Profile For Julius C.

Julius, I am a new driver as well, and only have a Class B. I was encouraged to get an A, but would not have received any training with a tractor. I was a seasonal town employee and was able to practice on the dump trucks in the yard, but the lone tractor the town owns is strictly used for trash hauling and unable to be used for practice. If you have a Class A, you can operate any Class A or B vehicle, provided you have the endorsements (if necessary). I'm not sure if you would be held to a higher standard without any experience and a Class A. I know a lot of places I have talked to around my area would not hire a Class A driver without any experience unless they had graduated from an approved trucking school. Hope that helps.

Broc,

Yes that does help. Thanks!

Thanks, Fellas. I have one more question. If you know you don't plan on driving a big rig and just plan on driving a Class B locally, is there really a reason to get your Class A? Some truckers have told me that even if you only plan on applying for local Class B jobs, it's better to go to a company with a Class A CDL if you have no experience because you will most likely be hired above someone with just a Class B who has no experience. Any comments on this one?

When you go to school to get your Class A license, do you automatically get your Class B? One school said that if you have your Class A, that proves you can drive ANYTHING - including Class B vehicles. I've heard otherwise. So how does it work? I know you can choose to just get your Class B and not get your Class A. However, when you have your Class A, does that mean that after you pass your Class A tests, you will automatically be classified as a Class B driver as well, or are there two separate classes and tests?

Thanks!

Hi Julius,

I don't know if they are accredited or not, but if you take the advice given here, How To Choose A School, it won't matter because you will find out if companies hire their graduates and if current students would recommend them.

I hope this helps,

Paul

Yeah. It does help. Doing a lot of reading on the forum. Thanks.

Is every school listed in this forum by State an accredited school, or is it just a list of all CDL schools in your chosen state?

Whats the school, maybe someone knows but I agree with H C , most of the schools either name the companys or have there logo's displayed on there site.

Well, I asked them if a list exists that shows the companies that hire their graduates, and they said no such list exists. However, when I visit them later this week, I will come out and ask for company names and see how it goes. I'm hoping that maybe I just didn't word it correctly when asking for a "list". I'll see what happens this week.

Is there any reason a CDL school wouldn't be willing to share the companies that hire their students? And is it inappropriate to ask them to give you the name of the trucking companies that hire their students? One school I'm looking at attending said companies call them daily asking for access to their new graduates. I don't see any reason why that should be proprietary information.

1> I got hired right out of CDL school driving a hazmat B fuel truck and class A water tanker for a local big construction company. Getting some experience and making money but doing a lot more grunt work.

2> RV does not require a CDL so it is not CDL experience.

3>In my case yes, plus having all the endorsements, especially hazmat. Mostly I drive the class B fuel/service truck, then when that's done I sometimes drive a class A water tanker, bobtail dump, tandem dump, belly dump, lowboy, landoll, end dump, whatever they need. So its always good to have a little more to offer a company I think. And in my case, a class A driver applied for whats mostly a Class B position, because that will keep me local for now and get me some experience for potential later OTR.

Phil

Makes sense, Phil. When you finished CDL school, was your certificate for at least 160 hours of training?

Question one. I didn't get hired for a class B job right out of the gate but I did get hired class A right out of school and I drive both combinations and straight trucks.

Question two. When it comes to experience the key term that most of not all companies use is "verifiable" experience. They want to be able to call a previous employer and get the low down on how you drove. You are correct about the motor home analogy but again, it's not verifiable.

Question three. Not necessarily. If the company runs any combination vehicles then maybe because that driver will have some versatility of they are ever in a pinch. If however both drivers are shown to have the same amount of experience and the company only has B trucks then I can't see one being favored over the other. My question would be why a class A driver of applying for a B job in the first place.

Hope this helps.

Yes, Heavy C. That DOES help. Thanks! By the way, the reason a Class A driver might be applying for a B job (which would be my case) is because I want the benefit of having the Class A CDL, but I'm not the least bit interested in doing anything non-local. If there is a Class A job that is local, I'd jump on it. Just figured there may be more local Class B jobs than A -- especially for someone with no experience.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Has anybody in this forum gotten hired for a Class B driver position right after getting your CDL with no experience?

2. If a company is requiring a Class B driver to to have 6 months of experience driving a 26' commercial truck, do you think they would take into consideration the fact that you have 5 to 6 years experience driving a 26' motorhome? I know that's not a straight truck, but you do have to know how to back up, use your mirrors, handle a vehicle that size, etc.

3. If two people are applying for a Class B driver position, and one candidate has a Class B certification, and the other has a Class A & B, would the one with the Class A most likely get hired over the other one - even though it's FOR a Class B position?