Well, I got my letter from the state and TSA approving my Hazmat application, so now I have all possible endorsements (well...no school bus or passenger) on my shiny new CDL.

I've been waiting for my HME so that I could apply to Crete only to be confronted by them (and others) wanting 10 years of employment history.
Problem being, I'm only 26 and have been out of high school for a grand total of 8 years. Secondly, being so young I have quite a few periods of unemployment (was still living at home with ma and pa) that were 6 months or more.

More recently, I have been unemployed (i.e. Stay at home dad for a 5 & 3 year old) since March of this year. During this time, the wife was bringing home the bacon. I have noted that on Crete's application that they want "professional reference" verification of unemployment from a doctor, lawyer, judge, etc.

How am I supposed to have my unemployment verified? :nervous:

 

You can list any school attendance that you had as part of your 10 year employment history.

Did you participate in any activities such as church, sports, volunteer work or anything else during your periods of unemployment? If so you should be able to get a letter from them stating your whereabouts during this periods of time.

 

i've only ever heard of folks wanting a 10 year work history if you have been driving that long. that's crazy! we only ask for the last 3 years for drivers with less than that much experience. i would think that if you explained to your recruiter there that 10 years ago you were SIXFRIGGINTEEN they would understand that.

as far as verifying unemployment time, you can get letters from folks (crete wants drs/lawyers/preists, etc?) stating that you were unemployed from X to Y ("I can attest to the fact that Iron Weasel, Esq was unemployed from march of 04 to september 04"). 2 or 3 of those for each period would suffice.
also, whatever you do - KEEP COPIES OF THE LETTERS FOR YOURSELF. that way if 6 months down the road you aren't happy with wherever you end up, you don't have to go through the trouble of getting more letters.

 

dont wory about it im the same age been driving since i was old enough too. any time you have to put 10 year employment history just write school or leave blank its none of their business what you did as a minor.

 

What you need to do is explain any gaps in employment. As long as they are justified, you shouldn't have a problem. When they look at employment gaps, what they are looking for is things that will put up "red flags", such as being fired, or excessive workman's comp claims.

 

On Crete's application, it says and I quote from their app. "Verification of unemployment (unemployment payment history or professional reference. Professional reference: Doctor, attorney, Minister, Judge, Banker, Businessman, etc."

I can probably get a letter or something from my mother for the periods I was unemployed while I was still living at home, but the rest are going to be had to come by as far as verification goes. I have never filed for unemployment in my life, so I can't use unemployment payments.

Besides that, most of the jobs I've held over the past 8 years have been typical teenage/twenty-something jobs such as being a fast food cook, pizza delivery, retail cashier, etc...only within the past 4 years did I get a "real" job, For the past 4 years I have been (or was) a mechanic and worked at two separate Dodge dealerships.

I can tell this is going to make an interesting job search..... :roll:

 

most places won't accept verification of unemployment/self employment from anyone who's related to you - theory being that mom or dad are more likely to be willing to fabricate than someone else.

10 years employment verification for a noob seems a little overkill, personally. i mean, what happens to a 21 year old? "i can verify that from 1997-2004 joey was playing with his tonka trucks"? :roll:

but seriously - if you've been consistently employed for the last 4 years i don't think you'll have any problems finding a job.

 

Your best bet would be to call the recruiting department at Crete, and explain the situation. They will be able to tell you exactly what they are looking for.

This is why you should always keep a resume on file - just so you have this information. You never know when you will need it. :wink:

 

As far as your recent unemployment where you stayed at home with your kids, you can put "homemaker."

I believe it is a D.O.T. regulation that carriers have every one who drives for them's CDL driving history (if any) for the past 10 years. This may be why they ask for this. On my current resume, I have all the driving jobs I have had for the past 10 years with gaps in it when I wasn't driving CDL for this reason. Ask them if they are asking you to do this because of the regulations. You cannot put down any jobs that you didn't have. :lol: :lol

If you put down that you were working for a trucking company in 1996, that may cause red flags! :lol:

 

I figure I'll just call them tomorrow and talk to someone extensively in regards to the issues. I've had several driving jobs, but they were restricted to pizza delivery and driving a mini-van (Chrysler Town & Country) as a "courtesy driver" for a dealership when I was 19.

Thanks for the info.