Getting Started in Trucking

So you want to be a truck driver? That's great. I personally love trucking, although I must warn you its not for everyone. You will know within your first year if this is a profession you will want to do for life. That being said, let me tell you, the first year driving a truck over the road is going to be the worst year you will ever have as a truck driver. You have to deal with an enormous learning curve, companies that pay you just enough to survive, old equipment (YEAH, they are going to hand the keys to a brand new $200,000 truck to someone who, until 2 weeks ago, hadn't driven anything bigger than a Toyota Corolla), not to mention getting used to life on the road.

What You Need:

The basic things you need to get a job in the trucking career are: (In no particular order)

• Class A CDL
• Decent driving record
• No felonies
• Respectable Employment History
• Some endorsements

Lets start with a Class A CDL. If you don't have one, your going to have to get one. Most people seek out a local tractor-trailer school around them. Many vocational schools also offer CDL programs that can be completed in a short time. I earned my CDL at a school in Buffalo, NY in about a month with little out-of-pocket expense and even less trouble. More on choosing a school in a later blog.

If you expect to get a job after you get your A-CDL then you will want to have a good driving record. Most companies specifically look at tickets and accidents within the last 3 years. No company is going to hire you if you have 17 speeding tickets, 8 other moving violations and 4 accidents in the last 36 months. Just ain't gonna happen. Company policy on accidents, tickets, et cetera varies greatly from company to company so do your research. Almost every trucking company has an 800 number for their recruiting department. Call and ask!

FELONS BEWARE! That's right, the transportation industry has finally caught up with almost every industry in the United States. Most companies will not hire you if you are a convicted felon, ESPECIALLY if that felony is recent, violent or drug related. Some companies will accept you on a "Case by case basis" depending on the type of crime, how old the conviction was, if you have any criminal history since then, etc. Once again, check with the company you want to go to work for to see what their policy on criminal convictions is and DON'T LIE! I can guarantee you that almost any company out there will run a criminal background check on you before hire. Another big setback for felons is, to my knowledge, a convicted felon cannot hold a HazMat endorsement. More on this later.

As with any employer, most look for a Respectable Employment History. If you got fired 10 years ago for cussing out your boss at a McDonald's, no big deal. If you've been fired 5 times in the last 3 years for stealing from your employer, your going to be a hard sell. And YES, most companies actually do call your old employers for references.

The last thing I am going to touch on in this blog entry is Endorsements. As most of you know, an endorsement is special permission to operate a certain type of vehicle or haul a certain type of cargo. There are three major endorsements you can get and they are:

• Hazardous Material (H)
• Tanker (N)
• Doubles/Triples (T)

The names are pretty self explanatory but I will go over them here. Doubles/Triples (T) allows you to haul double trailers and triple trailers, if the state in which you are driving allows it, not all do but all 50 states offer the endorsement anyway. Tanker is another self explanatory one, it allows you to haul tanker trailers. HazMat (H) allows you to haul reportable quantities of hazardous materials. It's not as exciting as it sounds. All of these endorsements require you to pass a written test, that's about it. EXCEPT for HazMat. In addition to a written test, you also have to be fingerprinted and pass a background investigation. Felons, don't even bother trying. Sadly, for you guys with a checkered past, you will probably be denied. Most of the major OTR companies want you to have a HazMat endorsement before your hired, or at least obtain one within a short period of time. The good companies will even reimburse you for the expense of the background investigation and fingerprints. One I left off the list is the X endorsement. The X endorsement is simply HazMat AND Tanker, and in most states, if you have both H and N they automatically convert it into an X endorsement. Not all companies require ANY endorsements at all, so check with whoever you want to go to work for.

For those of you who love extra letters on your CDL, get your license in New York State. In addition to those endorsements they have S for school bus, M for metal coil and W for tow truck. I have a New York CDL and I have all the endorsements I could get so my CDL says ENDORSEMENTS: XPWTM. Kinda looks like Roman numerals doesn't it? You may ask "why does he have all those endorsements?" Will I ever use all my endorsements? Probably not. Does it feel good to be over-qualified? HELL YES!

That about wraps this blog entry up. we will explore a lot of these things more in depth in future blog entries so stay tuned! And, as always, if you have any questions, or if you think I got anything wrong, feel free to comment below.
Drive Safe!