Female Drivers
Topic 11090 | Page 1
Ramona, welcome aboard!
Hey, I'm not sure what's going on with your application, but I can assure you it has nothing to do with your gender. This industry is well known for it's inclusiveness, and there are a good many lady drivers out here. Heck, we even have a well established cross-dresser working for my company!
More than likely I assume you are not able to get through to a recruiter and they are not returning your calls - is that correct? This is common due to their excessive work load. Try calling first thing in the mornings, like around 7 a.m. See if that helps, and as soon as you can get a hold of someone just tell them that you are wanting to follow up on your application and see where it stands. Be persistent, but always be polite, and don't carry on about being a woman. They wouldn't care if you were a monkey, as long as you can drive a truck!
The only problem I have seen that lady drivers are facing is hard headed male drivers that seem to think it takes some external plumbing to drive a truck. As far as the companies go, they will be glad to have you on board.
Have you checked out our Truck Driver's Career Guide? It's a good read for a new person coming into the field, I highly recommend that you take a look at it.
Where are yhe best schools that will teach and hire female drivers ? Really wanted something close by. But i guess i will learn how everyone get to and from work long distance.
Ramona, check out our listings of Company-Sponsored Training programs. These companies will pay for your bus ticket to get you to their school. They will put you up in a hotel while you are there, and most of them will provide your meals for you also. Once you get on a truck with a trainer you will be on your own for meals, but many of them will pay you for your training time, and or advance you some money that they will deduct from your pay, once you are an actual employee, in small increments until you have paid it back.
I've never lived near my trucking employer, it is not necessary. The way it works is you just need to live somewhere near an area where they deliver freight. I lived over a thousand miles away from my first companies main terminal. I never had any problems getting home when I put in a request for some home time. They would find a load going to Texas for me, and then they would tell me to take my truck home with me when I got it delivered. It is that simple. If you can't park it at your house, then park at a nearby truck stop and have friends or family come pick you up and enjoy your time at home. It is not complicated.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Company-sponsored Training:
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
Ramona- there are some very sharp women drivers on this forum. If you want some inspiration- Do a search on redgator- (input her name in search box at top). She recently switched companies, and is as happy as can be. I've read many things she has written.
Yes, look for RedGator - she had been a road instructor at her previous company.
Look up "Little syster" to meet a young lady that recently completed school and is now very happy driving a flatbed!
(Flatbed work includes climbing up on your load, strapping if down so it won't move, and maybe wrapping it in a tarp - very physical work. An extreme example is listed in Pat M's "Flatbed Variety" here.)
Also, if you want a more concentrated female experience here on the forums, check out the Ladies Of Trucking Forum. It's a bit "slower" there, a little less active. But it's active.
I'm not a driver yet and nothing I've encountered leads me to believe that being a woman has any significant bearing on your employment chances. Will you meet misogynistic people along the way? Sure, but that's true for anything in life, not just trucking. Like they said, just keep calling back. Be persistent. Sometimes they want to see who really wants this and who is just throwing out feelers. They'll take the time for the people who really want this.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Ramona, don't worry about being a woman in trucking. Most companies are happy to get us. If you think about it, women are a better bet than men when it comes to keeping their company's equipment and loads secure by not using the "professional" dating services provided at truck stops.
There are several other reasons I can think why companies would be happy to get us, but I don't want to hurt any of the guys feelings here. You know how sensitive and emotional they get. Lol!
Lynette has a secret:
There are several other reasons I can think why companies would be happy to get us, but I don't want to hurt any of the guys feelings here. You know how sensitive and emotional they get. Lol!
Let's see ....
* Women aren't so egotistical.
* Women are more level headed on a day to day basis.
* Women have more patience.
* (Most people under 50 may not get this.) Ginger Rogers danced step for step with Fred Astaire, only backwards and in high heels.
More like, people under 35. I definitely know what you're talking about regaring Ginger Rogers!
Errol, the dancing I could handle but I look terrible in heels.
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I feel like the first trucking school/ company. They will not respond to my phone calls about my application . Feels like they do not want me because i am a female driver. This makes me sad. I Really have wanted to drive for quite some time now..and now is the time . Where are yhe best schools that will teach and hire female drivers ? Really wanted something close by. But i guess i will learn how everyone get to and from work long distance.