Bad Time For New Driving School Graduate ??

Hello to any and all who see or respond to me—

I graduated a month ago.

Haven’t had too many responses to all the applications I filled out.

But I did have a call from someone that just smacked of looking to take advantage of a brand new driver.

I’ve also been declined by a prospective employer because I was terminated from my last job, and that I was welcome to apply once I’d been employed ANYWHERE for at least one year.

As a 51-year old rookie , am I more unappealing just based on age ??

I have one particular company saying they’re on a hiring freeze, which under current circumstances sounds like a genuine issue, with the virus epidemic maybe not even halfway in ....

I had a recruiter claim that if I’m not employed within a year, that my license actually downgrades. He actually said I would have to go to driving school again.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can speak to even just one of my concerns.

Hi Frank, and welcome to the forum.

With the country being on lockdown right now, timing is tough for new applicants. But don't give up hope. You may need to expand your applications out to more companies. Click this link to

Apply For Truck Driving Jobs

No, your age will not be a factor at all. In fact, it may even help you has companies seem to favor older, wiser, and more settled individuals.

Give it some time. Something will come up. Good luck!

Turtle—

Thank you.

Have you heard of such a thing as ‘disqualification due to lack of employment’ that I mentioned about my license itself ??

I can’t imagine accredited vocational schools would even take a chance on offering CDL training .

Have you heard of such a thing as ‘disqualification due to lack of employment’ that I mentioned about my license itself ??

Frank, this is a standard practice in the trucking industry. Many employers won't touch you if you don't work for three months. You're a newly licensed driver. You're more a risk than anything at this point. That's no indictment of your abilities or your potential, but it's a reality in this business. Rookies are costly. It's generally six months before an employer even starts to make money with a new driver. You've got a license, but no experience.

Typically the insurance companies dictate which drivers can be employed. Anyone with little to no recent experience is considered "high risk." I had one company turn me down for being out of school too long before getting my first driving job. It's a reality.

I did have a call from someone that just smacked of looking to take advantage of a brand new driver

I'm curious about that call. Can you elaborate on the details? I'm not really interested in the company's name, but the details of why you thought they were "looking to take advantage of a brand new driver."

Wow I’ve got an off for paid training through TMC, guess I’d better lock that down and be happy I’ve got it!

I received my CDL at age 56, after retiring from the Illinois University System and six years as a Marine. I had seven offers after graduating March 12th. Older, wiser, more mature (although my wife claims she has two teenage boys). LOL. A used this site to apply and applied at quite a few regionals. Keep at it!

As far as your license is concerned, it won't be downgraded unless you allow your med card to expire. However, many employers will consider your training to be "stale" (too long between training and actually starting to drive) after a certain period of time. That time period can vary from one company to another, and could require anything from a refresher course to actually completing the entire school process again depending on the company you elect to go with. I had also seen posted where a company actually wanted the applicant to downgrade their license and re-test with the state after repeating school, however I suspect that was a company without their own in-house training program.

It's nice to see I'm starting to get some responses.

First I want to answer Old School's question:

When I asked specific questions about the percentages of the freight, the guy first claimed that it all ended up being cpm , and that the money was there ( he actually repeated " the money's there " about 5 times during that part of our conversation ).

When I asked about minimum physical requirements for tarping, he again changed the subject and told me to go look on the website of the company he leases from, where there was no indication that I'd get any of my questions answered....lol

I'm not Mr Super Trucker fresh out of school. I have so far found that some companies have a greater expectation of one's physical ability than others. I'm 51 years old , 6'1 and about 215, give or take my bad diet of the last couple years...lol

I don't want to waste any company's time, but I felt through most of the conversation that he wasn't concerned with wasting mine.

I know my own limitations, and want to know for sure that I can meet my first employer's expectations.

I spent 3 years as a yard dog for Amazon , and a big part of that time was also spent interacting with OTR drivers. I treated them with the kind of respect I would hope to get from a stranger, and in some cases I had to really lay on the charm because from early on in the job, I was trying to treat them as MY customer.