Just Out Of Knight Transportation CDL School

My question is this, I neither want nor need OTR and would prefer local,dedicated or regional out and right back in. Does anyone know of any companies in the Phoenix Az area that I can check into?

Thanks in advance, Ray

I neither want nor need OTR

Ray, I know you've been in here long enough to get an idea of the way we teach folks to go about making a decent start at this career. Also, you've been a pilot, so you understand how important it is to take the proper procedures so that you build yourself a good solid plan and foundation for success, therefore avoiding having problems.

It is all fine and good if the Over The Road lifestyle doesn't appeal to you, I get that, but you still "need it." At least, you need to get a little of it. This is where you will actually learn the basics for success at this job. As you should be painfully aware now, Knight's school, nor any trucking school for that matter, will in no way make you into a successful truck driver. Any recent graduate from truck driving school has one thing that the average guy on the streets doesn't have yet, and that is a CDL. When a greenhorn rookie gets out of truck driving school he has nothing to offer an employer. That newly minted license really means nothing to a prospective employer. It simply means you spent a few hours behind the wheel of an empty truck pretending you were a truck driver, and frankly, probably didn't even pretend all that well. Why do you think 99% of local type driving jobs require one to three years experience. They all seem to think that you need some Over The Road experience!

Knight has a ton of opportunities like you are looking for, right there in Phoenix, but they aren't going to tell you about them. They know painfully well that you are totally unprepared for the rigors of local work. A green horn tuck driver immediately propelled into that type of position is a recipe for disaster. They have years of data to prove just that, and they will not even offer you that type of job yet.

It isn't just an attitude of the trucking profession that says, "Well that sucker hasn't paid his dues yet, so we aren't going to let him in on any of the good stuff until he has put in his time." That is not it at all. There is a progression to developing oneself as a professional driver, and the safest and most productive path to doing that is by going Over The Road first. It is in that environment that you will be eased into all the manifold scenarios that a local type driver will be deluged with every single day. There is a lot to learn about handling that rig out there in all types of weather and road conditions, and the crazy different levels of stress that are brought on by demanding schedules.

I know that there is an occasional driver who manages going straight into a local job with some degree of success, but it is by far a very unusual path to success at this. In fact we have seen a bunch of guys who did this and ended their careers before they even had a chance to make a start of it by having a minor accident, getting released because of it, and then no one wants to touch them. They have no experience to speak of, an accident on their record, and now they are basically black listed because of the way they tried to start it all out.

Don't hamstring yourself by ignoring the proven methods that simply work the best. Knight would be glad to have you on their team, and I can promise you that they have a lot of opportunities that would appeal to you. But, they are going to want you to start as an Over The Road driver. They want that because they know you need that, and will benefit greatly from that experience.

Speechless I never realized this. Thank you for the sage advice. I'll do my time for a year.

I neither want nor need OTR

Ray, I know you've been in here long enough to get an idea of the way we teach folks to go about making a decent start at this career. Also, you've been a pilot, so you understand how important it is to take the proper procedures so that you build yourself a good solid plan and foundation for success, therefore avoiding having problems.

It is all fine and good if the Over The Road lifestyle doesn't appeal to you, I get that, but you still "need it." At least, you need to get a little of it. This is where you will actually learn the basics for success at this job. As you should be painfully aware now, Knight's school, nor any trucking school for that matter, will in no way make you into a successful truck driver. Any recent graduate from truck driving school has one thing that the average guy on the streets doesn't have yet, and that is a CDL. When a greenhorn rookie gets out of truck driving school he has nothing to offer an employer. That newly minted license really means nothing to a prospective employer. It simply means you spent a few hours behind the wheel of an empty truck pretending you were a truck driver, and frankly, probably didn't even pretend all that well. Why do you think 99% of local type driving jobs require one to three years experience. They all seem to think that you need some Over The Road experience!

Knight has a ton of opportunities like you are looking for, right there in Phoenix, but they aren't going to tell you about them. They know painfully well that you are totally unprepared for the rigors of local work. A green horn tuck driver immediately propelled into that type of position is a recipe for disaster. They have years of data to prove just that, and they will not even offer you that type of job yet.

It isn't just an attitude of the trucking profession that says, "Well that sucker hasn't paid his dues yet, so we aren't going to let him in on any of the good stuff until he has put in his time." That is not it at all. There is a progression to developing oneself as a professional driver, and the safest and most productive path to doing that is by going Over The Road first. It is in that environment that you will be eased into all the manifold scenarios that a local type driver will be deluged with every single day. There is a lot to learn about handling that rig out there in all types of weather and road conditions, and the crazy different levels of stress that are brought on by demanding schedules.

I know that there is an occasional driver who manages going straight into a local job with some degree of success, but it is by far a very unusual path to success at this. In fact we have seen a bunch of guys who did this and ended their careers before they even had a chance to make a start of it by having a minor accident, getting released because of it, and then no one wants to touch them. They have no experience to speak of, an accident on their record, and now they are basically black listed because of the way they tried to start it all out.

Don't hamstring yourself by ignoring the proven methods that simply work the best. Knight would be glad to have you on their team, and I can promise you that they have a lot of opportunities that would appeal to you. But, they are going to want you to start as an Over The Road driver. They want that because they know you need that, and will benefit greatly from that experience.