How New CDL Drivers Can Find No-Experience Trucking Jobs
You just graduated truck driving school, and it’s been 3 months. You’ve filled out 10 applications. No one has called you back. What gives? You had no idea it would be this hard to pick up a trucking job. As a new driver, trucking companies will give you a harder time. However, the trucking industry faces one of the largest truck driver shortages in history, with numbers expected to rise to 160,000 to 175,000 unfilled jobs by 2028.
No experience CDL jobs do exist, but you need to know what to look for and where to find them. At Trucker Social, we’re going to cover how you can pick up one of these jobs even if you’ve been turned down many times before.
Many trucking companies won’t hire for truck jobs with no experience because it will raise their insurance rates. In addition, some insurers won’t cover new drivers because of the greater risk. Most new drivers need to fill out 10 to 15 applications before they get hired. Let’s look at what you can do to find a job even when you have no experience.
No Experience CDL Jobs: Mega Carriers
At this stage in your trucking career, you just want to get your foot in the door. After you have the experience, opportunities will open up everywhere. Right now, mega carriers offer the best opportunities for new truckers. Just keep in mind, these jobs typically pay you low mileage rates, so you only want to hold it for 6 months to a year. After that, drop them like a hot potato and find a better opportunity.
What trucking companies will hire with no experience? Some of the mega carriers that offer no experience CDL jobs include:
Schneider
Swift
Prime Inc
Roehl Transport
Werner Enterprises
Butler Transport
Old Dominion
USA Truck
No experience CDL jobs are usually OTR. That’s the way most people start in trucking. After you get your first year in, you’ll be golden, but they make you pay your dues. Even when a job description says it requires experience, apply to the trucking job anyway because there are new truckers who have gotten jobs like that.
What Business Quarter is It?
Obviously, you need to get hired regardless of the quarter, but one thing to understand is if you’re in January through March, also known as Q1, this tends to be the slowest time of the year because less freight is moving. The mega carriers will recruit year-round, but if you want to get in with a small company, expect to wait because they often don’t hire new drivers until there’s more freight stability.
April through June, also known as Q2, tends to be the best time for hiring. This is because you have the construction boom and a surge in agricultural produce coming out.
Look for Company-Sponsored Training Programs
If you’re a pre-CDL driver, some companies will sponsor your CDL training, and you get a job right out of trucking school. This helps you to get the experience you need to get started. You pay nothing for tuition upfront, but you will need to make a work commitment of between 6 and 24 months. In most cases, you need to work for them for about a year, and you will need to hit a specified number of miles.
Training usually lasts from 3 to 8 weeks. Also, another advantage of going this route is that because you will be driving for that company, they have a vested interest in making sure that you receive the best CDL training possible.
Keep a Clean Driving Record
Trucking companies will look at your driving record to assess the amount of risk in hiring you. If you have no violations or accidents, companies will be more willing to hire you because they can evaluate:
Clean driving record and criminal background
Relevant work history
Willingness to learn and attitude
Talk to Job Placement Reps at Your Trucking School
Before you even graduate, you can start looking for trucking jobs. Job placement reps will help you fill out your application, but they will also tell you when a recruiter visits so that you can discuss driving roles with them. Job placement reps will send out letters on your behalf so that you can secure a job before you even leave trucking school.
If you’ve already graduated, you might check back to see if they can help you secure a job. Some trucking schools will provide you with lifetime support, and others will only support you until you graduate.
Build a Driver Profile on Trucker Social
After you graduate trucking school, you need to find no experience CDL jobs. At Trucker Social, we let you build a FREE driver profile where you can apply for trucking jobs even when you lack experience. Our job board has a variety of trucking jobs available. Just hit apply and wait for them to get back to you. In the meantime, you can network with other truckers in the community who may know where you can find a job
