Bear with me...this is going to be a pretty long post....


I'll be starting at a local school this coming Monday (Sept. 18th) and I
have some questions about how to handle certain situations as well as
seeking general advice.

I'm 26, live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have had a drivers license for 11 years, and have maintained a 100% clean driving record for all 11 years with one exception which is explained below:

About a year ago I was laid off from a job and was unable to make child support payments for some time. As such, the state suspended my drivers license until such time that I became current. I was able to pay the full amount owed and my license was reinstated. I went and grabbed a "lifetime" copy of my driving record from the local DMV office and it did not show that my license has ever been suspended - in fact, my record is completely spotless. It's been almost 6 months since my license was reinstated, so I think that if the DMV was slow in reporting, it would've shown up by now if it was going to.

Should I disclose the fact that my license was suspended?

I don't drink, don't do drugs, hell..I don't even smoke cigarettes. I have also already obtained my DOT medical card and passed all the tests, including the drug screen, with flying colors. I'll be getting a Class A even though, at this point in time, I'm mainly considering driving straight trucks locally. However, in the event that I may decide to drive OTR or tractor trailers locally, I'll already have the license to do so.

As you might guess, much like any other school, there will be recruiters there (at some point during the course) from all the usual suspects like Swift, Covenant, Werner, CR England, etc. From browsing through the MTT (misc.transport.trucking) newsgroup for the past 2 hours or so, I've seen some not so favorable things said about Swift and CR England. I am fully aware that as a new driver, I'll be on the bottom of the totem pole and won't qualify for the best companies, most favorable routes, or anything beyond the "bottom of the barrel".



That being said, if I do decide to go with a national OTR company, I would like to find employment with the company that is floating on top of the sewage rather than the company that is the pile of **** in the barrel.

Here are the companies that I know of who hire new drivers:
Covenant
CFI
CR England
Knight
Schneider National
Swift
US Xpress
Werner

If anyone can point other companies who hire new drivers, please do.
I have been researching companies for the past few weeks and of course, they all toot their own horn as much as they can. While getting my physical, I talked with a guy who worked for RoadsWest and he had nothing but bad things to say about them. To be fair though, he had worked for them for 15 years so there is probably some amount of animosity there.

Something else I have found to be the general consensus from the MTT newsgroup is that recruiters essentially get paid to lie/bullshit.

Knowing that, what should I do when approached by the recruiters?



Also, I've noticed that a lot of companies want 10 years of employment history. Being only 26, I don't have 10 years of employement...I've only been out of school for 8 and 3 of the companies I have worked for no longer in business, so contacting them to verify employment is impossible.

What do I do in this situation where I don't have 10 years of employment?



I can't think of any more legitimate questions, but I would still appreciate
any general advice or information from people who have driven trucks for a while.....impart your wisdom onto a total noob.

They want the last 10 years of employment for the feds. If you have less you give less, no problem.

As far as the license suspension goes you had darn well better disclose it. The company is concerned about it being suspended for a driving offense. Last I heard being behind in child support doesn't qualify.

Under the circumstances....you have two choices: Say nothing, or when you talk to a recruiter.... tell him/her that your AUTOMOBILE license was
suspended because you got behind on your child support, but that you caught up and it was re-instated. Tell them that you have a recent MVR and you would be willing to fax it to them. That should resolve the issue.
I'm kind of an honesty buff....works best all the way around.

I drive for CFI...you can search out alot of my posts here. I am partial. So yes....CFI should be at the top of your list. Schneider is ok, ask Skullitor about them....he's been there awhile. I drove for Swift a long time ago, then it was sort of ok, but my information is out of date. In my minds eye though....not for me. Heard good and bad about Knight, but mostly good. US Xpress, ok I guess but their "sliding pay scale is a joke".

And then again, maybe not. Depends on his "demeanor" and emotions while telling about his experience.

Yep, and some are worse than others.

I will however tell you that a CFI Recruiter WILL NOT lie/bs you. If they get caught at it.....its not a pretty thing. The "culture" of the company does not permit it. Period. I would encourage you to visit http://www.cfidrivers.com and log on and read the posts. Many are by new student drivers who have been with us just a short while. Also, you will find numerous comments about how the company and the recruiters treat and deal with drivers. I think you'll find its quite different than other companies.

Duck! Run away....quickly, very quickly...hide!!



Graduation certificates, tax forms, W-2's, and you can get a statement from the Social Security Administration that shows who paid into your SS retirement fund. There are many ways to skin a cat.

There is a phenomenal amount of good and solid information on this site. Spend a little time reading and researching. Do some searches on companies and you will find tons of answers. Then formulate the questions that come to you...write them down and post them, you'll no doubt get answers.

BOL!!

So as far as the license suspension goes, disclose it then tell them why and it should be no problem.
Correct?

I would disclose it. I had a mishap from 1991 in another state. In 2005 I paid the fine finally, ( forgot it was there). My DAC report shows it and so far it has not been a problem due to time frame.

Covenant NO
CFI ?
CR England NO
Knight ?
Schneider National maybe
Swift NO
US Xpress NO
Werner maybe, my friend got on a dedicated and has good deal going on.

Have you looked at Roehl, Millis, TMC?
(these are just my opinions, search the archives and listen to what others have to say as well).

Good Luck

Roehl and Millis both say I am outside their hiring area.

I have looked into TMC and have emailed their student recruiting department regarding some questions I had.

Stay away from CRE; Do a search of previous postings on here.

I'd avoid a Covenant as well. From what I hear as a solo you end up getting all the leftover scraps from the team trucks.

Gordon could be worth checking out as well.

Aside from that your experience at a training company will largely be an function of the quality of the trainer and dispatcher you get.

Check out the "swimming with sharks" section of the OOIDA site, it is about halfway down on the left.

http://www.ooida.com/

Recruiters come in two flavors: Company employees and Bounty Hunters. Its the hunters you have to be especially leery of they will say most anything to get a commission.

I haven't even started training yet and I'm already crossing companies off my list of potential employers...lol

Swift
Covenant
CR England

All of them I have heard numerous bad thing about, so I will try to avoid them at all costs. As for the companies that I have seen favorable things about...TMC, Knight, and CFI are topping the list. I have also been exchanging emails with a student recruiter at TMC for a good portion of the day.

At any rate, sometime in the next week or two, I think I'll just grab the phonebook and start calling local companies to see if they hire new drivers and go from there since I would prefer a local or in-state route.
But, there is always a good chance that I may not be able to get something like that right away which is why I'm heavily researching national companies as well.

I figure you can never start planning too early or do too much research.

You are 100% correct when you say you can never do too much research!!

Thats one of the failings that people have these days, even though the web is here to use. Back when I got into this....no web, much harder to get info.

"Due Dilligence" is what its all about.

What you may want to consider about companies, is if they have more than one division. Example: Werner - dry van, reefer, and flatbed. Swift - dry van and flatbed (48' and doubles), don't know if they have temp controlled.
I started my driving with JBHT at their school and pulling flatbeds when they had 'em. Van sucked, in my opinion, but I had a ball pulling flat for 'em.
If at some time you want to do doubles, Swift could be a way to qualify pulling their flats. Also if a company has more than one division, like some east coast companies, if you didn't like one type of wagon dragin', you could change several times (dry van, reefer, flat, tank {dry or wet [haz or food grade]}) without leaving the company.
Going with an entry level company may be a way to build your driving resume so when you are ready to jump to a better job, you've already got the quals. BOL