I just don’t get it anymore
Posted by Cracka56@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 44 comments
Seems like every application is the same thing anymore, can’t get a call from anyone paying a half decent wage anymore
jmzstl@reddit
I've always used Indeed as a starting point for job searches, but have never once actually applied through that site. Once you've found a job you want to apply to, it's always better to look them up and apply directly on their own website. Even with smaller companies, they'll often have some contact info in the listing for you to reach out directly.
NecessaryFan3850@reddit
I did this (not for a trucking job) but when I applied on the website I had an interview set up literally the next day. This is the way.
Titanium_81@reddit
Well I’m not sure if you are in the trucking industry, but 90% of the companies require applicants to apply through tenstreet or driver pulse app. Most won’t have a way to apply not using that.
That all said, I apply and if it’s something I want I hound them until I get ahold of the recruiters or hiring manager. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
chico-dust@reddit
Facts. I'll use indeed to find places that MAY be hiring then confirm it by clicking "careers" on their company website.
Still OP isn't wrong about these companies posting ghost listings for their earnings calls.
Always_Shifting_4459@reddit
☝️ this is the way. If no contact info and cant find anything online about that company, just disregard the posting.
machao92@reddit
Google maps is the final step to getting a number. If its disconnected or not updated disregard. In many cases like our industry it could be a shifty russian company and you dont want that bs lol
chocolate_asshole@reddit
same boat man, 10 years driving, clean mvr, hazmat, tanker, all that and it’s still 55 cpm and 14 hour days. they want experience but pay like you just got your cdl. this whole thing’s a joke now, finding decent work is stupid hard
oasuke@reddit
The last time I tried to apply to ABT I got an interview but the lady keep pestering me for references. Of course I didn't have any so that's probably why I didn't get the job. If I'm leaving a job, it's usually because im unhappy and I'm obviously not going to get some bitter manager to use as a reference. Is it normal to ask your boss from a previous job to put in a good word for you, especially if you almost never spoke to them? Trucking isn't some white collar office job. Ridiculous
Time-Carpenter9523@reddit
They wanted references from your current job? I've just seen companies ask for references... As in personal references.
oasuke@reddit
References in general. They had to be work related, so not personal. Basically required that a previous manager said I was a good employee. I did have one from a prior job who I was on good terms with, but I guess it wasn't enough.
Ornery_Ads@reddit
Maybe not the best pay in the world, but I was offering $30/hr, ot, pto... but almost no one would actually show up when I scheduled interviews with them. The few that did show up couldn't drive to save their life.
unwillingpenguin@reddit
Brother I would take that in a heartbeat. Im so ready to be done with otr flatbed. I love my company but im almost 40 and I just want to have a normal schedule.
JikJikkles@reddit
just turned 40 on the 8th and im looking to get my CDL this summer. Currently driving box trucks in MD but I see there's no upward mobility here and there won't be so its time to go. All that to say, you got this bro. Folks like yall are the reason I believe I can get there. peace and blessings
unwillingpenguin@reddit
You got this brother
Ayasdad@reddit
I'm on year 11 myself. I've made some decent money here and there doing that cowboy shit but I just can't do the 24 hr shifts and 28 day runs for more than a couple months before I'm burnt out for the next year and going back to OTR or a local food service gig until I find something else. It's become this cycle of burn out I can't escape from. I wanna hang it up and find something else but I run into roadblocks everywhere because so much of my career I've just stared out a window and that skill doesn't translate well. I've tried dispatch jobs, crickets, I've tried brokering, crickets, I've tried warehouse jobs (management, fuck loading and unloading), crickets. I'm starting to look pretty seriously at just going back to cooking at some diner or something. I'm almost 40 and I'm so tired of being anxious and angry all fucking day. My health is taking a dive, my family misses me, and I'm never making enough money to justify being an absent father. Sorry for the rant. Just screaming into the void.
PrinceOfZzyzx@reddit
Trust me, you aren't screaming into the void. You're just re-expressing what guys like myself have been saying for years.
Been in it 32 years with 26 of it straight as over-the-road. Watched my daughter grow up in pictures on the dash and then the phone or tablet. Watched it consume two marriages. Watched it take my youth, the few friends I had who were my age mostly vanished to lack of keeping up. Friends I've had who were all older are mostly dead now. Nearly all family functions, I was there in spirit but not in body. And at some point, I woke up one morning to realize that even the color in my hair was left behind in some crappy truckstop, probably a Pilot.
I tell the younger crowd now to be aware that trucking will consume your soul and crush your spirit. It will try to kill you sometimes and then sometimes it will whisper in your ear that you should kill yourself. Don't let it get to you that way.
In these years there have been jobs that were and some that weren't. There's no explanation for what they "were" or "weren't". It's something you have to experience to understand.
I've learned much in those years. It's been a great study on how the nation's economy works and how it moves. It taught me that listening to major media, no matter left or right, that much of it is crap. I've watched expansions and contractions in the economy and figured out how trucking would see them months before politicians and talking heads would bloviate over the changes. There were times I'd come home and talk about things that hadn't yet been mentioned in the media outlets and be told I was simply nuts or just shilling for a particular political agenda.
Over the years I've loved trucking then I've hated trucking. It's been fun and it hasn't. Plenty of ups and downs; plenty of being told where to go and yet never really getting there.
As a trainer, I used to tell trainees that nearly anyone including a chimpanzee can be taught to drive a truck. Taught to go down the road, taught to back into a dock, taught to tie down a load, taught to do this job. But no one can teach you how to survive this lifestyle. Not everyone can cope with the demands. And some can't cope with themselves long enough to even try the demands. Some who can cope may one day find they can't any longer. I suffered that indignity for a while as well.
If I've gone long winded and jammed random thoughts into an odd concoction of a post, I do apologize. It just seemed like maybe this would be the place to post these particular thoughts. It isn't intended as a rant. Just thinking maybe a bit too loudly.
Drive safe. And as Warren Zevon said, enjoy every sandwich...
20milliondollarapi@reddit
Yup, they act like they need to run everything to the legal or they can’t turn a profit. Clearly enough people are still taking these jobs though.
meizhong@reddit
I'm going through these comments and I don't get it.
I have never gone on line to find a job in trucking. Ever. Talk to people.
You want a job, go there. Just go directly to the place. If it's some giant company that won't talk to you and tells you to go on line, don't work there. Just forget about them because they're going to treat you like a cog and not pay you right, and never value you.
The biggest company I've ever worked for had about 40 trucks. That was my first job in trucking. Every job I've ever had I knew the boss and had his cell number.
Where I've worked the last 4 years, 5 trucks. We all have each other's cell and are in group chat together, we all help each other out and share route info and switch pickups if needed. And I've made over 100k every year with them. Finally bought my own truck this year and now I'm just an o/o for them.
Don't mess with big companies. Don't go in line for a job.
Chillimaniac@reddit
And how do you find the company? Look on Google? Look for logos on trucks you see? All I see is the same job fron different companies on indeed.
meizhong@reddit
I used to work at a restaurant, I was sick of it and so I kept asking all the delivery drivers if they could help me get it where they work, that led to me driving a straight truck delivering to restaurants. That company also had 2 big trucks, so after a year of driving straight trucks, I went to a school to get my cdl so I could drive the big truck sometimes, hopefully full time eventually. A friend that I had met at the job went with me to school, we both got cdls at the same time. After driving the big truck literally once, another driver (not my flipped one and the boss there said no more big trucks. No one else would hire us with a 2 month old license. I knew a guy with a big bus company, so I got a passenger endorsement and drove tour buses for about 10 years. Meanwhile, my friend had stayed and bought his own truck eventually. Then he bought a second truck and a third. At some point, he couldn't find a driver so he called me, so I went to go drive for him. I told him I'd stay a year. Ended up staying 4 years, then I went to work for someone I met because they were farming extra work to my friend occasionally. My friend mostly did OTR, and these people were moving containers and going home every night. So I got my twic and went to work for them. After a few years there, I finally got my own truck and I still run for them to this day.
Chillimaniac@reddit
So basically; have friends. I’m cooked
meizhong@reddit
That one guy was a friend, but everywhere else I've worked has been people I talked to. Where I work now, for example. The best job I ever had. That guy called me just to tell me what dock to drop his box in, he was driving and I could tell he was tired, so I talked to him for the very an hour about philosophy and shit. He thought I was smarter than some of the people working for him, and told me to get a twic card and call him back. So I did.
Chillimaniac@reddit
I appreciate your story. I’m actively working on my people skills but it’s hard to see the point very much anymore. Everyone just in their own bubble.
Time-Carpenter9523@reddit
Indeed? Try using pulse or tenstreet. That's what many trucking companies have migrated to. As others mentioned, you can fill out an app and /or directly contact the company or visit their website.
Larrythethird22@reddit
I’m old school I pull up to the spot looking like a Karen asking for the manager and shit
Gr00veChild@reddit
I used to do stuff like this and/or word of mouth for farm work, and one day I realized this is one of the many overlaps of the two industries!
RCP7700@reddit
Don’t change. As an Opps manager, I love when prospects walk through the door. Shows initiative.
machao92@reddit
I wish more were like you. Sadly most people today “dont like confrontation.” So they are super weird socially and think everything is aggressive
Cracka56@reddit (OP)
That’s exactly how I just got my interview on Monday, gonna give it through weekend before I call for an update
Larrythethird22@reddit
Good luck brotha
bentstrider83@reddit
Never really use Indeed. Always seemed like a scam site to me. About as catfish-y as Craigslist. I just keep an eye out for all the carriers that I see that are local/daycab and hit them up directly. Find out where there's consistent openings with that company and decide if I'm willing to move there or not.
Relocating is a dark drag at my age. Getting enough money together for deposits. An endless round of dumping and reducing possessions to decrease packing. And then of course getting a lay of the land in the new apartment complex I'll need to get that new job. Is it going to be a quiet place with curmudgeonly types like me? Or will I be that grumpy old guy making everyone edgy🤣🤣
I'm confident the jobs are out there and that a way out can be found eventually. But if you want to set down roots with any non college degree type job, that's a big no.
Alas, the modern day drifters. Bouncing from town to town every few years and chasing that paper. Got to learn to embrace the fate.😁😁😁
jmcdaniel0@reddit
I’ve been told that more than half of the jobs on indeed are either fake or filled. They are just collecting and selling your info.
I only apply through companies websites anymore. Which most of them route through that driver pulse app these days.
Pale-Contest-340@reddit
Sounds about right
NakedAggression@reddit
I fill out indeed applications then will lpok up the company location on google maps and call them.
I live in a small/medium sized city and have no trouble finding local home daily jobs
New_Rough6200@reddit
I think its weird they’re even hiring to begin with right now idk how they go out of business when minor shit happen but are able to stay afloat with 6$ diesel
No_Lake_7445@reddit
I work 12-14 hour days getting paid $24 an hour ($20 per hour right now since I’m in training) I’m a powder driver for a cement company
GreaseRagTom@reddit
What’s your location?
adidaman@reddit
Indeed is not just for clicking 3 times and submitting an application. Use the contact numbers and emails to reach out, introduce yourself, and extend your application so you become a person for them. These days you hear people say "I applied to 700 jobs and haven't heard back once" and what they really mean is they spent 30 minutes one click submitting applications on indeed with no follow up
coppertech@reddit
most jobs on indeed are fake now, mfs useing people who are desprate to train their AI systems.
Wonderful_Budget8172@reddit
I find companies are very responsive through the pulse app.
But idk I’m also a flatbedder so maybe flatbed companies are just more responsive.
IronSide_420@reddit
Drivers need to tailor resumes and applications to the individual job. I know for a fact that my company rejects applications if you don't meet a certain criteria.
FirstAmendment68@reddit
Have applied about 300 jobs and got that exact same email about 8 times. Thats 8 out of 300. All of our applications goes through whatever program filter the company uses. If we say 1 wrong thing, rejection! I pretty much have retried. Tired of this bullshit
Baconated-Coffee@reddit
Don't fill out applications through indeed, go directly to the company's website.
ahowls@reddit
I regret selling my truck. All the jobs blow ass