Illinois Company/School

I have recently decided to switch career paths and start driving. However, every company/school I speak with says they can't hire me because I live in Illinois and I have to get my CDL here. Now, due to financial reasons, I need to join a company that trains so that I can get my CDL since I am unable to locate a school that will finance.

I have looked at Prime, USA Truck, and Roehl...after reading a lot online, I decided that Roehl best suited my needs, only to find out today they can't work with me due to the "closed borders" of Illinois. Any and all help would be appreciated.

https://www.truckingtruth.com/jobs/jobs-Illinois.php

Some of the ones here list cdl training in IL, you may want to check some of them.

I have recently decided to switch career paths and start driving. However, every company/school I speak with says they can't hire me because I live in Illinois and I have to get my CDL here. Now, due to financial reasons, I need to join a company that trains so that I can get my CDL since I am unable to locate a school that will finance.

I have looked at Prime, USA Truck, and Roehl...after reading a lot online, I decided that Roehl best suited my needs, only to find out today they can't work with me due to the "closed borders" of Illinois. Any and all help would be appreciated.

Ill share with you what im doing and maybe it will give ou a idea. I went to the SC Works (used to be the South Carolina unemployment office),they have a grant that I applyed for last week call the WIA.I am still ging though the prosses,so ill only be able to tell you what Iv learnd sofar,If you quallify It will pay for your privite school,cdl perment,med exam , gas to and from school,provide childcare if needed.If you have anyother question ,Ill try to answer.

Iv been all over this site reading the post, (LOVING THIS SITE), Im wanting to start my own blog here about my travels but as you can see im not a great writer or great speller lol (blaming it on my southern accent)

Ryan,

Sam gave you some good advice. The WIA program is a great program. It is backed by taxes paid to the Fed's so it takes a little while. You also have technical schools in your state and although I have not checked which ones have CDL programs I am hoping that some of them do. Here is a link to check on one close to you.

http://www.tech-schools.us/illinois-technical-schools.shtml

Hey Sam did you go through the NAPFTDS ? National Association Of Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools. Here is there website. http://napftds.org/regions/region-5.html

Going to there website you can find what schools are in your area that they help to fund.I checked it out Ryan and their are 9 schools in the ILL. area.

I hope this helps.

Hey, thanks guys...that's a lot of info for me to check into and I will definitely do so.

Illinois began cracking down after a CDL scandal a few years back. New York might be headed that way, because of a CDL scam just recently.

Dave

Ryan, try Central Refrigerated. They have a terminal in Rochelle and the entire state of IL is a busy freight line for Central. I don't see why they wouldn't hire you.

Thanks Dave, that explains it and helps with the frustration. I've been getting a lot of good information from this site and I thank you all. Daniel thank you for your info as well, I've got a call into them to see what they say. It's a good feeling to know that there are people out there willing to help and share info especially for a newb like me. Makes me more confident in making this career move.

Thanks for all of the help, it looks like I'm going to go with Millis. They are able to hire me from Illinois, train me in Wisconsin and then bring me back across the border for my testing. Any news from drivers currently with Millis or that have driven with them in the past would be helpful.

Thanks for all of the help, it looks like I'm going to go with Millis. They are able to hire me from Illinois, train me in Wisconsin and then bring me back across the border for my testing. Any news from drivers currently with Millis or that have driven with them in the past would be helpful.

A few weeks ago I spoke to one of their drivers. He told me he has been driving for them for a couple years and he wouldn't want to drive for anyone else. He said they mostly run in the east coast. I spoke to him while we were both fueling.

I personally think its a great company with great equipment. I think you're in good hands and I wouldn't worry about what they can do for you. It's all about what you can do for them. Good luck sir