My husband went into trucking four years ago. Now it's time for a job change, and we have lots of questions.

He initially took a position at a trucking company that doesn't pay well, but gives truckers the miles and treats truckers well. It was highly recommended by the instructors at his trucking school as a good company for starting out. He took the position with the intentions of leaving for a better paying company after he gained a year's experience, but he landed an awesome local dedicated run. Even though he had to work 6 day per week, he was home every day which was a great bonus since we have a teenage son. The pay was relatively good even though he never got a raise in 4 years. Although he was paid a lump sum for each day, he calculated out that he was making 53 cents per mile. (I told him not to think in those terms because he wasn't driving lots of miles.) He was making about 55k per year. Not a bad annual income, but he only got Saturday nights off for 4 years. Regardless, there were lots of reasons for him to stay at this beginner's company for four years.

The dedicated run ends this Sunday so now it's time to look for a new company. It doesn't seem like his existing company has anything for him, and if he's going OTR he'd like to go with a company that pays more per mile than this company. (The 53 cent thing was just a calculation for the dedicated run that was paid lump sum for each run.) I think his current pay per mile will be about 34 cents per mile. (I think he was hired at 30 cents per mile and it's been four years.)

Our questions:

Do companies hire truckers who have had a non-preventable accident? Two years ago, my husband was stopped on a hill in a traffic jam when a terrible ice storm started. The ice storm was so bad that stopped vehicles started sliding down the hill. My husband's truck started to slide too. Since his truck weighed more than the car in front of him, his truck slid further and bumped into the car. The damage to the car was minimal. The company ruled it as an unpreventable. He has a letter from the company stating such. There is no police report on the accident.

If so, how many years will it be a problem? He has been trucking for four years and that's the only blemish. We're not even sure if the company put it on the DOC. (I know, we need to get a DOC report to see what's on there but he hasn't had any incidents other than the one I described.)

Most importantly, should he put this unpreventable on his application if it doesn't appear on his DOC? We're wondering about this. We filled out an online application for a really great company and included this. Now I'm worried that it was a mistake. I'd like to make sure we understand how things work before we continue further with the job search.

Until the economy gets better, what do you think would be the best temporary solution: 1) Stay with his existing company since he'll have seniority; or 2) take a National position at another company that pays more per mile? It seems as if National is the easiest jobs to find right now. Although we'd prefer regional, we're thinking that maybe he should bite the bullet for a while and go national for a year or two.

I have many, many more questions, but that's a start. One more though:

Have you noticed a change in the quality of recruiters at companies? I remember when we were looking for his first job, I talked with many talented recruiters at trucking companies. They really paid attention to what we were looking for and seemed to work towards trying to find a good fit. Now, it seems to me that the recruiters I'm talking to now are girls in their early 20s who have absolutely no passion or interest in their job. They seem to be going through the motions of just checking off a list without really understanding the industry. Is it just me or does it seem that there's no personableness in the recruiters anymore? Does that even matter? I'm just not feeling like we're getting the same personalized service we were getting when he was just out of driving school----and this is when I haven't even revealed anything about his experience, just saying he has been working for 4 years and he's looking for a change, but they don't even seem excited. Back when he was looking four years, it seemed like the recruiters were excited to hear from me. Just seems strange to me. I wonder what others think about it.

I do not feel like reading all that right now but will answer a few questions. If he only has one non-preventable accident, and that is it, I do not see how that would be any hinderance to him finding a great job. It is not a big deal, but it is DAC and not DOC that it might be on. And yes, you would want to list it on an application. If they found out about it after he was hired they could always terminate him. Anyone ever notice how the companies worth driving for do not have recruiters?

You are definitely correct about know-nothing recruiters. Remember that in the best of times,
they are all simply salespeople and it's okay as long as you're working with a KNOWLEDGEABLE
one.

I'm a wannabe OTR trucker about to enter CDL school, but I've seen the EXACT same problem
with recruiters in the contract drafting/design industry, where I toiled since 1977. Almost all
hiring in that industry is done through resume' submittals and references; if you're good (and I
was) you can make a lot of money and work around the country.

Some of these new-to-recruiting idiots will email me a job requirement for, say, a specialized
ENGINEER position, hoping to submit me to the client company listing that opening. I do NOT
qualify for such work (I'm a CAD designer with an A.A.S. two-year degree, not a degreed
professional engineer)....but these airheads simply DO KEYWORD SEARCHES of my resume'
rather than actually taking the trouble to READ it! Since words like "engineering" do appear
on my resume' in some of my job history, these fools waste their time (and mine) by magically
assuming I'm an engineer. It's happened so often I've stopped being nice and now send them
sarcastic responses....telling them it only takes about two minutes to properly ascertain what
kind of work I am seeking. I then make sure I contact their superior to complain.

It's all part of American industry's "race to the bottom" -- hire younger, CHEAPER front-office
people and let 'em learn on the job, with no thought whatsoever to just how ineffective and
inefficient these lame-o's are. Sad, but true....:angryblue:

Now is not a great time to be looking for any job let alone a driving job. One non preventable shouldn't be a problem at all. As far a listing it on job apps/ DO IT do not try to hide it. As far as comparing miles and money I'm afraid you've been a little spoiled by that gig that's now ending. Why is it ending? who's taking over? Have you thought about seeing if he can switch to the new carrier and keep that run? You know work the customer service angle. Whatever happens your going to have to realistically compare more miles with a lower rate of pay to less miles at a higher rate and good luck with that!

the original post was from 9 months ago.

I imagine you'll need to list the NP accident. One of the first questions in an employment verification call is "did the driver incur any accidents while employed with you". If the accident was filed with the company than there is probably some mention of it in your "file" if the company is half way organized.