No Hire

Ok, three letters it is. Thanks Ernie.

I have close to 15 years exp, mostly flatbed OTR , regional , and local. No tickets etc, no arrest record. This was from 1992 to 2007. I lost my real estate business in 2009 and have been sailing around Florida on a boat ever since. Its a cheap way to live but now I want to start over and get back to work etc, and have been hitting a wall.

Paul,

Same answer we gave Dale, it would be best if you get at least 3 letters (and have them notarized) explaining what you have been doing. These letters can be from friends/neighbors/relatives as long as they are willing to vouch for your whereabouts during that time. It does not matter that you have been out of work for such a long time, what matters is that you can account for all that time.

Ernie

My situation is very similar to Dale, I drove local from 2001 to 2010 changed to a non-driving job till now. In the next few years I will retire and would like to go out on the road. Old school can you tell me a little more about that refresher course?

Paul, for best results with this method of employment verification you should cover these details:

1. Try to have the letters be from business people who know you. Anytime the letter is on a company letterhead it seems a little more legit. Friends are okay, but the letterhead is just sort of icing of the cake.

2. If you can, avoid having any letters from relatives, again it gives a little more credibility to your claims.

3. Make sure that your letters cover the time period specifically needed. Don't just have them say "I know Paul has been living like Jimmy Buffet for the past few years on the bay in his boat." It should say something like this: I have known Paul for the last eight years, After he got out of the real estate business in March of 2009 he decided to semi-retire on his sail boat. From March 15th of 2009 to may 31st he was prepping his boat and selling his furniture out of his house. Then from June the first of 2009 until August the 30th of 2012 he has lived here on his boat, and he has finally decided he'd like to get back into the work force. I highly recommend him as a hardworking person of character... blah, blah, and blah! Put specific dates in the letters and don't leave any voids or times that are not accounted for - that little detail is important.

4. Once you've gotten three letters together that all corroborate with each other then take them to a public notary and have them notarized. Not every company will accept this method, but in my experience it is close to 95% a sure fire way to get past that problem of no employment verification.

5. Make copies of these notarized letters. If you give them away to one potential employer and it doesn't work out for some reason, you will need them again, so keep multiple copies of them for future use.

I was self employed for thirty years before I got into this and had to have ten years of my tax returns and similar letters written. I still keep copies of all that stuff just in case I get to hankering for some other trucking job. Having copies will save you a lot of time and effort if you need them again.

Old school can you tell me a little more about that refresher course?

Roy, it can be done a couple of different ways.

One way is to contact a truck driving school and simply tell them that you need to take a refresher course and they will give you a quote for the price. It is just basically a shortened version of the full school which in most cases is only four weeks, so I'm assuming the refresher will just take about two weeks.

Another way to do it with little expense is to contact one of the Company-Sponsored Training programs and tell them you want to start driving again, but that you need to do a refresher. They will ship you to their training facility on a prepaid bus ticket, they will put you with a trainer for about two weeks (maybe more) but you will have to sign a contract to work for them for a certain period of time to cover their expense of training you. That time period varies, but it will most likely be in the six months to one year range.

There are also a few companies that will take you on and put you right to work in their refresher program. I know that Western Express does this, and the way they handle it is to pair you up with another former driver who is in a similar situation to yours. The two of you will be in a team driving situation for a few weeks, or possibly a certain number of miles that they want to see you accomplish, and then after that they will issue each of you his own solo truck and you will hit the road. They will be paying you while you do the training.

If I only have raised more curiosities and questions go ahead and ask them, I'm getting on the road in just a bit, but if someone else doesn't get to you I will be back in here later.

Old School thanks I hate to start from scratch if I don't have to.

I see, yes that does make sense, I understand now.

Thank you for the time and advice Old School.

Does anyone have advice on flatbed company's with a refresher course?

I looked at Western Express, they require a 9 month contract and of course 25k miles team with another driver from the class. Not fun, but doable. Not trying to sling mud at anyone but I am a little put off by their reputation though.

I know most problems the driver has in this industry are self inflicted. If for example you juggle sharp knives for a living it does no good to complain about bloody fingers.

Imma add that it also depends on the company... Some will make you sign a affidavit stating you was unemployed for x amount of time...

That's actually a good idea, Ive done those before for other things. I may just do one and add it to the mix. Thanks Scott O.

Imma add that it also depends on the company... Some will make you sign a affidavit stating you was unemployed for x amount of time...

I agree. I have not worked for 10 years and got 5 prehires. A few companies past me by. You just need to explain what you were doing during that time and as others mentioned will need to get a notorized note from witnesses to what you were doing. I was disabled for that time frame, and had no problems. Good luck!