| Author | Message | ||
     Whatever |
So, I have been searching for a professional job for over one year now. I am waiting to hear back from one potential employer here locally, but I am trying to not get my hopes up. However, I have gotten to a decision point where I have come to realize that I may not be able to find employment in my chosen field. Unfortunately, times have changed significantly since I graduated from college. In Madison, Wisconsin, I drove taxi and worked in the dispatch office for four and a half years. While it was not much money, and there were always pain in the ass clients and passengers, I did enjoy the work. Mostly because of the people I worked with. I was considering working in a coffee house if I could get a job doing that, but I am just to the point in my life where if I don't have to deal with the public much, so much the better. I can kiss a** with the best of them, but you better be paying me what I am worth for me to do it! I had wanted to be a truck driver when I was younger, but it was not even a thought when I was making good money in my professional field. Now, I am seriously looking at it again. I am not too keen on OTR Truck Driving, but I am guessing these are the only companies that will pay you to get your CDL and you will have to lock yourself into a two year contract or something. Anyone who drives OTR or local for a living, please chime in. I am also not opposed to driving hazmat, ie. delivery of petroleum products, or construction, ie. dump trucks or cement mixers, as long as it involves no serious heavy lifting. I have messed up my back too many times doing that. | ||
| Britchri10 |
Instead of going OTR look @ local delivery/pickup companies. I work @ a hospital & we have local van/truck deliveries out of the wazoo! EG: Medical records storage, Hazmat waste pickup, laundry PU & delivery, food supplies, DME, pharmaceuticals, regular waste, engineering equipment & supplies, lab specimens/samples, specialty beds,even donor organs! Most all of the supplying companies are local & do not use 18 wheelers. We see more panel trucks than anything else. If you've got the time, stake out a local hospital & follow up on any Co: you see delivering or collecting stuff. Just a thought..... Chris C | ||
| Whatever |
The job I am waiting to hear on is hazardous waste pickup and delivery at UNC-Chapel Hill. It is far below my pay scale, but it is local and it would be in the EHS Department, which would constitute a foot in the door... so to speak. If I get my CDL while they are still in the deciding phase that will help. The problem is the money. I have no money to spare for taking a class. Unfortunately, I burned up some money going up North to deal with the lovely State of Wisconsin. So, at the moment I am trying to weigh my options. Thanks to whomever fixed my spelling. LOL! | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Dunno how it works there Babe, but once you've got a few years under your belt & you're known as a worker not a whiner, you'll never have to be out of work for long. Freight's gotta move! | ||
| Sifo |
It may not be what you have in mind, but school bus companies usually provide training. It tends to be part time work, but you have lots of time between shifts to do interviews if you want to keep up a job search. You can also get additional hours doing charters (usually running sports teams between schools for games). It definitely keeps you local though. As an added bonus I can take the summer off. Others choose to work the summer. Drive special needs kids and you will get a new perspective on life too. | ||
| Whatever |
I would have to carry a taser if I transported minors...  Seriously, though, I have heard from friends who are truck drivers that CR England is a pretty good company to sign with. They are a refrigerated trucking service also, which, I do not know for sure or not, would be perishable food service stuff. Should look into Cisco too for that matter. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Thanks to whomever fixed my spelling. LOL! You're welcome.  | ||
| Sifo |
One nice thing about transporting students is that the cargo loads and unloads itself! | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
A number of Badwebbers have gone "up the road" inc Buckinfubba, Dullorb, Damnut too iirc. Might be worth a pm to them. | ||
| Cowboy |
Be careful if hauling hanging meat. | ||
| Etennuly |
Thanks to whomever fixed my spelling. LOL! You're welcome.  I don't know what you misspelled, but you got to be able to spell C-D-L to have one! I gave this program a shot in earnest last year. I have had a CDL for many years because I frequently drive my customers trucks to and from my shop for repairs. I attempted to run a part time deal with my own rig. I signed on with a company, jumped through all of their hoops, got some good loads, and found out part time was not really doable. They always wanted me running more and more. Lots of pressure and every load was late when I got it. The loads often took me out three days to sit for three more to find a connecting load to keep moving. Once in a while a connecting load would head back home. It made it impossible to maintain my business at home by being out too long. The money was decent, time running huge. The local runs that were available were not enough to support the extra insurances and maintenance. Flat bed tarping was a bitch. Rain, shine, cold, wind, snow did not matter, it was always time to take off or put on those damned heavy, wet, dirty tarps. If I was a single, non family guy, non land owner, I would buy the biggest condo tractor I could afford and get it on full time. Those "Free" CDL training programs that I have heard of are BS. They lock you into two years of running where ever they want you to go, loaded or not, being paid or not, and promise home time or every other weekend or something to get you in. Once you sign the contract they are just like a credit card company. They will have considered to have loaned you $8000 on a high interest card at the end of your first two week training. At that point you cannot quit for any reason. I know of two family guys with different companies, who were promised every other weekend home. Once they got in the truck they were sent over the road non stop partner style. Warm bedding a single sleeper while the other one drove. Neither of these guys saw their first day home for three months. Then they had only a day and a half and back at it. One of the guys quit because they lied about the time off. He wanted to see his wife and kid once in a while. They told him he could not quit and sent a legal "team" to his house to read the contract to him and his wife. After fighting them for a couple of years he ended up filing bankruptsy to get them off his case. They hounded him so bad that he lost jobs he got after the driving deal, by frequently showing up at his work and calling non stop once they found out where he was working. His experience was with one of the biggest OTR companies out there. If it is not something you want to complete, or another good job pops up.....there is no walking away. Good luck Char! | ||
| Ulynut |
Char, look into Tennessee Gas. They always have pipelines being built, rebuilt, and maintained. They use a TON of inspectors for environmental work. As a matter of fact, there are many pipelines being built right now across the country, esp. in Pennsylvania this coming spring. There's a demand for people with an environmental background in the field. It's good money, can be fun too. You get to see a lot of the country, meet lots of interesting people and you get to ride around on quads all day.  | ||
| Whatever |
That is exactly what I feared, Vern. I do not think I could handle OTR, massive overtime and being away from home for months at a time. If I could handle the OT and travel I would have stayed in consulting environmental cleanup where you can at least make consistent OT, but it was my downfall at my job before last. I did it for three years there and one and half years right out of college. It is a miserable existence. Not worth it to me. I like to have a life, thank you very much. Big corporations want to take take take take and never think that you may have a breaking point, which I certainly reached... more than once. Good news. Today I got offered another interview. This is with a Dutch company in High Point, just south of Greensboro. The recruiter asked what my salary requirements were, as it is entry level HSE. I said "Well, I will accept up to half of what I made at my last job." This job is around 2/3 the pay of my last job, but hey the point is to start working again... that pay is not too shabby in today's world. So wish me luck with it. Every time I get layed off it is harder and harder to come back. Time to study! | ||
| Luftkoph |
Char I've been doing this almost exclusively since 1976 and trucking nowadays absolutely sucks,I would not recommend it to anyone.run hard and fast away from Cut Rate england. If you must do it try and find a community college that has driving classes. p.m. me and I'll give you my phone number it would be easier to explain some of the pitfalls, because it is a crap business full of low life's crooks and deceivers. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
CR England is bad, don't do it. There are a few paths you can take. Company paid/ sponsored training. I went thru Schnieder and don't regret it. If you go his route you usually have to stay with the company for 1-2 years and if you leave early ya pay them back. If you find a better paying job it might be worth it to pay them back, as when I did it the pay back was cheaper than the local schools charged. Local cdl schools or community colleges. If you're unemployed financial aid could be available. Thing is most "better" job situations want some level of experience, so you may end up working at a "rookie" company any way. Last, check out the LTL (less than truckload) companies in your area. Some of them, such as FedEx freight and old dominion offer training while you work as a dock worker. This is a good route to take as LTL freight is where most of the better paying, better lifestyle jobs are. Most are home daily, if you do stay away from home it's in a motel, good pay and bennies. I work 3rd shift, drive 554 miles a night m-f, sleep in my own bed every day and make around 70k. There's money to be made, just gotta be smarter than the average bear to find it. Side tip is get all your endorsements (hazmat, tanker and doubles/triples) up front. Hazmat requires a federal background check, and tanker endorsement is required now when hauling 500 gallon totes in regular trailers now. Ltl companies pull doubles a lot, so obviously you want that one. These are all written test endorsements. The only one I don't have is passenger, which requires driving test with a bus. PM me if you want or need advice. | ||
| Garryb |
A long time ago, I worked for Schneider communications, which was a division of Schneider National. I thought it was an ethical, quality company, at least back then. Looks like they have new driver training reimbursement. http://www.schneiderjobs.com/CompanyDrivers/TruckD rivingSchool/index.htm | ||
| Sifo |
Given the number of truckers that I've seen driving school buses I can only guess that the trucking business has seen better days. Seriously, around here the bus companies are hiring close to all the time and train in house. They will stop hiring in toward spring however. Whatever you want to get into, it's always easier to get a job when you have a job, no matter what it is. A job that give you free time for interviews during the day is an ideal place to be. I was pretty nervous about the idea myself when I started. Frankly kids tend to freak me out! It's been a great experience for me though, and it's way safer than driving a taxi. One thing I'm not clear on that some of the truck folks may have a clue about... For a school bus you need a CDL plus the school bus permit. It sounds to me like that would make me eligible for trucks too (not air brakes though in our buses). I've wondered about it, but never bothered to look into it. It sure seems like it should at least reduce any further training (and presumably the cost) of any further requirements. Anyone? | ||
| Luftkoph |
what badlionsfan said++++ go pack go | ||
| Bads1 |
Char, Wonder Bread is hiring??lol Seriously though alot of contruction going on with concrete companies in the area with the interstate revamp. Ever thought of Quad axle dump truck. Alot of them are actually pretty nice trucks and great jobs. (Message edited by bads1 on January 05, 2012) | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Trucking job availability depends on your region. Where they're drilling for oil and gas right now, they're throwing money at truck drivers. You would need a class A (which would include air brakes) to drive a tractor trailer. Training might cost a little less, but the vehicles are apples and oranges, so your still gonna need all the in truck training and such so I wouldn't expect much of a cost difference. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
I work with several former dump truck drivers and concrete truck drivers. These jobs are hit and miss. A lot of them pay by the load, and you can end up sitting on either end for free. Not that great. | ||
| Sifo |
Thanks BLF, I figured it had to be along those lines. I was really thinking more along the lines of local delivery trucks than TT rigs. Not really in my plans though. I'm kind of enjoying semi-retirement right now (no pun intended). I'm more thinking out loud in case anyone else may be thinking along these lines. Jobs can be tough in bad times. No doubt some employers put the squeeze on their people during these times. I wouldn't say they are evil, but it can seem that way when you are stuck with a job that is being squeezed. Those companies will have very high turnover as the job market improves though. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Any truck/trailer combo requires a class A. You could get a class B w/air brakes for straight trucks, but those jobs don't pay as well and not as common. My advice will always be get a class A, full endorsements. That way if it's on the road you can drive it. Only vehicles on the road that I can't drive is buses, and that's only cuz Schnieder didn't offer it. | ||
| Sifo |
The bus training would be pretty quick and easy from your class A. Written test, enough road time to learn how to navigate a corner and back up. And of course background checks and drug testing. I'm not even sure if the road time is a requirement, but our company would do it just for the comfort level. | ||
| Swampy |
CDL, hazmat, could be some money there. Written test, Skills test, know your packaging and marking requirements and you could have yourself a job little lady.... Sedan/limo/car drivers make some fast bucks, usually no CDL required, only a chauffeurs endorsement on a standard drivers license. Usually sedan/limo/towncar companies have some minor licensing by the state, but I see ALOT of one car outfits making a buck running the airports and downtown. Alot safer than taxi drivers, better clientel....also non-emergency medical transport. Good luck | ||
| Jerzydevil |
On unemployment?? Talk to them about job re-training. They sent me to school to get my CDL. | ||
| Whatever |
I am re-thinking this. I might start with FedEx or UPS. I want to stay local. I hope the interview goes well on Tuesday. Thanks for the input. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Just remember, Fed-Ex and UPS involves lots of lift and carry even if there is a weight limit. Don't toss flat screen monitors over fences, either. Good suggestion about getting free CDL training as long as there are few or no strings attached. The tests for the extra endorsements are cheap, just remember the requirements. I had to renew my license yesterday and lost my Hazmat endorsement because I forgot to get fingerprinted again. Oh well, I can get it back, just have to spend an extra $30 to reprint the license. Good luck with your interviews, you will find something. | ||
| Whatever |
I got another interview Wednesday. Things are looking up. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
They're certainly looking up in San Diego!  |
