I talked yesterday about social media and how it may or may not be transforming trucking. Today, and by the way, there is little or no relevant trucking news to report on, I want to touch on those drivers that might be attempting to transition from the road to local jobs wanting be home every night. The FMCSA still appears to have their hands full with the bus safety problem and the DOT still can’t explain why their TSA agents need to grope senior citizens and children. But that is for another post.
It is said that looking for a job is a job. I’ve never found that true exactly. It is so much worse. Having just been in the hospital where I was poked, prodded, stuck and inserted with all types of devices for about a week and gave up a lot of my dignity and personal space, I can tell you, if you haven’t tried it recently, job searching is worse. It might be worse now because of the economy, but I’ve always found the process horrible.
Are you familiar with the popular cable show Burn Notice? A former CIA agent is “burned” or black listed by way of a kind of unofficial undocumented “notice” that he is now an outsider and can no longer be relied upon for possible clandestine activity. If you’re in your 40's and most certainly if you are in your 50's, you have been, in the job market, blacklisted, a burn notice has been put out on you. So, along with the typical rigors of job searching, your being 40-50 years old will only make the process considerably more tedious.
In my experience, many OTR drivers find employment locally with fuel transport companies. The turnover with these firms is in the 150-200% range, so there always seems to be “opportunities” available with them. The annual compensation for driving a gasoline truck – they claim – is an average of $50K. There is, typically, a $600 a week guarantee. This is based on a 6 day week. Uniforms and work boots are provided for you, in addition to the usual 1 week vacation after the first year of employment and basic health insurance coverage. These companies usually run late model conventionals and operate 24 hours a day.
To qualify for a fuel transport trucking job, you will need 2 years of tractor-trailer experience, no more than 2 “moving” violations in the past 3 years and, if course, a tanker and HAZMAT endorsement. There are variations of this job – around where I live in Florida there is significant movement of phosphate material and hot molten sulfur products that supports the agriculture and mining business in the state. In other areas of the country, such as Alabama and Illinois, there is a more of a local need for steel transport drivers. In some areas, these jobs might be unionized – in the South, rarely.
With these types of jobs, your age with not be so much of a factor, as your driving experience and record. But, if you want to come in off the road and NOT drive locally, you’re looking at a completely difference scenario. In this case, your age will be a factor and the more experience you possess will act against you. Trying to find a job that requires 10-15 years or more experience is going to be tough, but if you do, be prepared for a lot of changes from the last time you either applied for a job or held a similar position.
Many drivers, while OTR, are utilizing monster.com and craigslist.com to search for jobs back home. There is one listing I saw the other day, that I thought was interesting and demonstrates what I’m talking about in this post. It was a job with a company that sells IT systems – hardware. It is a shipping and receiving/warehousing job. It is under the job category of logistics/transportation. It pays $60-65K per year with a potential $6K bonus. Not bad for Florida, in fact, not bad in this economy for just about anywhere in the country.
They’re asking that the applicant have 10-15 years experience with a high school education. There is no college degree requirement. One must have the ability to read, write, speak and understand English. The company was ranked by the local media as one of the best places to work, but that was ten years ago. I’m sure the job description was written by a ca ca ca -consultant. It states that 5% of your time, being familiar with OSHA regulations, will spent on establishing and ensuring safe work practices, 10% will be concerned with creating a BCP in case of emergencies - you get the idea. The rest of your time, you will be managing the warehouse . Bottom line, this local business is searching for a warehouse manager to supervise their 20,000 sq. ft. facility.
But here, as Shakespeare put it, is the rub. Do you, I didn’t, have a clue what a BCP is? You have to be familiar with and have experience with Six Sigma, Star 5, Eagle, Cornerstone and ADP. Do you know what those are? We’ve all been at shippers where drivers have to go use a computer terminal and enter in data to get their load. Some of these systems generate stickers or documents with bar codes on them to give to forklift or crane operators. A lot of drivers have trouble with this – some even have difficulty using the QUALCOMM in the cab.
My point is, if you’ve been OTR for a while, it is a very new world outside of the truck. It’s not just social media – Facebook, Twitter, etc. – be prepared to enter into the cloud. Do you know what that is? Familiar with IT? More tomorrow. Be safe out there.
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