Truck & Driver is running a feature giving advice for drivers on how to get back to work as soon as possible after being made redundant.
Do you have any tips or useful info for drivers who have been hit by the recession and want to maximise their chances of starting work as a driver again?
Could be any advice relating to CVs, interviews, experience, training, or whether canvassing potential employers with a ‘giz a job’ attitude works.
Please note: your useful, interesting, helpful (or even funny) responses/anecdotes/feedback may be used in the piece.
Chris
I was made redundant in Aigust 08 from a plant hire firm as a class one driver, now my age is 58, this is the reason why I have applied for over 120 positions and only had three interviews, I made the mistake of putting my age and D.O.B on my CV, the moment I removed that info I get a telephone call from the AA, and a interview was arranged, I went for the interview and got the job becouse they got to see who they were dealling with, where as before as soon as they saw the age and D.O.B they took it no further.
In other words DONT give your age or D.O.B on a CV if you are a senior driver.
Change your name to Momchilovich and tell them your a migrant worker happy to drive for £6/hr.
My old company now has a driver workforce that is over 60% migrant, so I reckon we dont stand a chance.
17,000+ experienced British truckers are out of work, there is no quick way back.
I have been looking for a ‘proper job’ for over a year, work agency to keep the wolf from the door. I send out cv’s daily, phone companies till they know me by name but it makes no difference. Its soul destroying but I refuse to work stacking shelfs after all the effort and money I have sunk into my training over the years, somebody somewhere wants a conscientious British driver and I am determined to find them.
Why reg:
Change your name to Momchilovich and tell them your a migrant worker happy to drive for £6/hr.
My old company now has a driver workforce that is over 60% migrant, so I reckon we dont stand a chance.
17,000+ experienced British truckers are out of work, there is no quick way back.
I have been looking for a ‘proper job’ for over a year, work agency to keep the wolf from the door. I send out cv’s daily, phone companies till they know me by name but it makes no difference. Its soul destroying but I refuse to work stacking shelfs after all the effort and money I have sunk into my training over the years, somebody somewhere wants a conscientious British driver and I am determined to find them.
I think some cold calling would be my approach,you might get x amount of no mate or we will keep a hold of your number just in case,but you might get 1 that will give you a chance.Also work with as many agencies as poss and keep asking the customers that you drive for plus the customers that you deliver to.Also you see other drivers in msa’s and elsewhere when doing drops/collections ask them if there is anything going at their place of work.you never know.
They don’t like employing
Was once Friday at Jobseekerplus,and 30 min before Closure came Sainsbury DC Feltham up.Monday morning at 09.00 at opening of Jobseekerplus was the Adverdisement gone.
They just do that to proof to theres Head Office searching for Staff but can’t find.For that may the Christmas Present some bigger they get from Agency.
But,i could be wrong
I’m being made redundant next week, so some advice would be timely.
Although I am registered disabled, physically I can drive a truck no bother…it’s the physical side I can’t manage like jumping up & down from the trailer, pulling curtains is difficult but I can just about manage it and multi-drops and any handballing are a complete no-no.
As there’s not many pure trunking/changeover jobs going about…I think my driving career is over.
Andrew Leitch:
I’m being made redundant next week, so some advice would be timely.
Although I am registered disabled, physically I can drive a truck no bother…it’s the physical side I can’t manage like jumping up & down from the trailer, pulling curtains is difficult but I can just about manage it and multi-drops and any handballing are a complete no-no.
As there’s not many pure trunking/changeover jobs going about…I think my driving career is over.
I’m not registered disabled but on ESA and have the similar probs to you.
Can drive no prob but out-of-cab activities are a no no.
Experienced as an LGV instructor but no vacancies at present.
The fact that I can never do the HPT (brain not eye problem) to be DSA registered might be a drawback.
Retrained in admin & ECDL (OCR exam passed) but just get laughs when a 50+ year old turns up with no office experience.
I can teach car & comercial drivers to advanced standard but cannot get paid to do it because the law prevents it so that is not a work option.
there were some chances coming up to be a trainee DGV NVQ A1 assessor but the govt has pulled funding so that was knocked on the head as an immediate option.
i say if you’ve got a job you can get a job
so eat humble pie and do agency work
( yes i know its dead but whatever days they give is better than nought)
cold call any one with a truck
they may need a casual for tomorrow
go out with mates for the ride
when his boss knows you
he may need a casual for tomorrow
it was a few years ago,(2005),when i was made redundant,i put on my sunday best and went knocking door to door,face to face.got fixed up immediatley.i think this is key to getting employment,even firms that are not advertising for drivers may be taking on.
one unfortunate made redundant at our place last october still hasnt a job yet,cos he looks on the jobs page on the web,rings up,gets a form blah blah blah.where as other drivers finished after him,went door knocking and found employment.
fill the car with fuel, load all your gear in the boot and get out and about.
i always go armed with cv’s then when they give you an application form leave them a cv and say " i just fill this out in the car " then sometimes when you go back 1/2 hr later they have looked at your cv and maybe sorted something out for you.
this has worked for me on more than a few occasions.
I have never had trouble finding work Being confident is the key if they ask when can you start, Say now it shows you are willing and the old Please and Thank you go along way
Rog and Andrew Leitch, if you can drive but anything else gives you physical problems then you need to get into containers, the most work you do other than driving, is occasionally you have to open the doors.
Honestly I get embarassed at times when on site, I spend all my time asleep, or watching telly while the poor blokes work at the back.
The biggest problem with this job is that I need the discipline to go for a walk whenever I can, to stop getting too fat.
Andrew I don´t know where you are but Rog, Hams Hall near Birmingham shouldn´t be too far for you, and there is work in containers at the moment.
schrodingers cat:
Honestly I get embarassed at times when on site, I spend all my time asleep, or watching telly while the poor blokes work at the back.
you see i dont get embrassed i get annoyed… when they reach the front of the box and the banging wakes me up.
Everybody has probably got a very tidy CV,spellchecked,all nicely formatted and everything but have you ever had someone appraise it for you? You are probably quite happy with it and bang it out left right and centre but you have no idea as to how it is being received.Have an unbiased person look at it and get some constructive criticism ,some feedback.Wrongly presented ,a CV can paint a completely different picture of you,are you emphasising your skills enough? Does someone really want to know about your hobbies? There are things you can leave off,you don’t need to have your age on it,don’t mention the fact that you have kids or if you don’t have kids make it obvious after all an employer would prefer not to have someone who will cry off work when they can’t get a babysitter.Post it out with a very short covering letter so the recipient knows what you want straight away,just a couple of sentences.
Having been made recently redundant, I can honestly say the easiest thing I did was cold call places. I also didnt sit around on my backside all day moping about the fact that I didnt have a job. I was out the following day walking the streets with CV’s aplenty, filling in forms and signing on with agencies, not only was my feet sore but so was my ear. I also emailled my CV out to some firms I couldnt get round to see in person, but if you prefer that human touch then make sure you brush up well. Dont go and sign on at an agency wearing jeans and a t-shirt, you wouldnt go to a job interview wearing that so dont go to an agency either, dont forget they are potential employers aswell. I always made sure I was smart, with a freshly pressed shirt, a tie, smart trousers and clean and polished shoes, I also wore a leather jacket, so that I was smart but casual. If you dont make the effort than potential employers wont either, just remember that.
yes i know its dead but whatever days they give is better than nought)
