. Manuals will be around a long time yet and in some cases are better than automatics. However after you got your school and so on, should you have a nice automatic that accepts a manual mode for downgrade mountain work you will love that thing in the worst NYC traffic. They have gotten pretty beautiful when it comes to preventing or reducing driver being tired all day.

You are going to run into all kinds of people. Unwashed people all the way up to insufferable suited types who are full of themselves and consider you a annoying waste of their time. You will learn many little things about taking for example, shower shoes and 10% bleach disinfecting into showers that are still wet and not very well cleaned before it's your turn. You will learn about many laws, it is so easy to be prosecuted, Jailed, ticketed, fined, told to go away and so on you would think that the whole industry must fail from the avalanche of problems of that kind. However thankfully with the right trainer who teaches you all you can learn, you can manage and avoid many of these problems.

You said you want tanker work. That's awesome. I'll tell you how to drive a tanker. Put a cup of large mcdonald's coffee on the floor of the tractor in front of the gear shift. Without a lid. Drive until you don't spill that full cup. Presto you are now qualified to run a tanker without sloshing and spilling everything. It is literally that simple on one hand and maybe as very complicated as a load of acid and hazmat rules in bypassing a city on certain routes and so on on the other hand.

Tanker is fun. Compared to the problems you might run into with all other modes of trucking, particularly reefer. I like reefer because I learned on it before anything and too young or stupid to understand that reefer has problems then. Bulk tanker is even more fun. Add air and hoses, empty it. Go reload. Repeat. Make lots of money.

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, Trucking is a journey. You support America with trucking. it is bigger than yourself. It's fun. Lots of fun when you realize that it's sunrise coming up cabbage today and all the poor schmucks are trapped in rush hour racing to be further trapped in office cubicles micromanaged by insufferable tyrannical bosses over every little thing. The whole American west would be your work place by day and night. you are free. (Within limits of dispatch and money)

Have fun. IF you do, many problems will not bother you at all. Enjoy!

 

Depends on the company. I have been selfemployed for over a year, they want to see my 1099's, or billing statements and copies of checks. Some have said as long as I can have 2 people vouch for me, I am good. Others said if it is not on a 1099 for this year, or on my tax returns for previous years, they won't take me.
You have to call around and ask what is, or is not accepted as proof. You may be able to get family members to vouch and be good.

 

What you should do is ask your grandfather to write a letter saying you took care of him for 6 yrs and put the year down.You'll need to account for the gaps in your work and unemployment history.