First off I want to thank those of you that have offered me current information on the trucking industry as it stands today. In return I have some pretty interesting info to past along to all of you??

Just to recap a little, I had left the trucking business about 4 yrs ago and took a position driving a city bus for the transit district. Last month when I tried to get back into the truck driving business I was told by most of you and a few companies that I would have to go back thru so sort of training. I hold a current class A with all the endorsements and a good driving background so I really wasn't that worried about finding a job.

After getting some advice and input from most of you I started my search. It was a little easer for me than a newbie because I had previous experience in the business and currently working in a CDL position. I started calling all the major companies like Knight, Schneider, May and so on and as always all of them had wonderful things to say about there company and many of them offering so called promises that all of these recruiters are trained to say. Being a little older and having been driving for a while I started asking questions. as they would ask me a qualifying question about my background, I would return the favor and ask them a question about there company and why there driver turn over was so high. ( It really gets them going)

What I have found out is its very easy to size up these companies if you just ask the right questions??

If they offer you a sign on bonus for x-amount of dollars along with all the B.S. such as 2500 miles a week or more and 48 cents or more to start, home every other night and on and on just say ?? that's great, just put that in my contract with everything else we have talked about and I??ll start right away??. If you want to hear the phone get real quiet just try it once.. And if they say they can't do that, ask why ! And follow that up with : your either telling me the truth or not, right ? ??. Again the phone gets real quiet????

In today??s market with so many companies short of drivers most all of you can really pick where you want to work and get some pretty good offers if you just take a real business approach to getting hired instead of just taking what they offer.

As I was saying I had been out of the business for 4 + years and I held out and just got hired on last week with a large tanker company that??s local and home every night at a great hourly rate of pay. I don??t have any real background in tankers but that??s what I wanted to do and I kept going door to door until I was able to sell myself and my background as being someone they could train and trust. I just came back from a paid week at there school and did very well and I really like the job.

I??ve just seen so many people here trying to get a job. and get really discouraged because they can??t find anything or some jerk lied to them and put them in a position that they would not be able to handle. Take it for what its worth, ASK QUESTIONS and request all that of there so called offers and guarantees are to be put in writing. If they refuse then go on to the next company. Sell yourself and your background your worth more than you realize in today??s market.

And remember, many of these companies want to report you to DAC for quitting or not doing a good job, by having a contract with all there promises and you stand a better than average chance if you ever have to defend yourself??.

DC