Profile For Clay Knight

You definitely cannot go wrong with Swift. Excellent company. Good luck!

Danielsahn-

Thank you! That's good to hear. I've been looking into companies for a while and originally Swift was at the top of my list. Then I let others influence my opinion. There are entire groups and pages on Facebook dedicated to making fun of Swift and talkin trash about their drivers. After the feedback I've gotten here and a good recommendation from an acquaintance I trust who started his career with Swift and recommended them highly as a great place to start my career I feel like my opinion has changed again and I'm happy to be going there. I need to get my foot in the door and with my lack of work history their willingness to take me and work with me is what I need. I will be working very hard to be a good student and learn everything I can from my instructors and trainers. I'm going there with the mindset that my entire being will be dedicated to becoming a competent and safe driver so I can start earning and building good experience and work history. I'm excited to finally get started.

Congratulations sir. Must feel great moving forward. Yeah, I hear ya about living in California. I was born in Oakland and have lived in various areas. It's all too expensive.

Coachella Valley was affordable in '04. Rent was 450 a month for a one bedroom. By '12 I was paying over 750. I was an operations manager for a security company. Then another company came in and bought everyone out....as well as laying everyone off.

Headed over to AZ. Not bad,but like most places a lack of employment. I've been looking into trucking since '11 and knew at some point I would make my move out of the security industry.So it's not something I am just jumping right into just because.

Swift is my number one pick.

Best of luck. Will follow your diary if you do one

Wilbur C. Yeah California has some of the highest cost of living in the nation besides Hawaii. Not a fan of the politics here either. looking forward to moving. AZ is too hot for me unless I was up in the mountains maybe. Looking at somewhere much further North like Montana. I know, I know... It gets COLD in the winter. LOL I have friends who live there. I'm ready for it. Tired of the heat and dryness of inland California. I want some land that's not a desert.

Glad to hear you got accepted somewhere. And Swift is a great choice! I went with CRST because the team driving has some extra benefits that I liked. The downside of teaming is pretty minimal for me right now.

I was also in a similar boat to yours, I shut down a business I was running and spent a year taking care of my father-in-law during late stage cancer. I had nothing to show for that year as far as employment, and a few places didn't like it and a few (Wilson and Millis) recruiters just strung me along until I finally figured out they wanted me to go away, lol.

But... Big piece of advice here is for you to get letters from family members (as stated here earlier) that state what you were doing, etc., during that time. I was accepted without needing them, but about a week into school the records department came and asked me about that time. When I was able to just hand over notarized letters from family members and from hospice care (advice I got here on this site) they were VERY happy to copy those and put them in my file as verifiable history.

So, whether it seems like you need them or not, best advice is to get some notarized letters together, anyway. If you take them and dont need them, hey, awesome! But if they just might help later on... Always better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Congratulations on your school acceptance. Hope to see ya around here more!

Jeremy C. Thanks for that information, I'll see about getting a letter. My Grandma is still with us and pretty healthy for a 90 year old but she needs help with certain daily activities and household chores. She doesn't drive and I took care of that stuff for her. Another family member one of her daughters has stepped up to help out and free me up to go back into the workforce. I can get my Grandma to write a letter and we can get it notarized. I'll be starting a diary to document my journey. I'll definitely be around the forum more. I've gotten a lot of good information and motivation from the people here. I appreciate everyone's advice, input and motivational encouragement.

Congratulations.

Swift was my first choice over 5 years ago. I am still driving for them and have no immediate plans to move elsewhere.

Let me know if you have any questions. Lots of Swifties on here...

Good luck!

Awesome! Thanks G-Town. Glad to know you are with Swift and happy there. I'm feeling excited to get started.

Awesome News! Congrats uhm Clay Knight! What happened with Dragon Knight? :D

And thank you for the congratulations. I'm excited to finally be moving forward into the career. Had to get my foot in the door somewhere and while Swift may not have been my first choice it's going to give me the chance I need to get started and start getting some experience.

Awesome News! Congrats uhm Clay Knight! What happened with Dragon Knight? :D

Just decided to use my actual name. My dog is named Dragon so I decided to change it up. LOL.

So just to update this for the last time. My application to Swift Transportation was accepted and I have a start date. They were willing to overlook my lack of work history and accepted me with a simple explanation that I was caring for my Grandmother and that is why I don't have on the books employment for the last few years. Start Date is set for July 23'rd.

I spoke to CRST and Swift recruiters. Both seemed to think my lack of work history wouldn't be an issue. After speaking to both I am going to try and go to Swift. The fact that CRST only does teams for the full duration of your contract doesn't appeal to me all that much. Hoping to head off to school with Swift in about 3 weeks.

Hey Dragon Night. I see you are in Hemit CA. I lived in Palm Springs CA from '04-'11. Was great when I got there. But by '06 things started changing. Man, talk about a bad economy.

That's when things really went bad for me. How is it there now?

Best of luck brother. Hope one of those companies works out for you.

Not sure what your line of work was but things seem to be pickin up. Economy isn't terrible. Construction has picked back up and they're building new houses and there are less vacant buildings now. Housing market is stronger than it was. Cost of living is astronomical here in California though. I plan on moving in a couple of years. I am sick of the heat and politics and the cost of living here.

I spoke to CRST and Swift recruiters. Both seemed to think my lack of work history wouldn't be an issue. After speaking to both I am going to try and go to Swift. The fact that CRST only does teams for the full duration of your contract doesn't appeal to me all that much. Hoping to head off to school with Swift in about 3 weeks.

What off the books jobs did you have? How recent was the W2 job? It's all about verification.

I was caring for an elderly family member and helping my wife with her yoga and massage business but I don't have any 1099 for those things and the on the books job was for the year of 2015. Prime recruiter told me only 7 months of that job even count. He said without w2s he couldn't do anything for me.

I've been told to try Swift by a couple of other drivers I've talked to. I put in the Trucking Truth app and have been assigned recruiters with CRST and Wislon but haven't filled out their full applications yet or discussed my lack of work history so I don't know if those will go anywhere yet. Was gonna apply to Swift and Knight and see what happens and who's willing to give me a chance.

I wanted to go to school and training through Prime Inc but unfortunately since I have no verifiable work history for the last several years they won't accept me. Can anyone make recommendations of companies I should apply to? I have only had 1 job in the past 3 years that paid me on the books where I received a w2 form and filed taxes. I really want a career in trucking and am pretty disappointed at being declined by Prime but I'm not giving up. Figured I would ask here for recommendations. I will be getting my Permit here in CA in a week or two.