Drug Felony And Job Placement

I am about to enter a school for my CDL A, however I am nervous to continue and pay for the schooling due to the fact that I have a drug possession felons as of June 2022. I'm pretty sure it's possible to still get work. Is there anyone who can confirm this please. Thanks so much. -J

I am about to enter a school for my CDL A, however I am nervous to continue and pay for the schooling due to the fact that I have a drug possession felons as of June 2022. I'm pretty sure it's possible to still get work. Is there anyone who can confirm this please. Thanks so much. -J

It's going to be next to impossible to find a company worth working for that is willing to hire someone with felony drug possession that's 2 years old. Keep in mind, employers consider the conviction date — not the offense date — when determining whether or not a charge is disqualifying. If your offense date was June 2022, then your conviction date is probably much more recent, making the idea of getting your CDL right now a waste of time and money.

You need some years beyond the conviction date, as in a minimum of 5 years. Even with 5 years, you are going to struggle to find an employer willing to hire you for a commercial driving job.

Why is this the case? There was a point in time when truck drivers didn't have much in the way of regulation. Even when the legal requirement for log books was created, it was easy to run a fake log book to present to authorities. In order to stay awake when running with little or no sleep, some drivers relied on drugs like methamphetamines. There was a problem with drugs and the trucking industry.

A current problem in the trucking industry is the trafficking of drugs with commercial vehicles.

These are the reasons why the industry is not going to put someone with a recent history of possessing drugs into a CMV. To the trucking industry, you are viewed as one giant liability, and since you have no experience, you are that huge liability without being any sort of asset.

You need to be pretty sure that no trucking company in their right mind is going to touch you with such a recent drug offense.

Do warehouse work, construction work, anything adjacent to transportation so that in 5-10 years you have a solid understanding of the customers the trucking industry services. Then you will be in a position to look at a career transition.

Joleigh, DO NOT enter a truck driving school and pay for a CDL right now… given your history, it’s too much of a risk right now. The litmus test is to apply to companies who have their own CDL school… companies like Prime, Swift, Western Express, TMC, C.R. England, and C.F.I./Heartland… there are others, but these are just a few. If they accept you, you’ll get your CDL and a job; almost always they will pay for your transportation to their schools, and will begin paying you as soon as you enter their schools.

You could continue forward with your private CDL school, but there is no guarantee that after you acquire your CDL, you’ll get hired. There’s a very high likelihood that if a company does hire you right now, considering your history, it will be one of those less-than-reputable, fly-by-night companies, and that’s no way to start your driving career. You may need to suffer the consequences of your decisions of several years ago, accrue a year or two of gainful employment elsewhere, and revisit trucking at that time.