Re: Prime INC Student Driver Acceptance-- Unemployed VS Self Employed & Driving History

Hello Everyone, I am brand new to this site and have the following questions:

1. As I understand Prime Inc will not accept a student who has been unemployed for a set amount of time. Is this true and does anyone have the specifics on time frame? My last REAL job ended Nov 2017, (it was a temporary government job w/ government), which I received unemployment for until it ended in March. I then became a self employed driver for UBER Eats delivering food while I look for a new career not just another job , and I am still self employed with them today. So does that mean I am unemployed according to Prime Inc? I really want to work for Prime and if I have to I will go take a gas station job or something just to be considered 'recently employed'.

2. Driving History- Clean for years, and then last summer I drove through MONO county CA- (a little town who had to shut down their courthouse due to lack of city revenue), and as a result I was pulled over twice, first for bogus speeding (less than 10mph), then about 15 minutes later another cop pulled me over for unsafe lane change around a Semi (hides face)... all bogus but that is besides point. Am I doomed to work for Prime? I didnt fight tickets just paid them and moved on. Thanks a bunch: Melissa

Melissa, Prime is indeed stricter than most concerning employment gaps. There is no reason you couldn't get on with some other companies though. Prime holds no golden eggs - they are just one option. Free yourself from that kind of thinking and you can soon be employed by one of the many other companies offering Paid CDL Training Programs.

They aren't looking to see that you are "recently employed." They are looking for a three year history with little to no employment gaps in it. We've seen a lot of folks that got rejected by Prime get picked up immediately by other companies. You can always make a plan to get started somewhere else, complete your first year of employment with them, and then talk to Prime again, but if you're doing well it may be more beneficial to Stay Where You Started.

Prime would like 3 years of work history. For your previous employment history, your tax returns will be fine. For the self employed history, you can submit copies of your checks from Uber. I had to scramble at the last minute because of this fact, I had submitted my tax returns as an independent contractor for Uber, then Prime asked for this years proof of work history. I came up with the checks from Uber & they were fine with that.

In terms of the tickets? You’ll need to speak to your recruiter about that. Each case is handled on its own merits. I had a 15+ speeding & illegal turn tickets. Since they were beyond their 3 yr limit, I was good to go.

All that said, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Any number of things can come up & you’ll need a back up, just in case. Study the High Road training program & the pretrip inspection tutorial. Those will be huge to get you prepared for your success wherever you end up.

I was told I didn’t qualify after my first conversation with a recruiter. I applied to 3 other companies & was accepted without any problems. I tried again at prime & the new recruiter couldn’t explain why the other disqualified me.

Good luck. Make that call!

They aren't looking to see that you are "recently employed." They are looking for a three year history with little to no employment gaps in it. We've seen a lot of folks that got rejected by Prime get picked up immediately by other companies. You can always make a plan to get started somewhere else, complete your first year of employment with them, and then talk to Prime again, but if you're doing well it may be more beneficial to Stay Where You Started.

Hello and super thanks for the information. I understand better now what the employment requirement is after reading this. I suppose I wasn't too clear- I have verifiable work history, 25 years in fact, but the last 6 years has been me changing jobs (5 in fact) trying to piece together my life after some tragic circumstances directed me away from the nursing degree I would have had completed in 2012- which, as of my last job with Dept of Homeland Security , has left me in a self employed role for last 6 out of 8 months not wanting to add more traditional employment to my resume unless it was an actual career. I called Prime Inc and spoke to Stacy who said that I should be just fine. She exclaimed that had I remained unemployed after December when FEMA ended, up until today, I would not qualify, but- as long as I can provide financial statements or check stubs proving I am self employed with Uber Eats I shouldn't have a problem at all.

I will however be looking at other companies in case it falls through after all. Again super thanks Melissa