Employment History Hysteria

That job was from Mid June 2021 to Late December 2021. I left when I no-call-no-showed because I was in a really bad spot and couldn't handle it anymore.

This is probably going to be your biggest hurdle. A no call no show probably means you're not eligible for rehire.

Like Rob stated, companies look back 10 years and they do employment verifications. Through that verification, a lot of them ask if you're eligible for rehire. In this competitive market, that no will likely lead to a lot of closed doors. However, if there's nothing to lose.. Start putting in apps and see if anybody bites. A no now doesn't mean it's a permanent no. Apply and if they say no, try again in a few months. The only issue is that they won't tell you why they said no, so you'll have to try and figure it out and build from there.

You mentioned you were in school for a while and before that you were obviously too young to be employed. The time in school counts the same as employment so reading between the lines it sounds like you only have a couple years or so of shoddy employment history. I think you’ll get some no’s but I personally think you’ll find a job just fine without having to jump through a bunch of hoops

Thanks so much for all of your advice fellas. I'm going to get some letters/references from whoever I can just so I have it in case it will help. Other than that I guess I'll be getting my physical and taking the permit test soon so I'm ready to roll if any companies will take me.

I mentioned earlier that I was doing Uber to reestablish my employment history and this morning I just so happened to pick up a trucker was sent out here to pick up a tractor someone abandoned.

I had a great time talking with him and when I got to see the rig up close and personal it just clicked even more that this is what I need to do. Or at least try my damndest to do.

Appreciate everything so far and I'll continue to post updates. Cheers.

A lot of big trucking companies could care less about your employment history if you're applying for a no experience required job. One exception is Werner.

A lot of big trucking companies could care less about your employment history if you're applying for a no experience required job. One exception is Werner.

Assuming that you meant *couldn't care less. Totally inaccurate. Most carriers will absolutely dive in to your employment history and it will prevent you from being hired if you can't account for your whereabouts.

Especially in today's market. It doesn't mean that you can't have been in school, self employed or other, but it needs to be documented.

In my own case, I had to submit licensing and incorporation documents, bank statements and even tax filings for a business that I had owned for over a decade. Not that they needed to see the money on the statements, just that it was indeed a business and that I owned it and was working.

I've known many people who were rejected by various carriers because they couldn't provide adequate work history.

If you can't get a picture of what a company wants you to provide to begin employment with them, and produce it or the equivalent, how are you going to accomplish things they ask of you when you are employed?

So from what I've gathered so far my prior work history, being a bit spotty because of my no-call-no-show at one job, may cause me some problems when applying for these companies. That is understandable and something I will have to just take as it comes.

Most carriers will absolutely dive in to your employment history and it will prevent you from being hired if you can't account for your whereabouts.

"Accounting for my wherabouts" is what I was primarily concerned with when I first posted this, particularly with accounting for the last four months since I left my last job.

I guess I will just lay out what I would tell a recruiter in bulletpoints and maybe you guys can tell me if it seems realistic. The first 5 points are an explanation of why I left my last job and the last two unnumbered points explain why I was able to survive without an income and what I was doing with my time before I began driving for Uber.

/// Start ///

1. I left my last job in mid-February. If asked why I left I have documentation of the HR case wherein my partner and I were harassed, etc.

2. After leaving my last job I planned to do gig work driving for Uber while I researched and decided upon different career options. I was in the process of getting the title and insurance of the vehicle my family was giving to me transferred so I could complete the registration process and start driving.

3. Before I was able to get the title and insurance transferred I was rear-ended. We took it to a body shop to get it looked at and it was a month before they were able to get it in to start fixing it. After they got it in the shop it was another three weeks before it was actually fixed.

I have a copy of the accident report that shows I am 100% not at fault for the accident and the reciept from the auto body shop showing when the car was fixed.

4. About a week after the car got out of the shop we all had time to transfer the title and set up an insurance policy in my name. I have reciepts for the car tax I paid, the title transfer fee, and the bill for the insurance. All dated.

5. I started driving for Uber a few days after that (waited for a dashcam to come in the mail) and recorded the first day I drove with them.

~. Throughout this whole period from the time where I left my last job to the present where I am now driving for Uber I have been preparing for a new career as a truck driver. I am living with my family and fortunately did not have to worry about rent or living expenses while I was out of work.

~~. I have been researching the career obsessively to see if it is the right fit for me, looking at ELDT providers and studying for my permit test so I can get all of my endorsements and be more valuable to employers, and working to improve my health so I am more capable to meet the demands of the job.

/// End ///

whew...

I'm sorry if I seem extremely pedantic by continuing to bump the thread and elaborate with tiny details but I didn't title it "Work History Hysteria" for nothing. 😩

I really have been obsessively looking into trucking and how I can get into the industry. I can't tell you how many times my girlfriend had to ask me to put my phone down because all I did all day was work on the High Road Training and read forum posts and articles on here for weeks on end. 🙃

Thank you to everyone who has offered their advice and perspectives so far. Looking forward to more feedback on my situation if you all can spare the time to read my massive walls of text. I appeciate every bit. 🤟

A clean driving record, proof you graduated a CDL school and a CDL is enough for a lot of companies. A CDL determines you can drive a commercial vehicle, not your work history. Riddle me this smart guy, how do all the Indians get hired?

A lot of big trucking companies could care less about your employment history if you're applying for a no experience required job. One exception is Werner.

Assuming that you meant *couldn't care less. Totally inaccurate. Most carriers will absolutely dive in to your employment history and it will prevent you from being hired if you can't account for your whereabouts.

Especially in today's market. It doesn't mean that you can't have been in school, self employed or other, but it needs to be documented.

In my own case, I had to submit licensing and incorporation documents, bank statements and even tax filings for a business that I had owned for over a decade. Not that they needed to see the money on the statements, just that it was indeed a business and that I owned it and was working.

I've known many people who were rejected by various carriers because they couldn't provide adequate work history.

If you can't get a picture of what a company wants you to provide to begin employment with them, and produce it or the equivalent, how are you going to accomplish things they ask of you when you are employed?

And you wrote way too much bud. Sometimes the best thing you can say is nothing, so don't divulge more than you have to.

So from what I've gathered so far my prior work history, being a bit spotty because of my no-call-no-show at one job, may cause me some problems when applying for these companies. That is understandable and something I will have to just take as it comes.

Most carriers will absolutely dive in to your employment history and it will prevent you from being hired if you can't account for your whereabouts.

"Accounting for my wherabouts" is what I was primarily concerned with when I first posted this, particularly with accounting for the last four months since I left my last job.

I guess I will just lay out what I would tell a recruiter in bulletpoints and maybe you guys can tell me if it seems realistic. The first 5 points are an explanation of why I left my last job and the last two unnumbered points explain why I was able to survive without an income and what I was doing with my time before I began driving for Uber.

/// Start ///

1. I left my last job in mid-February. If asked why I left I have documentation of the HR case wherein my partner and I were harassed, etc.

2. After leaving my last job I planned to do gig work driving for Uber while I researched and decided upon different career options. I was in the process of getting the title and insurance of the vehicle my family was giving to me transferred so I could complete the registration process and start driving.

3. Before I was able to get the title and insurance transferred I was rear-ended. We took it to a body shop to get it looked at and it was a month before they were able to get it in to start fixing it. After they got it in the shop it was another three weeks before it was actually fixed.

I have a copy of the accident report that shows I am 100% not at fault for the accident and the reciept from the auto body shop showing when the car was fixed.

4. About a week after the car got out of the shop we all had time to transfer the title and set up an insurance policy in my name. I have reciepts for the car tax I paid, the title transfer fee, and the bill for the insurance. All dated.

5. I started driving for Uber a few days after that (waited for a dashcam to come in the mail) and recorded the first day I drove with them.

~. Throughout this whole period from the time where I left my last job to the present where I am now driving for Uber I have been preparing for a new career as a truck driver. I am living with my family and fortunately did not have to worry about rent or living expenses while I was out of work.

~~. I have been researching the career obsessively to see if it is the right fit for me, looking at ELDT providers and studying for my permit test so I can get all of my endorsements and be more valuable to employers, and working to improve my health so I am more capable to meet the demands of the job.

/// End ///

whew...

I'm sorry if I seem extremely pedantic by continuing to bump the thread and elaborate with tiny details but I didn't title it "Work History Hysteria" for nothing. 😩

I really have been obsessively looking into trucking and how I can get into the industry. I can't tell you how many times my girlfriend had to ask me to put my phone down because all I did all day was work on the High Road Training and read forum posts and articles on here for weeks on end. 🙃

Thank you to everyone who has offered their advice and perspectives so far. Looking forward to more feedback on my situation if you all can spare the time to read my massive walls of text. I appeciate every bit. 🤟

A clean driving record, proof you graduated a CDL school and a CDL is enough for a lot of companies. A CDL determines you can drive a commercial vehicle, not your work history. Riddle me this smart guy, how do all the Indians get hired?

I don't know why we have to get oddly specific about Indian folks driving semi-trucks but anyways...

I get that there are a few people in this and other threads that don't think employment history is that much of a concern when it comes to getting into the industry. But there are just as many people who make it sound like companies employ so much scrutiny when hiring that they will analyze what you ate for breakfast seven months ago and use that to consider whether or not you are hireable.

While I obviously would like answers for myself I was also hoping someone else might find the info and opinions offered here useful for themselves. Obviously my situation is specific to me but sometimes people go through convoluted s*** in their lives that is hard to account for through traditional methods. Like a background check or employment verification. If you went through a period where things were shaky for a little bit but you were on the straight and narrow you don't want to be looked at the same way as a felon or a terrorist.

At the end of the day I'm wondering if it seems reasonable to keep doing what I'm doing, or if I need to drop everything else and get a job scrubbing toilets or picking up trash at a gas station so I have verifiable employment going forward. And then just wait it out until these last few months are just a blip on the radar.

I'm planning to do company-sponsored training and everything I've read points to the fact that the selectiveness and scrutiny are at an all-time-high. I want to be a competitive and attractive candidate and feel like I'm grasping at straws for a concrete answer on this matter.

I'm sorry if it seems like I am asking to be spoon-fed an answer to my specific problem but I am just confused and conflicted about this aspect of entering the industry. It's not that the requirements are confusing, it's what I would need to do in my current situation (if anything) to bring myself in line with those requirements that is befuddling me for some reason. I don't know if I'm overthinking all of this or if I should be looking for ways to alter my course now before my work history becomes even less attractive to employers.

A clean driving record, proof you graduated a CDL school and a CDL is enough for a lot of companies. A CDL determines you can drive a commercial vehicle, not your work history. Riddle me this smart guy, how do all the Indians get hired?

A lot of big trucking companies could care less about your employment history if you're applying for a no experience required job. One exception is Werner.

Assuming that you meant *couldn't care less. Totally inaccurate. Most carriers will absolutely dive in to your employment history and it will prevent you from being hired if you can't account for your whereabouts.

Especially in today's market. It doesn't mean that you can't have been in school, self employed or other, but it needs to be documented.

In my own case, I had to submit licensing and incorporation documents, bank statements and even tax filings for a business that I had owned for over a decade. Not that they needed to see the money on the statements, just that it was indeed a business and that I owned it and was working.

I've known many people who were rejected by various carriers because they couldn't provide adequate work history.

If you can't get a picture of what a company wants you to provide to begin employment with them, and produce it or the equivalent, how are you going to accomplish things they ask of you when you are employed?

They get hired just like anyone else by providing requested documentation.

Tread carefully going down the ethnicity path. There's clearly a lot that you don't know about this industry and it shows in your statements. Your full of assumptions and stereotypes. There's no room here for disparaging comments on ethnicity.

We have veteran drivers here from many different carriers, and I can assure you, as this topic comes up frequently, having adequate work history is a major stumbling block for many coming into the industry.