Profile For Billy

Hey everyone,

Quick update. I got a conditional job offer after speaking more in depth with the recruiter. They said they don't see any reason for me not to be hired. I am being hired for a dedicated route based out of Kenton, OH. Its for Graphic Packaging. 70% of it is the Northeast Region and the other 30% is as far west as Texas and as far south as Florida. Not too bad. The position pays more than the normal over the road position they are offering so I am happy about that. I was told by my close friend that of course its all preference but dedicated positions tend to be a lot better because they are more reliable for home time and travel destinations. That obviously makes sense. I have my final interview on January 25th and if all goes well, that is when I will get all my information to attend the 3 week orientation out in Green Bay. All in all, super excited to start this career! Definitely the company I was the most excited to work for, for now. They did say I will have to do NYC routes. I am a bit nervous because I have never driven an 18 wheeler through NYC but I have with my car and its annoying with a car so I can only imagine an 18 wheeler doing it. I am assuming that I will get some help from them along the way or some tips.

Yeah if you look at my date of arrest its been a little over 6 years. I was convicted in 2015 and arrested in 2014. And federal charges work a bit different then state charges. State charges show the conviction date as whenever you were sentenced. Federal charges show the conviction date for when you officially enter your plea since Federal Charges can take YEARS to be processed. And as for Schneider, they seem pretty open to the idea that I have a letter of recommendation from two federal judges explaining that they believe I am a productive member of the community now and don't believe I will reoffend. So they seem pretty okay with my criminal background mainly because of that. So we will see. I do have to wait for everything to be official with Drug Court and I have to obtain my actual License which I am not sure when I will get an official answer as to when I can go do that since all DMVs in NJ right now are by appointment only and I can't seem to get one lol.

Thank you all for the awesome responses! Yes I am finishing up the things I need to before I start applying everywhere. I have to actually get my physical ID which I didn't get the day I passed my road test because there was a snowstorm here in NJ and they issued a state of emergency which shut down the DMVs. I was supposed to go for an appointment at the DMV in south Jersey on Saturday but an employee got COVID so they cancelled the appointment and closed the DMV. I have been searching for another appointment date but so far the only thing I am hearing is April/May for an appointment. So I spoke with my local Senators office and they are speaking with their liaison over at the DMV to see if they can get me in ASAP since they know I need it to get to work and honestly I can't stand being on unemployment anymore.

With that being said, once I have my physical license in hand and wrap things up with federal drug court on January 27th, I can start applying everywhere.

Direct Responses Below

Anne A. - Thank you very much. Yes onward and upward is what I like to hear for myself haha. I am really proud of how far I have come and glad that I have such a huge interest in the Trucking Industry. I shall make sure to keep everyone updated on my journey!

Steve L. - Thanks for the information. No I know he isn't searching for a referral bonus. He only worked with them for about 5 years and he made a mistake which they ended up letting him go for but he still speaks highly about them because he says when he is driving on the road he notices they are the least out of big companies that show concern in their driving. So when he told me about them, it was exactly what you brought up, which is safety. That is my biggest goal as a driver. I want to be as safe as I can possibly be. He and I talked about TONS of stuff and one thing I refuse to do is team driving. A couple of the big companies I spoke with want you to do team driving for the first 6-12 months and that is not something I am willing to do. I will do as much training as humanly possible to make a company happy but if I am going to be out on the road for weeks at a time, I prefer to have my own space and not have to share it with anyone. As far as shutting down, my first goal is safety and my second goal is efficiency. I want to make my company know that I will get their cargo to wherever its supposed to go on time without risking my safety or others. I also am not scared of bad weather but I will make it a point to learn my limitations. And you are right. It seems Schneiders training is about 3 weeks (1 week classroom, 1 week local driving and simulation training, and 3rd week is out on the road with a Schneider Trainer) That being said, I don't think Schneider will put my on the road if they don't feel I could handle it, but thats just a logical assumption I am making.

Rob T. - Yeah I mean I am not TOO worried about CPM but I am concerned about overall income. I have to make at LEAST 55k a year to stay afloat. My old job I was making about 68k a year and was doing pretty well. I added up my debt and my monthly expenses and 55k a year will cover that all and allow me some breathing room financially. So whereas I don't care too much about making THE MOST money, I just need to make sure I am meeting what I HAVE to make to stay comfortable. Anything over 55k is just bonus money for me at this point. I will definitely check out multiple companies.

Rick S. - As for what my Federal charges are, they are two counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine. I also have a state felony from when I was 19 ( I am 33 now so its very old) was for PWID (Possession with the intent to deliver) Marijuana. For the federal charges, the official charge date has been a little over 5 years so I do have some time away from the charge date. A lot of companies want 10 years since the charge date before I can be hired, some want 7, some want 5, others are on a case by case basis. I am open to just about any company as long as they meet what I need financially to stay afloat and also provide decent training as I don't feel I could just jump in a truck and be on my way yet. I do feel CONFIDENT in what I have already learned but I still struggle with some things such as doing really well with parallel parking and alley dock. I can do it, it just takes me a few times of pulling up and adjusting myself. The whole opposite turn for backing up still screws me up in my head during the process. I think with time I will become better at it, but I still need some more work before I just get thrown out to the wild. I am also a bit worried about routes that Include NYC unless I get some better training. I live right outside of NYC and I go there often, I don't know if I would be able to maneuver through the city quite yet. This is just anxiety talking I guess, I will do what is asked of me, I just want to do it right.

Yeah luckily Schneider has already said I won't have a problem being hired. A lot of the other big companies want a bit more time since my charges date. I do know that my father is friends with a regional manager at SWIFT and is able to get me hired there as well. I guess what I am asking are what places should I hire? Or just apply to them all?

Hey everyone. Not sure if you remember I posted asking about the chances of getting a good job with felonies. I also mentioned that I was in the process of trying to figure out how to pursue my CDL and make it a reality. Well I am happy to announce that I started a private CDL school on November 30th and passed my road test on December 16th. Whereas I am happy I have my CDL, god knows I need more training. I am happy that after having never driven any manual automobile in my life, I passed my road test with a manual tractor trailer. So I have no restrictions on my license which is pretty awesome.

So now I am reaching out to you all again with more questions. I told you guys a while back I was on federal probation and was asking the chances of getting a job. Luckily, I am about a year away from completing probation but the federal probation office in Newark, NJ decided to bump me down to level 1 supervision. That basically means that I am on probation on paper and thats it. They won't really monitor me, don't need me to come in consistently if at all, and will probably make time to see me on my home time rather than forcing me to stick to a date to see them. The only time they would be involved is if I commit another crime and after 8 years of dealing with this case, trust me, thats very far behind me.

So with that being said, I am just waiting to go get my PHYSICAL ID since COVID has all the DMVs a mess. I should have it in the next few weeks. I am officially done with Federal Drug Court on January 27th which is when I get bumped down to level 1 supervision. I am in need of employment. I am also in need of some friends in the industry that I can count on for information here and there. Being a rookie driver, for me, is going to be a bit scary (I use that word carefully), more anxiety driven just because I have never done it and I want to be as humanly safe as possible because everybody on the road is important to me, not just myself.

My best friend has been trucking for about 15 years. He started with Schneider and that is where he recommends I go since I didn't get much training at all. The school itself just basically made sure I passed my 3 part road test and then wished me well lol. I need real training and my friend says the Schneider is like the Harvard of Rookie Driver Training in the Big Companies of the Trucking industry. I see that their pay is kind of subpar compared to others starting at only .42 cents a mile but it seems like they offer a LOT of perks on top of pay. I don't know **** so I want to turn to you all and get your opinions.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I am eager to hear from you all!!!

Billy

I was in the army and foster care and jail and then bounced back and made a better life for myself. Now I am at the point I want to make a better future for myself so I know for a fact i can train my mind and body to do whatever I want it to do lol. It doesn't have a choice in the matter. There is no off button for me at this point in my life. I wasted too much time fartin around. I need to set myself up so I don't have to work until the day I die lol.

Im gonna let my trucking family who knows more about the situation advise you on what this situation; however, my trainer is a convicted felon for drugs, I am not sure about distributing drugs but it does have to do with drugs. Now he says that Western Express will take you on, and you can do a year of driving before applying to another truck company. Just come here for the experience and then look for better paying careers in the trucking business. Western Express does not pay the best but if you can discipline your body and mind to do it, you can make great money here. My trainer his first week made $1200 his first week solo. Ask Old School he worked here for a while too! Isn't that right Old School!

I mean, the politics are just annoying me here. Things on the state level. For instance, Trump got rid of the Health Insurance penalty requiring people without health insurance to pay a hefty fine. So what does New Jersey do? They go and pick up the penalty. The problem I have is I work for a franchise. I do bring home about 1900 after taxes every two weeks, 2500 before taxes, but its to cover the costs of living plus all my bills lol. My apartment is 1400.00 a month and thats the cheapest I could find and its a 45 minute drive with no traffic to my job. So I am unable to afford my own private health insurance and because I work for a business that only staffs 2 other people besides myself, the owner can't afford to give us health insurance. So I am stuck paying almost 2000.00 in taxes because of this state health insurance penalty. Thats just one of the many things. So I just want out of the chaos and I also want to live somewhere that the cost of living makes sense. I wouldnt say I live in a dump but 1400.00 down south would cover the cost of a mortage on a 3-4 bedroom house lol.

How bad are the politics? If it is as bad as our House is in Washington D.C. then I will go clear to Florida or Montana or Louisiana or Texas or some place far from New Jersy so I dont have to worry about that man.

I also thought I should mention, I would like to speak to you further about what positions you might be able to assist me with. I know nothing is for sure but any support would be greatly appreciated. I also have a friend who is in the court program I am in that is a mechanic for 18 wheelers in NY and he said he can get me into a company easily. I am planning on moving to NC/SC in 2022 once my probation is completed (if I don't get released sooner which is a very strong possibility.) But I would like to maintain driving for whatever company I end up driving for up here. I don't know how that works or if that is even possible but it is something I want to look into. The cost of living in NJ is ridiculous and the politics here in this state are just getting out of control so I want out.

Hey William, I helped a couple different guys get hired at Western Express while on probation. The recruiter we worked with is no longer there, so I can't guarantee any results. What we did is get a letter from their probation officer (on the county's letterhead) stating that Mr. X was on probation until such and such time, but was allowed to cross state lines while working. It was a simple letter, maybe one paragraph, signed by the probation officer with a contact number. That, and the brief work history they had, got their foot in the door.

Best of luck to ya! Feel free to ask more questions. We will always do whatever we can to help. Some of these companies are a little less strict with their requirements. Western Express is one of the more lenient ones. I started my career there so I can tell you I had a great experience there. They kept me extremely busy.

Thank you! I really appreciate your vote of confidence! You are all so supportive on here and I definitely plan on staying in touch with everyone throughout my career. I will also make sure to update everyone throughout all of the steps I take so that you all may help other people as well! Any questions I have, this will be my first stop!

Thanks friends!

Billy, after reading all these posts, I have no doubt you will find success easily wherever you end up driving.

Remember we're always here to help.

Keep reading the topics on here (especially any of mine!) to gain more knowledge.

Awesome! Thanks for the response. Yeah driving, in general, is just something I enjoy the most in life. I like driving long distances in my car with no radio or phone. It just calms me. So it is definitely the right job for me. Plus, the appreciation I have for truck drivers makes me want the job that much more. I will definitely get a job. I am going to stop until I find one. I will definitely keep you all updated as time progresses. Since my felonies were federal and I am still in the program, they have a program that helps federal felons find good jobs in all industries so I am going to also look into that more once I start my CDL training.

Thanks again!

Billy

First off I want to congratulate you on getting things turned around and not allowing your record to define who you are, or allow it to have a negative impact on your dreams. Please keep us updated on how things go so we can better help those in a similar situation in the future. We typically recommend people with some past issues check out Western Express, Carolina Cargo and CR England as they seem to be more lenient in hiring requirements. They do start out at a lower CPM but you can move up the payscale if you prove yourself to be a safe, efficient driver. Before the end of school you should apply everywhere and see if anybody offers you a spot. Dont be discouraged if you hear a lot of "no", somebody is likely to give you a chance. After a year of safe driving experience you'll find some companies that turned you down will be more than happy to hire you.

I also thought I should mention, I would like to speak to you further about what positions you might be able to assist me with. I know nothing is for sure but any support would be greatly appreciated. I also have a friend who is in the court program I am in that is a mechanic for 18 wheelers in NY and he said he can get me into a company easily. I am planning on moving to NC/SC in 2022 once my probation is completed (if I don't get released sooner which is a very strong possibility.) But I would like to maintain driving for whatever company I end up driving for up here. I don't know how that works or if that is even possible but it is something I want to look into. The cost of living in NJ is ridiculous and the politics here in this state are just getting out of control so I want out.

Hey William, I helped a couple different guys get hired at Western Express while on probation. The recruiter we worked with is no longer there, so I can't guarantee any results. What we did is get a letter from their probation officer (on the county's letterhead) stating that Mr. X was on probation until such and such time, but was allowed to cross state lines while working. It was a simple letter, maybe one paragraph, signed by the probation officer with a contact number. That, and the brief work history they had, got their foot in the door.

Best of luck to ya! Feel free to ask more questions. We will always do whatever we can to help. Some of these companies are a little less strict with their requirements. Western Express is one of the more lenient ones. I started my career there so I can tell you I had a great experience there. They kept me extremely busy.