Getting Rejected By A Trucking Company

I think we need to put this whole subject into the proper perspective. Trucking has salvaged many a person's downhill financial trajectory. There have been a lot of people with poor or no credit who managed to get into the trucking career. Bad credit will not keep you from getting into this business.

Rainy just wrote wrote A Great Article detailing how she was near bankruptcy when she got accepted and entered into the training program at Prime. One rejection doesn't define your future in this business. I have been a very successful driver for years now, but I had a long list of companies that rejected me at the beginning. I even got sent home from three different orientations that had originally invited me to come!

Sometimes getting started at this is difficult. How you get started isn't nearly as critical as how you finish. We each have to be very persistent in the beginning. It only takes one company to accept you, and there are plenty of reasons why any one of these companies may take a pass on you. It's easy to hear about the great demand for drivers and then make the assumption that they will be rolling out the red carpet for any and all applicants.

It's important to just get your foot in the door at the beginning of this career. You don't have to feel you are getting hired into the company you want to retire with. Most of us newbies have a totally skewed idea of how important it is to be working for some "ideal or elite company." It's not true. Your success at this will always be based on your performance.

You can look into the financials of most of these companies and find that they are all performing at just about the same level. Where you will find the difference in performance is when you start comparing driver's results. Trucking is a Competition Between Drivers. Once you get that concept down, you'll find you can do just as well working for Western Express, or Swift, or Prime. Once you've proven yourself, the door is wide open to you. When you're just getting started you may be a little more limited. You just have to persist until someone gives you the chance you need to prove your worth.

I agree that it can be like a kid at Christmas, which is why I read things before I sign my life away. If just didn't dawn on my that my credit score may be an issue. That is one thing I will have to ask about. I know my credit stinks but going from a good job to nothing really hurt. I have been trying to dig out for years but it is a long road. Easy to fall behind, but hard to get caught up. I have read that you need to have goals and was and asked what my goals were. I answered simply: year one...survive....then added to be debt free by year 2 (if not sooner ). All I feel I need is that chance and know that it may not be with my first choice....or second choice. Heck it could be my 5th choice but it's the foot in the door that sometimes is hardest.

If they declined you for bad credit, by law they have to inform you of that AND provide instructions on how to get a free copy of your credit report, unless the Fair Credit Reporting Act has changed in the past 12 years since I worked in finance.

OK I am 100% biased on my recommendations of CFI. I thought the training was excellent. I love the company and the mileage. If CFI ran my credit it was a non issue. They believe in giving people a shot.

With that said, Rainy loves Prime, Old School loves Knight, G Town and Errol love Swift. In the long run it comes down to your attitude. That is the most important thing in trucking. Some people will never be happy.

Good luck.

OK I am 100% biased on my recommendations of CFI. I thought the training was excellent. I love the company and the mileage. If CFI ran my credit it was a non issue. They believe in giving people a shot.

With that said, Rainy loves Prime, Old School loves Knight, G Town and Errol love Swift. In the long run it comes down to your attitude. That is the most important thing in trucking. Some people will never be happy.

Good luck.

I hope that wasn't in reply to my post. If so, I apologize, I had no idea what company he was referring to. Frankly, I think there is more to the story, no offense meant. I was just trying to avoid saying it. They may have used the background/credit check as an excuse, or there is something in there the OP isn't aware of.

You really should not assume it was your credit report that was the problem. It could have been a number of things, and companies aren't going to tell you what it is for fear of being sued for improper hiring practices. So they just normally say they've found better qualified candidates.

I want people to Apply For Paid CDL Training before they spend much time worrying about which company they're going to work for because you're not going to get an offer from every company you apply to. So don't waste your time analyzing companies until you know which ones are willing to give you an opportunity, then choose the one that suits you best.

Tim, were you recently unemployed or fired from a job? Did you have quite a few jobs within the past 3 years? Those can also be red flags for some companies.

If they declined you for bad credit, by law they have to inform you of that AND provide instructions on how to get a free copy of your credit report, unless the Fair Credit Reporting Act has changed in the past 12 years since I worked in finance.

By law you need to sign a form authorizing a credit check in the first place. That said; I was NOT credit checked when I applied to Swift. Although that was many years ago, as far as I know they still don’t check credit. They don’t care about credit, unless a driver is applying for truck leasing.

Tim I don’t know the backstory here, but you were not rejected for bad credit. Trucking companies care about medical qualification, job history, driving history/record, criminal background and the ability to pass a drug/alcohol test.

My advice Tim? Be honest and careful when filling out any job application. Provide exactly what is asked; nothing more, nothing less.

Good luck!