Will I Have To Wait?
Topic 17144 | Page 1
I should have stated this is regarding starting CDL school. I still have 9 months of my GI Bill benefits but I rather go to a company sponsored school. I was really wanting Wil-Trans or Millis.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Wil-Trans:
Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.
Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.
Every company has different requirements for your work history.
Some may reject you if you've been unemployed for more than 30 day, others may not care if you've been unemployed for years.
Send applications to as many companies as you can. You will get some rejections, but you will get many invitations as well.
Hey James, there is a federal requirement which comes from the Homeland Security folks for the job history. Basically they are trying to verify that you are not a terrorist who has been in some training camp for the past year learning to wreak havoc with an eighteen wheeler. Some of the companies take this a little further and use it to look for a stable work history. The main thing you will need to provide is a time-line indicating what it is that you were doing if you were not employed. You still have a shot, but you are going to have to try some other companies. Have some friends write a letter that confirms or verifies that you were staying at home with your children for the specific time period. Get the letters notarized, and that will suffice for many of the companies that do Company-Sponsored Training . You may not be able to get on with those companies which are affiliated with Prime, such as Wil-Trans , they have stricter job history requirements than most.
You can still do this, you've just got to work on writing up a nice time-line of your job history, including the times that you were not employed, with verification provided along with it showing what it was that you were doing during that time. They just have to have records on file showing that they can verify what you were doing for the previous three years.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Company-sponsored Training:
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Wil-Trans:
Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.
Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.
Swift will accept notarized letters as Old School referenced above. At least it sufficed for me back in April. Good Luck on your endeavor!
Hey James, there is a federal requirement which comes from the Homeland Security folks for the job history. Basically they are trying to verify that you are not a terrorist who has been in some training camp for the past year learning to wreak havoc with an eighteen wheeler. Some of the companies take this a little further and use it to look for a stable work history. The main thing you will need to provide is a time-line indicating what it is that you were doing if you were not employed. You still have a shot, but you are going to have to try some other companies. Have some friends write a letter that confirms or verifies that you were staying at home with your children for the specific time period. Get the letters notarized, and that will suffice for many of the companies that do Company-Sponsored Training . You may not be able to get on with those companies which are affiliated with Prime, such as Wil-Trans , they have stricter job history requirements than most.
You can still do this, you've just got to work on writing up a nice time-line of your job history, including the times that you were not employed, with verification provided along with it showing what it was that you were doing during that time. They just have to have records on file showing that they can verify what you were doing for the previous three years.
Thanks for the advice. I included the period of time I was in school and I told the Wil-Trans recruiter I could include my transcripts that verify I was attending school during that break of time from employment. Guess it was not good enough. I will continue studying for my permit and keep applying and talking to recruiters and hope one will take a shot on me.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Company-sponsored Training:
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Wil-Trans:
Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.
Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.
Swift will accept notarized letters as Old School referenced above. At least it sufficed for me back in April. Good Luck on your endeavor!
Thanks for the advice. Swift was #4 on my list so I will talk with one of their recruiters.
You mentioned VA disability. They will probably want documentation you can perform the duties as well.
I had to get a release signed by my VA doc before I could get hired by my company. The release just stated I could medically perform the list of tasks. Good thing VA docs just sign and send you on your way. I don't think mine even read it, lol.
Although the Dr that did my DOT physical for my company did pickup on some of my disabilities. But, she evaluated them as minor. I guess years of sucking it up and driving on pays off.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
You mentioned VA disability. They will probably want documentation you can perform the duties as well.
Actually it made no mention of any disabilities on their site application. So I did not list any and I'm sure I can easily pass a DOT physical. But thanks for the advice its better safe to have that then need it last minute.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
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Hello This is my first post though I have been lurking on this site for awhile reading diaries and cdl trucking school information. About me I served active duty Security Forces in the Air Force for 10 years. I separated in 2010 to go back to school and be a stay at home dad(wife is active duty Air Force). I got my certs. in collision repair and automotive upholstery. While I was in school I did not work as I used my GI Bill for income combined with my V.A. disability income and my spouses income it was a better situation for me to stay at home with the kids. I got my certs in these fields because it was something I wanted to learn as a hobby for myself not as a career. I want to start a career in truck driving. I applied to Wil-trans and the recruiter talked to me. After a couple of phone calls I was told I did not qualify because of employment history? I am 36 years old and never had legal trouble, vehicle accidents, I literally have never even got a speeding ticket in my life. So will I need to get a job in something I don't want and waste 3 years of my life to have a current employment history before I can start a career I do want? Thank you in advance for any opinions or advice.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Wil-Trans:
Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.
Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.