There are a lot of talented truck drivers out there. It's not easy to become one, either. But the advantages are great. You'll get to travel, see the world, and sometimes set your own hours. You'll get to meet many people on the road as well. But it also has its cons. If you have a family, count on not seeing them for days or weeks out of the month. It's also a dangerous job, since you are constantly at risk for an accident.
To become a truck driver, first, you need a license to drive trucks which is called a "CDL"--Commercial Drivers License. Check with your local college to see if they have a truck driver training program there. You could qualify for a student loan or, if you are a veteran, the government will pay the cost.
You may consider going to local trucking schools so that you can stay in the area. Often if your trucking school is paid for in another geography you may need to sign a contract that mandates you work for at least a year for a company.
Once you have become a licensed truck driver, you'll need to decide what kind of truck driver you want to be. You can choose to be a freight hauler, construction hauler, hazardous hauler, tank hauler, flat bed hauler, local hauler, road driver, long haul driver, low boy hauler, small doubles, large doubles, triples small, straight trucks, or other specialized hauling. You may need different endorsements for these.
If you are looking to hire a truck driver and not become one, there are many different sites out there that can aide you in your search. Some sites have blogs where you can ask a truck driver all the pressing info you'd like to know. Others have sites that describe the life of a truck driver. And still others have plenty of resumes of truck drivers looking for jobs.
Swift Transportation is sure to have truck drivers looking for jobs. Another specialized carrier is Werner Enterprises. Werner Enterprises does not operate their own driving school. However, they work with over 800 driving schools nationwide. They will help get truckers started toward obtaining their class A CDL by referring them to one of the Werner approved driving schools in their area. In addition, Werner will provide tuition reimbursement of up to $6,000 upon completion of school.
There are three different types of truck driver training programs: public institutions, private schools, and motor carrier training. Private schools are owned and operated by private, for-profit entities. Their business is to provide training for students interested in the trucking industry. The advantage to going to a private school is that they are there for one purpose only: to train drivers for America's trucking companies.
Public institutions are schools that are chartered, owned, operated and funded by a state or local government. They are frequently called "publicly funded" truck driving schools for this reason. Examples of these types of schools include local community colleges, vocational-technical schools (Vo-Techs) or state colleges. At publicly funded truck driving schools, the truck driving program is only one of many courses that are taught at the school.
Motor carrier training schools are truck driving schools that are being run for one reason only: the company doing the training wants as many drivers as possible, usually in as short a period as they can. The objective is simply to get drivers on the road hauling freight so the company can make more money.
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