Prelude
Ok, here's the story... I spent the last 18 years as a network guy in Research Triangle Park, NC. For the most part I enjoyed it. But I got laid off 9 months ago and haven't found a job yet. Rajneesh will do my job over in Delhi for $8.50 an hour and I won't. After much pondering and soul searching I decided to return to trucking -- a career choice I made once before in the early 80's while I was trying to figure out what to do with my life.
My name's... well, you can call me lojak. This is my blog and I'm planning to use it to document my journey from on career path to another (It's probably more like a portage than a journey, but whatever). It will also, I hope, give people some insight into the daily life of a trucker so people can see what it takes to put the products on the shelves. And hopefully, what it takes to get started in the industry for people who might be interested in a new career (like all you other network guys out there). There's an excellent chance I'll wax political on occasion. I used to be really into politics -- I was State Vice Chairman of College Republicans in WV & got invited to the Inauguration in '84. Political parties for the most part disgust me now and I've turned predominantly libertarian (not Libertarian - they're as bad as any other party, maybe worse). Don't be surprised if the general demeanor of my politcal posts leans that way.
Here's my plan.... I'll drive as a company driver for 12-24 months and then buy my own truck. Within 5 years I'd like to be a small fleet owner. One of the things I discovered during my 9 months of soul searching (unemployment) was that I hadn't done much in the way of career management during the last 18 years -- mostly surviving on being very good at network administration. But sometimes being very good is not enough. This time I'm going to be master of my own ship.
What has gone before (through June 14, 2005)...... You already know I lost my job. I used up 6 months of unemployment looking for computer work. Due to the general incompetence of the employees with which I dealt at the NC Unemployment Security Commission in Cary, NC I didn't find out about the Workforce Investment Act until well after my unemployment had run out. It would have paid for me to go to truck driving school (if you are unemployed, ask about this program if nobody has told you about it). Then I could have gone to the excellent PTDI certified Driver Training Program at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, NC (5 wks $2900 + lodging). So I relocated to Clarksville, TN based on the word of my sister's ex-husband that I could come to TN and get my CDL by passing the test and paying somebody to sign off on my road test. Turns out he didn't know any more about that than he did about being married.
I found out once I started doing research that the 2 years of experience I have from 20 years ago is every bit as good as the experience that I would have acquired by being Ramses II's chariot driver. This had led to no small amount of wheel spinning since my first 2 choices were PGT and Arrow. Both are flatbed companies, both run my area, both pay pretty well, both take driving school graduates. Both told me to go to take a refresher class and they'd be happy to hire me. This sounds like a great plan -- except that I've been unable to find anybody that offers a refresher course except Smokey Mountain Trucking Institute and they want $1700. Back to the drawing board.
Before I left NC I talked to a recruiter for Driver Solutions. They're a placement agency for PAM Transport, Star (out of IL), and USA Truck. He scheduled me to start school @ Arkansas State University's Driver Program the 13th of June and was pre-hired with USA Truck. I went to TN and took the CDL written test for General Knowledge, Air Brakes and Combo. I didn't take the Hazmat test because a less than fully functional state employee said I couldn't but couldn't really explain why. I gather it has something to do with the TSA background check. I passed all the tests. I also called back the Driver Solutions recruiter and told him I wasn't coming on the 13th. He told me they'd hold my application for 90 days and so that's my backup plan.
I got an appointment to take the DOT physical June 10th (for TN readers, DOT physical is required prior to them issuing any license or permit, so if you want to walk out with something get your physical first.) I passed that too. Then I started going around to small companies. I basically got the same story from them -- 20 year old experience doesn't count. One of the people I talked to recommend R.E. West out of Lenanon, TN. So I talked to them and have an appointment for the 15th. I also have an application in with Millis out of Georgia. Millis is looking at my application. The recruiter said they generally don't take people with employment gaps longer than 6 months but that she'd try to get it approved since I was in my last job for 9 years. They're my first choice but I'm not confident that it will go my way. RE West pays less than Millis but they only require a 100,000 commitment versus 12 months for Millis. RE West also pays during training ($200/wk during yard portion (2 weeks max) and $300/wk during road training (3 weeks max)) and Millis doesn't. There also isn't any up front cost for RE West and Millis wants $500.
My name's... well, you can call me lojak. This is my blog and I'm planning to use it to document my journey from on career path to another (It's probably more like a portage than a journey, but whatever). It will also, I hope, give people some insight into the daily life of a trucker so people can see what it takes to put the products on the shelves. And hopefully, what it takes to get started in the industry for people who might be interested in a new career (like all you other network guys out there). There's an excellent chance I'll wax political on occasion. I used to be really into politics -- I was State Vice Chairman of College Republicans in WV & got invited to the Inauguration in '84. Political parties for the most part disgust me now and I've turned predominantly libertarian (not Libertarian - they're as bad as any other party, maybe worse). Don't be surprised if the general demeanor of my politcal posts leans that way.
Here's my plan.... I'll drive as a company driver for 12-24 months and then buy my own truck. Within 5 years I'd like to be a small fleet owner. One of the things I discovered during my 9 months of soul searching (unemployment) was that I hadn't done much in the way of career management during the last 18 years -- mostly surviving on being very good at network administration. But sometimes being very good is not enough. This time I'm going to be master of my own ship.
What has gone before (through June 14, 2005)...... You already know I lost my job. I used up 6 months of unemployment looking for computer work. Due to the general incompetence of the employees with which I dealt at the NC Unemployment Security Commission in Cary, NC I didn't find out about the Workforce Investment Act until well after my unemployment had run out. It would have paid for me to go to truck driving school (if you are unemployed, ask about this program if nobody has told you about it). Then I could have gone to the excellent PTDI certified Driver Training Program at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, NC (5 wks $2900 + lodging). So I relocated to Clarksville, TN based on the word of my sister's ex-husband that I could come to TN and get my CDL by passing the test and paying somebody to sign off on my road test. Turns out he didn't know any more about that than he did about being married.
I found out once I started doing research that the 2 years of experience I have from 20 years ago is every bit as good as the experience that I would have acquired by being Ramses II's chariot driver. This had led to no small amount of wheel spinning since my first 2 choices were PGT and Arrow. Both are flatbed companies, both run my area, both pay pretty well, both take driving school graduates. Both told me to go to take a refresher class and they'd be happy to hire me. This sounds like a great plan -- except that I've been unable to find anybody that offers a refresher course except Smokey Mountain Trucking Institute and they want $1700. Back to the drawing board.
Before I left NC I talked to a recruiter for Driver Solutions. They're a placement agency for PAM Transport, Star (out of IL), and USA Truck. He scheduled me to start school @ Arkansas State University's Driver Program the 13th of June and was pre-hired with USA Truck. I went to TN and took the CDL written test for General Knowledge, Air Brakes and Combo. I didn't take the Hazmat test because a less than fully functional state employee said I couldn't but couldn't really explain why. I gather it has something to do with the TSA background check. I passed all the tests. I also called back the Driver Solutions recruiter and told him I wasn't coming on the 13th. He told me they'd hold my application for 90 days and so that's my backup plan.
I got an appointment to take the DOT physical June 10th (for TN readers, DOT physical is required prior to them issuing any license or permit, so if you want to walk out with something get your physical first.) I passed that too. Then I started going around to small companies. I basically got the same story from them -- 20 year old experience doesn't count. One of the people I talked to recommend R.E. West out of Lenanon, TN. So I talked to them and have an appointment for the 15th. I also have an application in with Millis out of Georgia. Millis is looking at my application. The recruiter said they generally don't take people with employment gaps longer than 6 months but that she'd try to get it approved since I was in my last job for 9 years. They're my first choice but I'm not confident that it will go my way. RE West pays less than Millis but they only require a 100,000 commitment versus 12 months for Millis. RE West also pays during training ($200/wk during yard portion (2 weeks max) and $300/wk during road training (3 weeks max)) and Millis doesn't. There also isn't any up front cost for RE West and Millis wants $500.
posted by lojak at 12:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home