I am enrolled to attend driver training at Arkansas State University-Newport the first week of Feb. Does anyone know anthing about that particular training course or what companies recruit ut of there? They won't tell me.
I'm not concerned about the life-style or the time away-I worked on the Mississippi River for 8+years 30-45 days away at a time. I'm concerned that the only pre-hire I can finagle is Werner. I've read the good and bad about them and decided if that's all I can get, I'll just have to look at it as a stepping stone towards the eventual good job with a good company. My question is; at what point do I start looking elsewhere? After 6 months or a year? I'm not going into this thinking I'm gonna hate Werner, I'm just being realistic-companies lie.
Also, are there any companies that offer flatbed training for noobs? Thanks in advance.

 

Can't help you on the school. But I think when you do go to your first company, I would try to stay with them for at least a year. As for flatbed, right now the only one I can think of is Arrow out of Tulsa, Ok.

 

TMC out of Des Moines,IA takes new drivers if you go to one of their approved schools. They would be your best bet for a starter company. Put in atleast 1 year without job hopping at first, With no accidents and/or tickets in the first year then you can pretty much go anywhere you want to.

 

I would be real concerened if the school cant tell you who hires their grads. Only explanation might be because its a state funded college they cant mention names? I'm no expert on OTR companies or your area but I suspect there are many companies you could work for and someone here will come along and reccomend them. As far as looking for a better job I would start immediately and not stop until I got one. Get every endorsement and keep a squeaky clean record. You never know what might happen if you ask and someone might actually hire you. Some really good jobs go unclaimed because everyone thinks they are hard to get. Or the company cant find anyone with a clean driving record, personal history, and all the necesarry endorsements. If you meet those requirements sometimes they are forced to waive the experience factor because they cant find anyone else. But realistically, a year for some jobs, 2-3 for the rest. For flatbed newbies I would think its hard to beat TMC and I'm a former flat bedder myself. From the sound of your post I would think you could tolerate just about anything for a year, alot of people really like TMC. Some dont but you have to consider how big they are so its to be expected.

 

Just saw your post. Great minds think alike eh Mike!:lol:

 

I am not sure of anything about your school you will be attending. I do know that there are flatbed companies that have training programs for newbies. The ones that I know at least had one are maverick and TMC. As of any others I dont know. those are just the ones off the top of my head. You may look at the flatbed companies on here and see which ones have a training program. best of luck

 

For a barge company or the Coast Guard? If so, I would think there'd be a multi-modal that would like to have a look at your credentials.

Casino or tour boat? Fuggedabouddit . .

 

TMC is a good place to start if you can put up with all the BS. When you get ready to move from them they look good on paper to. McElroy (I think thats right) will take you out of school and so will Maverick. Best of luck.

 

In this economy, you need to have a "whatever it takes" attitude to get meaningful employment. Unfortunately, most of the companies that are currently hiring are high turnover companies, you know what that means.

Try them out, keep an open mind. If after a year(or maybe more, depending on the economy) you're not happy, start looking elsewhere. Maybe for a smaller company that cares more.

 

I was a mate on line-haul boats.