Hi,Looking For More Info For Schools In MA

Hi everyone, I have been doing a research on Truck Driving Schools In Ma but I would feel more comfortable to hear from people who had experience with them.For one school the review I read was scary and the for other one was not too bad. Any suggestions will help a lot before I pay tons of money. The other issue is that in some reviews people complain about after graduating from schools (privet ones) they can't find a job due to Otr experience requirments. Is this a common issue or it depends on the state that person lives? In MA there seems to be high demand for drivers even though it's obvious that it won't be easy without at least 6 month experience. But I think once you pass the tests and have that license there has to be a place where you can start from somewhere. I hope I am not mistaken and new grads are able to find jobs one way o another..

Hello Ozgur! First off welcome. You've come to the right place to get any answers you need about this buisness. As far as trucking schools in MA go I'm not sure which ones are good, better, or best. My father went to a school and Andover a long time ago and he liked it. I myself am at NTI in Maine and love it. So best bet would be to find some current students at the schools your thinking of and ask them. Become a stalker around lunch time and ask when they come out what they think, lol. Maybe not go that far but you get the point. As far as jobs go, i'm not sure what it's going to be like down there but i'll tell you what my instructor told us last week. A lot of companies almost have to hire with-in they're minimum experience ranges mainly for insurance purposes. Beyond that though he also told us that our career development team will have a hard time placing us because they don't know what they're doing with regards to how this business works. He told us that because the places that hire want to know they're getting "the goods" in terms of drivers they will call him directly and ask if he has anyone ready to drive. That is before they ever post anything on job boards. And he had plenty of real world examples of these placements. with local companies. I think a lot of the complaining your seeing is from students who expect to land the perfect local job right out of school. Can it happen? Sure! Will it? There's no way to tell. But you have to be open to go where the jobs are. Whether or not it's local or OTR. For me when I get my CDL I plan to try for local first, if that doesn't pan out i'll look to regional or OTR. But I prepared myself to take the best possible job for my situation. Long story short yes you can find a job without experience you may just have to be a little more flexible than you originally thought. Good luck!

PS: I hope others will add to this and correct anything I might have said wrong

Hello Ozgur! First off welcome. You've come to the right place to get any answers you need about this buisness. As far as trucking schools in MA go I'm not sure which ones are good, better, or best. My father went to a school and Andover a long time ago and he liked it. I myself am at NTI in Maine and love it. So best bet would be to find some current students at the schools your thinking of and ask them. Become a stalker around lunch time and ask when they come out what they think, lol. Maybe not go that far but you get the point. As far as jobs go, i'm not sure what it's going to be like down there but i'll tell you what my instructor told us last week. A lot of companies almost have to hire with-in they're minimum experience ranges mainly for insurance purposes. Beyond that though he also told us that our career development team will have a hard time placing us because they don't know what they're doing with regards to how this business works. He told us that because the places that hire want to know they're getting "the goods" in terms of drivers they will call him directly and ask if he has anyone ready to drive. That is before they ever post anything on job boards. And he had plenty of real world examples of these placements. with local companies. I think a lot of the complaining your seeing is from students who expect to land the perfect local job right out of school. Can it happen? Sure! Will it? There's no way to tell. But you have to be open to go where the jobs are. Whether or not it's local or OTR. For me when I get my CDL I plan to try for local first, if that doesn't pan out i'll look to regional or OTR. But I prepared myself to take the best possible job for my situation. Long story short yes you can find a job without experience you may just have to be a little more flexible than you originally thought. Good luck!

PS: I hope others will add to this and correct anything I might have said wrong

Thanks Heavy C,this was helpfull. Some of the things you mentioned is what I thought it would be like and that's comforting.

Don't look at those online reviews. Like we always say, they're not true and complete lies told by idiots who couldn't finish the schooling. So then they blame the school/company instead of blaming themselves.

Going to a private school is a fine way to start trucking. You want to do a few things though:

Make sure that trucking companies hire out of that company. Ask the school for a list of companies that hire from them and call the company to make sure that they do in fact hire from the school.

Ensure that the school provides you with a certificate of graduation.

All trucking companies requires 140 hours minimum of training time at the private school. If you do not have a certificate from the school saying that you completed the required 140 hours then you likely won't get hired anywhere.

Just because you went to a school, doesn't mean you have a job. You need to prove your success with that certificate.

Welcome aboard Ozgur!

Ok so we have a listing of truck driving schools in Massachusetts just to make sure you're aware of that.

We also have a great series of articles on How To Choose A Truck Driving School which will give you more insights into what you should look for and where to get the information you need.

But the main two things have already been mentioned:

1) Make sure major companies hire from the school. You can ask the school for a list of major companies that hire their students. Call some of these companies yourself from home to verify this. If major companies will hire their students then you know the school is legit.

2) Go visit the school in person. Check out their facilities and meet some of the staff. But most importantly, make sure you take aside some of their current students and find out how they feel about the schooling. When someone forks out several thousand dollars for something they're more than happy to share their opinions with others who are considering doing the same thing.

If major companies hire from a school and their current students seem pleased then they're definitely worthy of consideration.

As far as finding a job, we have a partial list of trucking companies that hire inexperience drivers. We also have a list of Company-Sponsored Training Programs which are trucking companies that run their own truck driving schools and hire the students that complete their program. You don't have to attend the training programs of those companies to get hired on with them though. They also hire students from select private schools also.

Lastly, we have a listing of Truck Driving Jobs including a feature where you can Apply For Truck Driving Jobs With One Application. That will give you a great idea of what opportunities you'll find in your area.

That should give you something to go on. And of course I always highly recommend that anyone considering a career in trucking go through our Truck Driver's Career Guide. It's loaded with important information about what it takes to get your trucking career off to a great start.

Now that should be enough to keep you busy for a while!