Your Advice Please for a newbie!!

[oldcarguy]

Hello,
I'm new to this forum as a member but have been reading some of your stories and comment for some time now!

I'm planning on going through a 160 hour CDL school in the up coming months. But I have a family and would rather find a local job instead of a OTR job to be able to spend more time with the family.
What are the down falls of no experience and looking for a local driving job?
Are there any company that are over the road with short time out on the road for 3-5 days or less? Instead of 2 to 3 weeks on the road?
Thank you for all your advice!
Davey

[DayliteDean]

Originally Posted by oldcarguy

Hello,
I'm new to this forum as a member but have been reading some of your stories and comment for some time now!

I'm planning on going through a 160 hour CDL school in the up coming months. But I have a family and would rather find a local job instead of a OTR job to be able to spend more time with the family.
What are the down falls of no experience and looking for a local driving job?
Are there any company that are over the road with short time out on the road for 3-5 days or less? Instead of 2 to 3 weeks on the road?
Thank you for all your advice!
Davey

Good luck at school,normally I'd advise you to check out the local LTL freight outfits but right now almost none of them are hiring.Construction season is starting you might start your job search at local paving,sand,or concrete companies,heavy construction,drywall and roofing supply companies are also good places to start this time of year.many of these jobs are seasonal,but right now these may be the only places hiring.The downfalls of no experiance are just that,You're competing with a lot of experianced drivers right now,thanks to lay-offs in other segments of the industry there's a lot of drivers with 10,20,or more years behind the wheel(with spotless work and driving histories)now looking for jobs.Another word of advice at school get training for ALL endorsments for your CDL including Haz-mat,doubles,tanker,even passenger,a lot of people get a basic CDL and they're still useless to many employers.

[Jeff]

possibly a home improvement company that delivers or a sod farm

[gatorbreath]

In my experience, when you come out of school you're usually stuck with going OTR for a minimum of 6 months before someone will give you a shot locally and you better not have any thing bad happen while OTR.
As far as getting home, from what I've been hearing here, you won't see home for at least 2-3 weeks. If you and your family can suck it up for 6-8 months, you'll be in a much better position for someone to pick you up locally.
I could be totally wrong and you might get lucky...good luck, Gator

[pro1driver]

Originally Posted by oldcarguy

Hello,
I'm new to this forum as a member but have been reading some of your stories and comment for some time now!

I'm planning on going through a 160 hour CDL school in the up coming months. But I have a family and would rather find a local job instead of a OTR job to be able to spend more time with the family.
What are the down falls of no experience and looking for a local driving job?
Are there any company that are over the road with short time out on the road for 3-5 days or less? Instead of 2 to 3 weeks on the road?
Thank you for all your advice!
Davey

slim to no chance..............

160 hours will give you only a fraction of the training a full course would. you will be rushed through just to pass and get your license. you will have to be on top of your game so to speak. you must work hard at your learning, and never miss a day of school. as you know, the economy is BAD right now and will not improve for quite some time. the students in the "longer courses" might fair better, as they would have more time training, but this is still no absolute guarantee they will be hired any faster than you.

tell you what too.........

if an OTR job came up, you had better take it. many of us have years of experience. say there was a job (local) in your area.......

and 5 of us lived in your area as well.........

and we all applied.........

you'd be at the bottom of that stack real quick.........

many of us would see to it that you don't get a second look by the employer, because we would out run, out perform, out work you any day....

you still got to "prove yourself" and "pay your dues", which we already have done.

don't give up, but if you can, try for the longer training course instead. many employers might see that as a desire to do the job correctly, not rushed.......

[baiano]

Don't forget the power of who you know. If you know a lot of people at a certain company, apply there first. That is how I got my job at OD, I knew a lot of drivers because they delivered to where I was working before. I asked about the company and they were more than happy to let me know when they were hiring.
Times are tough right now for newbies in this industry so I hope it all works out well for you.