I posted my resume on a very local webiste looking for some odd jobs until my MVR clears up some. Suddenly I have two big name company recruiters interested in talking to me. I made very clear I was only interested in local or very limited regional work on the resume.

Now I am a *highly* cynical person so I take my time before commiting to anything. I have been in contact with both guys now and they seem intent on avoiding the "local" question. 'We need you to fill out this' and do that, but I have yet to get a "absolutely it'll be a local-only gig. Reading discussions here makes me think something is wrong.

Logic tells me that the senior drivers of any company would have first dibs on a local gig (unless it was really low pay or smelly of course.) So I have to ask - has anyone here heard of a national company offering a rookie a local job free and clear?

If it quacks like a duck....

You may want to ask them if they have any dedicated runs that will get you home multiple times during the week...you might be surprised.

I know that U.S.Xpress offers local work to rookies if they have any openings available, but you have to live close to the terminal or close to the distribution center if it is a dedicated account Werner offers local to rookies as well, but I don't think they do much local besides hauling beer from breweries.

Werner does have "local" work for rookies, you would need to live close to a terminal or to one of their network of drop yards. You would run mostly drop yard to drop yard, maybe occaassional deliveries depending on the load. Try calling them and see what is in your area.

Not always. I can only speak for my employer (JB) but most likely other big companies do things close to the same way.
Yes, the majority of local jobs are offered to our drivers first. However that doesnt mean we dont get good local jobs that I can hire off the street. It most likely works like this. When the manager over that local job needs a driver to fill a position, he or she is going to look for the quickest way to fill that truck. He might have a list of our OTR drivers on a waiting list or he might not have anyone waiting for that job and then go to us recruiters to fill that position. The most important thing to him and his job is to fill that seat as quick as possible to keep the customers happy. Freight sitting there waiting on a company to find a driver to pull it is the fastest way to lose a customer.
I dont know what you mean when you use the term "rookie". Are you talking about completely new with no experience...or just a little experience. We have hundreds and hundreds of local jobs over here and at anytime I have quite a few of them open for hire. Most require at least 3 months experience...some require 6 months.
So the answer to your question would be Yes, sometimes rookies can get a good local job. Just depends if you are in the right place at the right time.

Re: Do the big companies ever offer local work to rookies?

Mine does, but you'll need to live close to one of their terminals, closest to you is in Sayreville NJ

In my specific case it would be PTDI certified class only - I have not been able to set my foot in a local truck (class A, B, or C) since.

So here's a side question - if I am interested in a local or semi-regional position how do I keep recruiters from bugging about long-haul in the meantime?