no experience, just got my cdl, jobs?

Congratulations on the CDL and welcome to the TTR Forum.

The bad news is with no OTR experience and no training, your chances of getting hired are slim and none with slim looking pretty unlikely.

About the only way you can hope to get hired is by going to driver training. Insurance requires experience or approved training.

Here's my standard copy and paste advice. It is aimed toward helping new drivers avoid common misconceptions, pitfalls and disappointments about the industry. I hope you find something of value in it.

You need to research and find out what the important questions are. You can make an above average living but you will make sacrifices that other jobs don't require. Read the "good companies" and "bad companies" section on this forum and get an idea of what company you want to work for and what kind of trailer you want to pull. Don't just go to school and then try to figure out where to go.

I don't know your financial situation. Don't take training from a company if you can afford it or get it with financial aid. You will be their slave for up to year. If you leave they will trash you DAC and credit record. Check out your local community colleges and employment office.

Just know that most training and trucking company recruiters will do nothing but lie to you. They will let you talk about what you want and then tell you what you want to hear. Trucking is about moving freight to make money for the company. Your home time, family, paycheck and everything else comes second.

It is not like any other job. Local is usually backbreaking delivery work 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week. Often you unload dozens of times a day or you are a salesman. In my area most dump truck jobs pay less than a good factory job. Regional is lots of loading and unloading time, fewer miles than OTR and not as hard as local but will wear on you and push your HOS limits. OTR is out 3 - 5 weeks with 3 - 4 days home, less manual labor and more miles.

You'll probably have to pay your dues before you get the gravy job. Weekends off, if you are lucky enough to get something like that starting out, may be home Thursday afternoon and leave Saturday night or home Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Loads deliver on Monday early and you leave in time to get them there. Often your home time will be in the middle of the week.

Regardless of your driving choice, after school you will go through company training. For OTR this can be six weeks to three months with little or no home time. The first phase is usually $400 a week and the second phase is $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training.

You don't want to wait around too long after training or you'll have trouble finding a job. If you get out before you have a year in, when you try to come back a few months later you will find they want you to start over. Most OTR companies don't put any value on local experience so it is better for your career to drive OTR first if you will ever want that option.

One more thing, if you have anything that makes you less desirable than your competing job applicants, a phone or in-person interview will often bring the best results. Even if I am the best candidate I will choose face-to-face if at all possible and phone if not. Sure you may have to fill out that online application but that isn't the best way to get a good job. You have to do something or be someone who stands out from the crowd. Do regular follow-ups by phone on the jobs you really want. Too many new drivers just settle for a job from the list the school has. There are many more options available. The school works in volume and looks the best when it says 90+% of our graduates find employment. So obviously they get better results from companies that hire in higher numbers.

Now I'll share some thoughts and opinions on common misconceptions. New OTR driver starting pay is usually about $35,000 - $40,000 annually. It will probably be less if you choose regional because you will drive fewer miles. You will most likely see all the sites you can from the truck windshield on the Interstate or parked at the truck stop. The company will not allow you to go out of route or bobtail around to sightsee.

Other helpful suggestions include attending school in early spring. This will give you several months to acclimate yourself to your new driving career before you have to tackle the chore of winter driving. It also will get you started in the busier time of year when more miles are available to make you more money.

 

Why do you say this? There are plenty of companies out there that hire people with no experience and will teach you. Because he already has his CDL he will be ahead of the game at most of these places.

 

Because without going to CDL "school" his CDL is virtually worthless for the big OTR training companies. He'll either need to go to a CDL school or a company school which will cost him big money or a slave contract. Stupid? Yes, but that is the way it works.

OP your best bet is to use your contacts and maybe find a local that will hire you for a trailer dump position. This is where networking at job sites is key!!! Otherwise, that CDL isn't going to do much for you unfortunately.

 

It has to do with insurnace. Actually, having a CDL but not coming out of a school puts him behind. Dumb, yes I know.

 

No mega carrier will take a CDL A without proper training,most required a min.of 160 hours of professional truck driving training from a licence and approved trucking school.Also he got his CDL-A in a dump truck with a 30ft trailer,how the heck did he got away from that???

 

Because based on my knowledge it is true. Because based on the posts of those who have tried this it is true. Because realistic expectations are important to successful outcomes.

Because if your objective is to become a professional driver, it makes no sense to take a path that will give you access to maybe 5% of the available jobs. Because while it is possible to get a job this way, how many of today's job hunters will actually wear out the shoe leather necessary to get a job this way. Most will put in online applications and get no responses.

Now if I am wrong I apologize. Please post that list of plenty of companies that will hire you with no experience.

I know we can all post plenty of companies that will hire you after training or put you through training. How are you ahead after you have to get the training just as those without their CDL do?

Every week we see 1 - 3 drivers who think they will get their CDL and get a job. I commend them on their initiative. Some even have years of local experience. A month later they are venting about how unfair it is. While I understand their position, I doubt they understand that a CDL is a license to learn. I also doubt they realize that insurance requires experience or approved training. I also doubt they realize it can cost $2,000 - $5,000 a year more to insure a new driver.

 

So you guys are trying to tell me that one should not get his/her CDL before going to a company? Are you sure about this? If I am understanding you correctly you are saying that major carries will turn you away just because you already have your CDL and not offer to train you. I am calling BS on this. Just because you already have your CDL doesn't mean they will not train you. So saying it isn't possible to get an OTR job because you already have your CDL is pure BS!

Trucking companies take people with no experience or CDL all the time and train them. Even poeple who have years experiacne have to go through a training/evaluation period when coming to a new company.

A better response to the OP would be to advise him to look to companies that provide training. He has his CDL already so that is one less thing they have to worry about him obtaining which should place him further up the list for training.

 

You can call BS all you want but I do believe you have a convoluted view on the trucking industry. You're talking about the companies that have their own schools that offer training to anyone. Most of the mega carriers go this way. I believe it's because they want that driver on the hook for the schooling and can do what they want with him. Their turnover rate is atrocious. The driver is required to sign a contract for a year or two. If something was to happen and that driver is out of work then the company will still want their money for school. Going into a school like this with a CDL is a plus but not that big of a deal.

If the OP is asking what companies he can just walk into and get hired just because he has a CDL then there are slim to none. The industry is governed by the insurance companies and they want the driver to have schooling. Don't get mixed up by the training the companies give to new hires with CDL schools. They are two different entities. Once the driver has his schooling then the companies train the driver on their requirements and give more road time to evaluate his abilities.

If I were in that situation I would look around for a good school like the ones that are taught at the local community colleges and then make a list of goals of what I would want out of a company then hit the bricks and search out the company. I would not use the companies to pay for my schooling so I would be contractual obligated. The first place I would gather research is right here. Go back and read what you can because there's a vast amount of information right here. Plan your career and look for the best but I sure wouldn't go to a company that provides training.

BTW, an experience driver that goes to a company with no time in between jobs can and does get hired without schooling all the time.