Bad Start With New Company???HELP

Hey guys I’m back! So long story short I got a truck driving school in August and I landed a local job with a small company, about 1000 trailers or less, which was back in October. I train there for a while after completing my training and testing out I went solo for about two days and had a little incident. One incident I was by the yard in my dispatch told me to turn around. My GPS told me to take a turn which sent me on a small street I felt really uncomfortable trying to do a U-turn since I had no one to help me direct traffic, and a couple guys from the garage came up stop the traffic in one actually did the U-turn for me. No damage to the trailer I was only about five minutes away from the yard. Second thing that happened was I was going back to the yard from a shipper and I got lost. I ended up finding a truckstop so I decided to go there to get a coffee look at my map and head back however while I was there I did a U-turn and I ended up popping my airline. I guess the U-turn was too tight I did not damage the tractor or the trailer just the trailer supply airline. The next day I go into work in the company let me go however I was told by safety that he would be willing to give me another chance but then when he spoke with the owner the owner was skeptical since I was so new. Safety did tell me that it was not A recordable accident and to come and apply once I had about six months experience in the future. Now I have a plied to NFI and I told them about the incident and they would not hire me since that was the only job I had and it’s resulted in me being fired. My question now is since it is not a recordable accident should I not mention that on my application? The guy in safety told me that I could basically make up anything I wanted to since it was a recordable and since they don’t look at it as an accident I guess he’s trying to help me with my future job prospects. HoweverI am not comfortable lying to companies as I have never done so before. Advice? Is this the end of my career? I am more than willing to drive over the road or regional if that means someone will give me a chance.

Tashawna G, It's great to hear from you, but dang it, this was not the kind of news we wanted to hear!

If I remember you correctly you needed a local job because you have a child that you need to be near. That's a problem. It may just be the kind of problem that keeps you from the trucking career. I can't really say.

I never encourage anyone to start this career locally, and you just proved the reasons why I have strong feelings about it. Local driving jobs are just brutal on rookies, and they often turn out just as yours did. You make a little mistake and you get fired. Once you get fired you have no experience. No experience and you've already been fired from your first trucking job. That equals: nobody wants to take their chances with you.

That's the reality, and it's rather harsh. All you can do is start applying everywhere. Hopefully somebody will take you, but you have the issue of child care to deal with. I just don't know if this is the best choice for you right now. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but only you can figure out how to deal with the critical issues you have. I Never Recommend Local Jobs For Rookies.

One other thing, and I'm not chastising you. We all have made rookie mistakes, that's what rookies tend to do. I just wanted to point out for others reading along here. It's really unsafe to make a U-turn on a public street with a tractor/trailer. Most of your big trucking companies consider this an event worth firing you over. It's just too risky and unsafe. I've driven as much as eight miles out of my way to avoid a U-turn. You just drive until you can find a nice open parking area or an overpass with an intersecting street. You always need to have sufficient space without oncoming traffic to turn a big truck around. We rookies tend to panic and think we have got to fix our mistake right away and get back on track. That's not so. It's always disastrous to fix one mistake with another. Always make the effort to find a safe place to turn a big truck around.

Best answer is to be honest, get caught lying and its found out could be the end of driving for you. As for company suggestions, I can't help as I haven't looked around.

There's a difference between a DOT REPORTABLE incident - versus a "company recordable" one.

Your company RECORDS EVERY INCIDENT - that is every incident - especially ones that damage equipment (however slight), end up in your company drivers record.

Whether or not THAT GETS REPORTED TO DAC is another story - but it will not be on your FMCSA Record.

Lessons learned - NEVER TRUST YOUR GPS - even a trucking GPS.

I had an incident back when I owed my own bus and was taking bands out on tour - where my GPS told me to make a left, down a car-lined street (at 3AM after a gig), that ended in a "T" with cars up to the corners and NO WAY to get a 48' bus and 10' trailer around. Backing up 200 yards with that rig - took over an hour.

NEVER TRUSTED THE GPS AGAIN.

Lesson: THREE GOOD LEFTS are better than ONE BAD RIGHT (or a bad U-Turn).

What you might consider - due to your lack of road experience - is to apply to one of the MAJORS - and tell them, due to your lack of hard experience - that you are WILLING TO GO THROUGH TRAINING.

Landing a "local gig" right out of 3rd party schooling is what most here would consider a MIRACLE. Usually - you either work your way up to driving FROM THE DOCKS - or people with years of OTR experience decide they want to drive local, and get hired to drive right away, based on EXPERIENCE.

So - you can be HONEST ON YOU APPLICATION - the question usually is DOT REPORTABLE ACCIDENT - of which you had NONE. But somewhere along the way, you are going to have to DISCLOSE YOUR INCIDENTS.

Go ahead and get a GET A FREE COPY OF YOUR DAC REPORT, so you can see what's on there. But being new - and being terminated from your first trucking job - you shouldn't (CAN'T) LIE on previous employer reason for leaving. They WILL FIND OUT. Typically, the only thing a previous employer can legally answer is: dates of employment - and - eligible for re-hire. BUT - if they say NO to "eligible for re-hire", the prospective employer is GOING TO WANT TO KNOW WHY.

If you are able to go OTR - do consider APPLYING EVERYWHERE - and admitting that you could USE SOME MORE TRAINING (which, not to sound mean or anything, you obviously do).

Best of luck - KEEP US POSTED ON YOUR PROGRESS...

Rick

Get a copy of your DAC report and see what's on there.

There are allot of companies out there doing just Local work, with that being said, OTR and Regional companies utilize the "DAC" report, some local companies do not do DAC , however, they do use a "federal system that is attached to your CDL now, (PER- O'bama) (clearance house), or something like that Incidents might be on there, it is for companies to make sure you cannot lie on an application even though some actually do it worse... YOU could also get a copy of your MVR report, and DAC... you could try to get with an LTL carrier, line haul is either doubles and triples, or just 1 53"-er... or you can do P+D work you bump 25-30 docks a day pick up one or 2 pallets go back to the terminal when full... fast paced, and big benefits too...

most of them are union, and then it changes the game if your union.... drivers have a process to got through, and the company has a process to get rid of you also... just throwing tht up there... E.F.S. ( Expedited Freight Systems) , YRC, FedEx, UPS...etc.... they don't usually listen to DAC, but get the DAC first tell them first... if yur being honest they tend to work with you.... Good Luck

Hey Tashawna, please stay engaged here...IF you're really dedicated to continuing your career without too much delay. This is the place for supportive feedback and advice, particular options to consider, etc. The veterans have been weighing in for you already... My take as a fellow rookie from my current experience? Sure sounds to me like there's "second chance" companies like Western Express that will consider you, and many others. As far as what you told us that happened, I keep reading and hearing here and elsewhere that such mistakes by rookies are stumbling blocks to be turned into stepping stones, IF we're determined enough to do so. There's probably more to the story from your first company's point of view, but nothing you cited sounds all that serious once you learn from it and come across as good to go! If they're into giving you a break in the "reportable" dept., seems like you should be able to go OTR , maybe team if that'd help, which sounds like in your case just might IF solo's too daunting to start? (Hotly debated topic though that only you can discover for sure about.) But like has been said here already, remedial training ought'a do the trick... And what about that childcare issue, is that overcome-able?