Question:
last month I filled out a genral online application which was sent to many companies. I was contacted by a recruiting company .they said they had a company that they thought would take me on. I said lets go for it . While waitting for them to get back to me I made some calls to a company that has a terminnal in tunnel hill ga. told them about my past work history and criminal back ground.they put me through to a recruiter in that company. he sent me the forms via email that day I filled out the paper work and got all the court documents from a dui/felony that happend 13yrs ago and faxed it to him . Later the next week he called me ,to tell me every thing had checked out ok the felony/dui would not be a problems with there safty dept and and he set up a date for oreintation later that same day the recuiting company called and said the company she was looking at for had done all the checks on my back groud and legal history and had excepted me in to orientation it turns out it was the same company I said great then two recuiters at the same company did checks on my back ground. the company I was going to require you to quit your job to attend orientation so I called one more time before quiting my job to make sure safty had approved me the company recuiter said yes and that every thing had checked out fine all I had to do is pass the road test/dot/ so I quit my job and went to orientation. I passed every thing they needed on the 3 rd day they said they were having a problem with the dui/felony which I had faxed them all the court document on well on the 4th day they sent me home to wait for an answer 5 days later they declined me do to the dui/felony .Now I have quit my job and have no income . IF you are thinking of going to a company driving red trucks and has a terminal in tunnel hill ga you better get it in writing before you quit your job .
Answer:
I'm not aware of any trucking company that with put in writing your guaranteed a job "BEFORE" the orientation process is complete.
Ask them in writing to guarantee you a job and sit home by the mail box everyday. When you get that letter of confirmation, let us know!!!

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Why anyone would accept that condition is beyond me.
Quitting a job for a "maybe"(orientation) and believing Recruiters is
laughable at best tragic at worst.
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First rule for a "newbie",never, never believe a recruiter. And never go to orientation believing that your application has even been started to be processed. They wait until you are there in orientation before they even begin the process.

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they were not up front and I think I see why there such a shortage of drivers.and by the way 25 yrs ago I logged overe 400k miles behind the wheel I just got out of trucking for a long time. back then you did not have people lying to you to fill oreantation class seats that is my point !
Answer:
35. you can bet the recruiter got their pay just to get you to orientation.
All the wantabees think they have to go to the big carries to get training and get a job. Not so. Local cos. will hire you without recruiters.
CDL traing is available at many community colleges for 1000.oo and a local will hire you in a heartbeat.
Get the stars out of your eyes and look around.
Big

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Not only get the stars out but read and search first. I couldn't even count the number of want to be drivers that have come here with the same story. It has been stated a hundred times. Prehires do not mean a thing. They are a companies way to lock you in by lying to you and making you think you have a job. Most just skim your application and if it looks acceptable they send you a prehire and an affirming phone call. Thats why in my opinion it is am big waste of time to send out as many applications as possible. Send them only to places you want to work. If your back ground is real questionable like this posters and your hoping to get lucky in a crap shoot then find a better career.
Plan your future and keep working on it. Dont just accept the least or in cases like the above hope for the best. You'll be disappointed quickly.

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I just hope others read this and take heed. for the fellow who said I was taking a crap shoot you are out in left field.I wanted to go with this company because they seemd to be honest and the recuiter I was working with was the one from there truck company sitting in ther office in chattanooga tn .they said they have lots of loads out of chicago and a trainning program for peaple who do not have enough otr since the time they got out of cdl trainning. I faxed all records to them.they said it was excepted and LIke I said they lied.I was semie retired living on my boat .when 911 happend I was out in the atlantic. I took some real bad hits on the stock market.so my verey modest income sufferd like many peoples did. I wanted to go back to driving which like I said I did many yrs ago.I just did not know that companies have gone to lying to get you there the world is changing and not for the better. If I can get back on driving ready mix I will stay with that. The reason I did not stick with otr out of cdl training was because the tanker out fit I went on with ran lots of empty miles I was with them for 2.25 months in that time I logged 1800 empty mile at (.10) a mile and I got mad and I quit. I dove ready mix ever since . At the first of the yr my sister was told she has lung cancer and may not make threw the yr so I wanted to go back over the road so I could try to get loads up to chicago were I am from, I now live in fl and have a home there.any way otr would let me get home to spend a day or two every other week with my sister. I just dont want people on this site to try to make me seem LIke I am trying to get over on anyone.I posted what happend to my self so others may learn from it that is all. So next time try not to be so crass with your comments, by no means was I taking a crap shoot .when you dont tell every thing up front or try to lie to get in you are taking a crap shoot there is a big difference. If you do not see that then you should not make comments nor should anyone else . This site says newbies it is to inform and should not be used to down play people that put a post on here at least that is what I thought . So with that said take care and be safe out there bill
Answer:
That in my opinion is taking a crap shoot. Alot of people do it. They fill out as many applications as possible or an online app that is sent out to as many companies as possible. It is not planned and it is not goal oriented.
That is taking whatever job comes along.
Call it whatever you want to call it. It is a bad way to look for a driving job. Look for jobs that will lead you in a direction you want to go. If you want to haul boats one day (poor example) find jobs that can lead to that. If you want to haul tanks one day find some thing that will get your foot in the door. It seems everyone is specializing these days. Doctor's, Lawyers, Nurses, Librarians, Cooks, Garbage Truck Drivers you name it. Trucking has those specialized areas as well. But their hard to find and hard to get into in most areas. If you dont have any knowledge of requirements you probably won't. If you do you still may not but your chances are better. Find jobs that will take you in that direction. It's simple. Make a plan and work on it. The way drivers jump jobs is crazy. They jump from one dry box company to another dry box to another dry box etc etc. The same with reefers and some tanks. Whats the point. Most would make more just staying put. Most would make even
more if they had some sort of plan.
If you dont care what you haul then fill out every online app you can find and send it to as many companies as possible and see who replies.

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I am not sure if you realy know what looking for a driving job with out at least 2 yrs recent driving behind you is realy like.I have taken the time to go to 6 flat bed companys to try to get work, all were small out fits and all of them said do to there insurance companies they could not hire anyone with out at least 2 yrs otr. Flat bed is what I drove when I logged most of the 400k many yrs ago. I hauled wall board out of iowa to chicago and wisconcin then steal back from gary . the other truck I drove back then was a tanker I hauled mike and sugar otr for about a yr. One company said if I can get at least one yr otr with someone that he could work with that ,this is why I think so many people put in apps with these lager companies trying to get that yr or two to get into a better out fit at least that is what I was trying to do.so yes I did have a plan even if you think I did not.like I said I have driven before it is just a long time ago and yes it has changed alot just not for the better. After getting my cdl back again in 2003 I started with tankers again just went with a verey bad company they came to the school I was in a gave a good picth and yes that is all it was so I went to ready mix localy then my sister got verey ill and you know the rest. When someone puts a post on the web it is hard to know every thing that the person has gone through or were that person is trying to get too, that is why when you make coments about there post you need be carefull how you make remarks about there post. and that is my opion.take care stuff.
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No one needs to be careful when they comment on some ones post. I know I don't. What you have gone through is the same thing alot of other people go through day in and day out. You had experience and now you dont. Oh well, now your a newbie again just like many others. Thats the way it is and will probably be for a long time. You tried a company and they sucked so you took a local job. So what, alot of people do the very same thing. Then you put an opline app out to every company you could. Then a recruiter called and lied to you like they normally do. You fell for it and went for it. Sounds like the same thing with tanker job. You believed some recruiter that came to your school and was screwed. Your not alone in the screwing by any means. Thats what recruiters do. They sell you on their company any way possible and get you to sign up.
It does sound alot like your planning is poor. Had you have planned and studied and learned as much as possible you would have known you did not have a guaranteed job until all you paper work was finished and orientation was over. You probably wouldn't have quit your current job. I knew that much long before I ever applied to my first driving job. You may of even been able to avoid some sucky tanker company. One thing is for sure, no matter how much planning you do it still does not stop the screwing you can get and the screwing alot of people will get.
What kind of better outfit is the question. One that pays you a nickle more to deliver the same freight to the same docks? You mentioned Flat beds, how does a dry van driver for Swift get a job at an experience only FB company. They can't, they may be able to get a good local or instate job but to get a good FB job they have to be a trainee again on the bottom of some FB companies list or get real lucky. So go to the FB training company first and train then in a couple years go for the job you really want. You want to haul specialized freight you wont get your foot in many doors starting at Werner, Swift or other Van companies. Try starting at Roehl running curtain sides or Schneider pulling a Glass trailer. Go to SMX and start on flats and then go to drop decks and on to Double drops. You'll be far ahead of the guy that drove hard for a Van company for the last two years just trying to get a foot in the door. Know what you want and go in that direction. You'll waste alot of time if you don't.
Your not being picked on by me or being used as a bad example. The hope would be that people will read your post and comments along with all the others and not make the same mistakes. I was assumimg that is why you made your post. To give people some thing to think about instead of the trucking is great I make more than average bullcrap they normally hear. Thats the only reason I bother to type all the above crap. To give people another option other than the shotgun approach many use that come here.

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to bad you are not getting my point . Tell me what doese senior member mean after seeing your posts I am not sure that you realy know anything more than anyone else.! .you should write a book I am sure it would make the best seller list what a joke.

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I'll give you a little que. There isn't that much you need to know to begin with. Except to not be suckered by recruiters. Did you learn your lesson yet?

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how smart are you ? now that should not be to hard you to answer but then again ? maybe that will be over your head also. Have a nice day ?

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"how smart are you ? now that should not be to hard you to answer but then again ? maybe that will be over your head also. Have a nice day ?"
Well...... Stuffs does know how to form sentences and spell properly. I'm sure Stuffs hasn't been charged of a DUI and a Felony thanks to injuring a human along with endangering his life and the life of others on the roadways due to a stupid decision. What you've done in the past sailing35 puts in you the running for douschbag of the year.
For your next job you should close your eyes and flip open Trucker's Connection and then whatever page you land on is the next company you go work for!