Beginning The Process Of Becoming A Truck Driver

Well I got shot down by Swift too, I suspected it was going to happen, but I had a little hope for a while. Since I am out in the hinter lands, meaning nobody hires if you live in Wyoming, I am out of options for a good long time. I still have a job so I guess I was smart enough not to throw that away before I tested the waters.

Sorry to hear that man. Have you tried Western Express or May trucking? I think you said you already tried CR England right?

Michael, there is a small company that provides training. It is Windy Hill Foliage in Marshfield, WI

They have a website with employment information and online application. They would be a good company to start with and you might be able to get on with them. Check them out online and give them a call at recruiting.

The thing I don’t know is how your location would work with their location, but it would be worth a phone call.

If you really want to become a driver, don’t give up yet. I believe there is a path for you, we just have to find it.

Not giving up just hit a reality check wall. I expected it and I will check them out, my approach has been changed and I can see that I might be on a more difficult path than I had thought. Right now the job market is in favor of the big companies and they can be as picky as they want to be.

Part of the reason I am on this forum is to document how to get a Job as a Truck Driver the hard way lol. If it can even be done, the modern world and the reliance on "data" rather than personal interaction with people is a serious problem as far as I can tell. I am on the negative side of the data collection line.

Michael, there is a small company that provides training. It is Windy Hill Foliage in Marshfield, WI

They have a website with employment information and online application. They would be a good company to start with and you might be able to get on with them. Check them out online and give them a call at recruiting.

The thing I don’t know is how your location would work with their location, but it would be worth a phone call.

If you really want to become a driver, don’t give up yet. I believe there is a path for you, we just have to find it.

I called Western Express they will hire SAPs and give second chances to driving infractions, but the recruiter said they consider Manslaughter the same as murder and wont hire someone who has that on their record. I will be looking at May though, part of my problem is that I am in one of the great American dead zones. Wyoming is to far from everything to hire residents of said state. I am trying to do a work around on that, but as with criminal backgrounds the people making decisions want simple fill in the blank situations which don't really match reality. For instance why would it matter if my CDL is in Wyoming if I have no interest in home time and want to work OTR taking time off where ever I land at the time.

Sorry to hear that man. Have you tried Western Express or May trucking? I think you said you already tried CR England right?

The residence location issue varies from company to company, as I understand it.

My state of residence is in SD, a state my company does no business in. But they don’t care as long as they don’t have to route me there for home time..

When I was in training with Schneider, they had one guy there from Alaska who had to make his own arrangements to go back to Alaska if he wanted home time, but they still hired him.

Hey Michael,

Hang in there! These are much tougher times than they will admit to on television, and that's putting it mildly. I expect things to get worse. So buckle up and get ready for some tough years and take whatever opportunities come your way.

For instance why would it matter if my CDL is in Wyoming if I have no interest in home time and want to work OTR taking time off where ever I land at the time.

Well, they figure everyone has a home somewhere they'll eventually want to return to. For most of my career I lived in the truck. I didn't have a car or a residence. I just used the address of friends or family as my home base.

So if you want to move your CDL to a state with better hiring opportunities, you'll just have to find an address you can use as your home address in that state.

I had to "Move" from Montana to North Carolina to make working for Prime an option. With the exception of the comedy of errors in getting me "home" to Montana this time, (twice a year) it's just easier to park the truck at the SLC terminal and run a rental car home. Usually my FM has 30ish days notice when I need to be in Montana, just to make it easier to set me up for "close enough."

This time? After three customers refused to take my empty, for various reasons, the trailer is sitting in the grass in my father's yard. Wilson used to let us drop there, but they had to go and sell out to Ashley, and they say NO too. It's been raining all week, so I'm hoping that hooking at a 45 degree angle and pulling towards the fire hydrant will be sufficient to get it out of the yard.....

Where I "live" in NC is actually a bigger PITA to get me home time, but with the number of contracts we have that go to or come from NC, it's considered "acceptable" to them.

Well I got shot down by Swift too, I suspected it was going to happen, but I had a little hope for a while. Since I am out in the hinter lands, meaning nobody hires if you live in Wyoming, I am out of options for a good long time. I still have a job so I guess I was smart enough not to throw that away before I tested the waters.

Michael, your post brings to mind the challenges highlighted in this article on criminal record bias in trucking: https://www.smart-trucking.com/criminal-record-bias/

It discusses how many qualified drivers are turned away due to past mistakes, even when they've demonstrably reformed. The industry is grappling with balancing safety and second chances.

Your insights on the limits of relying solely on data are valuable. Don't lose hope - some companies are starting to assess applicants individually rather than with blanket policies.

Rin B.

Michael, your post brings to mind the challenges highlighted in this article on criminal record bias in trucking: https://www.smart-trucking.com/criminal-record-bias/

It discusses how many qualified drivers are turned away due to past mistakes, even when they've demonstrably reformed. The industry is grappling with balancing safety and second chances.

Your insights on the limits of relying solely on data are valuable. Don't lose hope - some companies are starting to assess applicants individually rather than with blanket policies.

Your post was timely and helpful because I talked to a lawyer the other day and decided to try and get a Governors Pardon and get my records Expunged. Not so much because I deserve it but because have done literally everything in my power to make amends and get myself on a life course where I am not creating problems for others through my ignorance and personal problems. In short I don't blame the system, the people who created the root of my problems, nor even God. I just learned to accept reality as it is.

One of the things about reality I have found is that almost no one forgives, no one forgets and almost no one changes their own short comings especially if they are not drunks or druggies. We few actual alcoholics and drug addicts that manage to pull our selves out of the fire know things about pain guilt remorse that the intellectual elite (smarter than thou's) and the holier than thou religious do gooder's have ZERO clues about. And those are our judges. For 30 years I have been at this, and for 30 years I have managed to get by never really succeeding but surviving, learning how ignorant and foolish I was yesterday and trying to improve on it today so that maybe tomorrow wont suck azz.

I think I got off point here. The article you posted will help, has helped me to partially distil what I want to say to the Pardon board. I have never told myside of the story and did not even realize that until the lawyer said it to me and that this was the time to do so. Yeah I blew a dudes head off, nobody knew who done it, except me,(he wasn't a "good " guy). I told on myself 4 1/2 years after the fact, and the only thing I ever said when I plead guilty, was two azzholes met in the middle of the night and only one walked away. There is a lot more to telling on myself than that though. I had started my own rehabilitation before I ever decided to deal with my past actions and the "good" people made sure that part was not in the pleadings. I did not wish to make excuses or come up with some bull crap excuse, I just wanted to deal with the problem I had created for my self. So I did.

I have to spend a lot of money on a long shot, but I want to drive OTR long haul trucking only. What the Lawyer said is that if this works out and I get a pardon I literally don't have a criminal record and can legally say NO on those questions. I think that is the only way I can get into driving.