School & Unemployment & Local Driving

I’m new to this forum, but I have 2 questions that I’m not able to get answered I’m losing my job in April (victim of technology improvements) and I want to become a truck driver or do local delivery either class a or class b. I will need schooling in order to gain CDL , I’m not sure if I can receive unemployment and still attend school, I reside California. Has anyone ever run into this issue? I can’t seem to get a straight answer from anyone Question#2 also has anyone ever gone straight into a local driving class A or B without doing OTR driving first?

I sir can't really help you with the unemployment question. I can however tell you that it is possible to get a local driving job with no OTR experience. I myself got three job offers for local positions after I got my class A. Take that with a grain of salt because it's certainly not the norm. I consider myself very lucky. The one thing you'll have to prepare yourself for I'd with a local job your going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting. Most local jobs are delivery positions involving a lot of loading and unloading by hand. So be ready to work. My suggestion would be to get with the school's career development department and ask them if they place students in local jobs quite often and with who. Verify with those companies that they actually do. You'll get a good idea if it's something that you should be able to do. And like any other job just apply to any and every add for driving regardless of the experience requirements. Good luck

Welcome Tom.

I can't help you with your first question. I can concur w/ Heavy C that you can find local trucking jobs without paying your dues w/ OTR. However, a lot of that will depend on your area. Where I live, there are plenty of local jobs. Those jobs consist of dump truck driving, propane and oil hauling etc... Some companies where I'm from also hire student drivers and offer regional and dedicated accounts - no prior OTR experience necessary. However, all those jobs I know of require some experience in the form of graduating from private CDL school.

Basically, you might be fortunate enough to find a local job without going OTR, but those local jobs probably will require prior 'experience' by graduating from a CDL school with a certain amount of hours logged in the classroom and behind the wheel.

You're going to have to start researching your area for those companies. One way to start is to find a local, private trucking school and ask what companies hire their students.

You need to tcall the employment office to see if you can draw unemployment thru schooling...my bet is you can....