Hello All, My name I Josh and I live in Northern Virginia and I have a little problem. I recently finished my CDL training school and received my Class A CDL after the DMV testing. Now the only problem is finding a job...:Banghead I realize this is not exactly the best time to look for a CDL driving job due to the economy, the season I would imagine isn't one of the best times, and of course the fact that I have almost no experience at all besides the month and a half of school. I've called a lot of the local companies I've seen in my area (Owen trucking, G.D.C., Wise guys, Ex. ex..) Almost all are not hiring and then the few that are I hear this which is extremely saddening "Our insurance only covers drivers with a minimum of 2 years of experience" :Banghead I understand the reasoning but where on earth am I supposed to get the experience? I kind of already know the answer to that across country but it's really not something that I want to do yet in this point in my life. Does anyone have any advice? Sorry if I sound like I'm complaining I just had always thought getting the license would be harder than finding a job afterward. Thanks. -Josh
Most any carrier, like you found out, will only hire you with min 2-5 yrs experience. Their insurance won't cover you as a rookie behind the wheel of 80K lbs. Getting experience is the hard part, but if you really want it, unless you know someone, will be going to one of the big companies and go thru their training. Since you already went to school, they will likely skip their training(as long as you have a certificate from a school) and move you into driving with a trainer for 6 mos or so. Get your year or so in and then move on to what you want to do. It will be a rough year and that is what usually breaks the "wannabe's" from the real ones. It's the same everywhere, so don't think a change of location will improve anything. Another thing going on right now is the medical card issue. Have you had your physical yet? There is going to be a big change in how this is recorded and they're trying to track down on the people not fit to drive.
Thanks Freightrain, I was told that I shouldn't get my medical card until I find a job since the company will probably make me get an updated physical for them or to their standards.
Try a garbage company, they are always looking for drivers, a roll off truck is a pretty good job.
you got a cdl without a medical card? they checked for one before i was even given the pretrip test. your medical card isnt going to be a same day type of deal. id get it taken care of before you start driving for someone.
Since when? Everyone I've ever gotten, you walk in, get a physical, they write the info on the card, sign it, and you're done.
Yeah thats how its done here.
Yeah thats what I've been going for lately theres always going to be trash but no one is hiring I've tried so many local companies (PDS IDS EDS CSI Tanncor) but nada although one did say they will start taking applications at the start of the year but then again I have no experience so it probably wont look very good on an application. Thanks for the advice though. -Josh
Josh, what kind of driving do you want to do?. My advice is to find a company like I work for, it is a utility contractor that works in sewer restoration. We are always looking for CDL drivers and I have never heard the Boss mention our insurance rules. In fact I had to help train a guy to get his CDL, rode with him when he got his learners permit and helped with the pre-trip inspection. He got his license on Friday and called in and quit on Monday. What happen to loyalty? We have three Vaccon trucks, two dump trucks, a winch truck, and the way our F550's are tagged, you need a CDL to drive them. Sometimes the smaller companies will take a chance as long as you realize that you are not always in the truck and some manuel labor is required.
I don't know about the initial time anymore but on a renewal in MI it depends on the SOS (DMV) clerk. One of my fellow workers renews a month before me. He tells me the clerk asked for his medical card. He's a supervisor like me and since we're not regular drivers (Not in the driver pool for drug testing) both of us are not required to keep our Medical Cards current. His was out of date, it was the last day his liscense was valid, and she wasn't going to renew him so he wouldn't have a valid drivers liscense. I told him to hustle down to the clinic we use for pre employment physicals and get his card NOW. He did and was able to renew that day. I go a month later to renew my liscense, get my medical card out and say to the clerk, "I understand you need to see this to renew my CDL". She says "nope" and never looked at it. It's my understanding that the card is valid for any employer, it's not employer specific. I just looked at mine issued yesterday - employer is not listed. It says the examination is on file at the clinic office, not my employer but they are required to have a copy. My employer pays for my card (since I'm a supervisor and they want me to be able to drive if necessary) but it is valid for anyone I drive for. Just an aside - we are short drivers and I was asked if I would drive this winter if needed. I said yes but you guys are really hard up if you put me back in a truck . So I'm back in the driver pool for drug & alcohol testing. I'm scheduled yesterday for my Medical card physical, guess who comes to see me yesterday in my office - the guy that tells you it's time to go pee in the cup at the clinic. I tell him I'm just getting ready to go for my physical so off I go with the random drug paperwork. Confused the ladies at the clinic, appointment for the physical but with random screening paperwork She wasn't sure if I needed to blow the breathalyzer first or pee first - I couldn't figure out what difference it made.
Thanks Red Bank, I'm looking for anything local which is hard I hear for a newbie. I wouldn't mind driving anything at all from a roll off or a dump truck to anything that requires a CDL. I have a class A and wouldn't mind even driving a B truck. I feel like I've tried everyone around here to no avail. I wish I could find a small company that would give me a chance. Thats too bad about the guy who up and left what a waste I can't imagine he found something better but who knows. Thanks for the help. From what I hear I wish I was living down there in NC ha. And thank you all for responding! -Josh
I agree with the post above on finding a smaller construction company that has a dump and go to work and ask them to drive. Things are a little different now days on the way they treat people who want to drive. When I got my cdl I worked for a tanker company called DSI as a mechanic. I needed it to haul the tanks in and out of the yard and down to the tank wash. I had to go to all theese damn schools to haul this ethel methel bad **** that in my head I would never haul. Two weeks later, green as hell, I was hauling a load of p2s5 to lawrence kansas to fill in for a driver. There is a flood of worker bees right now. My advice, build a bridge with anything you can find. Drive a straight truck, drive an RO for a roofing company,trash truck,small dump,anything that gets you wheel time...
the drug screening took a few days then the card was mailed to me and i signed it. it also had instructions for laminating it. but they still wanted to see it before i took my test. so basically they gave you a cdl to drive an 80k lb truck but you dont have to be healthy. i guess drug users, deaf, and blind have a "right" to drive these trucks but what do i know.
I'm sure it can depend on the clinic that one goes to but I can state the one my employer uses is pretty strict. The physical they give is about as through as my primary care physician (I just don't have to bend over for the Medical card ) My employer requires a pre employment physical which includes the drug screen. The Medical Card physical urine sample is only for a sugar screen. I had a extensive discussion including reading some of the regs with the Medical Card physical folks on Wednesday. I had a stent placed in a partially blocked artery back in 2002. I did not have a heart attack, angina etc. I am required to provide a stress test no older than 2 years for their review and my Medical card is only good for 1 year rather than the customary 2 years. I questioned how long I would have to provide the stress tests and "we" looked it up, I have to do this until I give up my CDL even though my cardiologist only requires I see him for a stress test every 5 years since my "life style" change has solved my problem (low fat, no fat, no beef, no fried foods, chicken, turkey or fish and keeping the extra pounds off .
I went back to visit my instructors at my school the other day and there was a guy with one arm trying to get his CDL. To make it worse it was his right arm.
I feel you pain Raildudes dad! Just got off the tredmill a couple of months ago for the same reason but I did have a heart attack last year. I thought they were going to kill me with that stupid test!! Only being 44, I have alot of years (hopefully) left to go through that pain again and again. I am not looking forward to it at all. Sometimes I wish I would have just lied on the medical history like everyone else does and said everything was fine. My luck I would be the one guy to get caught.
try getting on with JB hunt or Swift. best paying and i promise they arent gonna go out of business anytime soon.
Unfortuntaltly to start out, you may have to go over the road, some longer distance carriers will take new trainees till you get experience.
REMEMBER: As a rookie with a cdl, they will push you to the limit! Take this overload here, then unload it and drag the trailer over here and drop it then deadhead 300 miles to load another trailer, and take it 250 miles and unload it. This little trip is a 28 hour trip because of the load and unload time! Don't even think about being home on the weekends! My friend drives a flatbed for a steel company! He's supposed to be home on the weekends! Well sometmes he gets in Thursday night/Friday morn! Mostly he gets in late Friday/early Saturday! Then he's down the road Sunday Night! No life for a married man!