First job (Class 2)

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

OK, now I know I am setting myself up for some abusive comments… so feel free to crack on, but if you could give some helpful advice as well that’d be appreciated :slight_smile:

The job market out there seems busy (obviously), but also as confusing as anything! There are jobs from £10phr to £30phr (OK the last one is BH rates etc, but you take my point). I passed about 10days ago, so am a total newbie and I live in South-East Essex, so Basildon, Thurrock, Chelmsford and (at a push) Dagenham are just about OK to get to.

I am in a very fortunate position where I don’t need full-time hours, or even a fixed number each week.

Musts:
Class 2
New driver OK
Not full-time and not perm
Agreed shifts up front, where I’ll be 100% reliable (if I say I can do it, I’ll be there, on time!), but where it isn’t really held against me if I say ‘I can’t do Tuesday, however much you might tell me you need someone, sorry!’

Wants:
Ability to start ASAP after contacting agency/firm
Trunking/as few a drops as possible (and I’ll take as read the fair comment of ‘well do your f*cking Class 1 then!’)
Longer, fewer shifts
Paid breaks
Highest hourly rate possible (not fussed about Day/Night/Weekend working, will do whatever)

Having cake and eating it:
I think I’d like something like RM, Tesco/Sainsbury’s (etc), DHL etc. But presume as I don’t want F/T and perm, it’ll only be agency stuff.
No/little handballing

So I know I’m going to have to talk to a few agencies and probably register with several and work out what shifts I can/can’t do and not double book myself etc.

Any thoughts, tips, help etc would be greatly appreciated. :smiley:

2

Well you seem to have a good idea of what you want todo which is a good thing, job wise it really is an interesting time, get on the books with local agency’s and see what they start chucking your way, check out DHL’s site for jobs, I am other end of the country but they take on newbies and have advertised for some class 2 night trunks up here so there is non-multi drop work for class 2 out there.

3

Looking forward to when this will be me [emoji106]
Wish I knew what an Agency was.

4

stu675:
Looking forward to when this will be me [emoji106]
Wish I knew what an Agency was.

An agency is a trustworthy enterprise which works hard to skilfully match workers with employers, taking a small commission in the process to cover their costs.

5

To be fair, you are not the first person who is unsure about agencies so don’t feel bad. Here’s a bit of help to hopefully clarify things for you.
An agency is a company that provides businesses people to fill in and cover for usually short-term vacancies, such as annual leave or sickness of existing staff. Sometimes a driver might be needed for a day, sometimes for a week, however, it is always on a temporary basis and the driver has a contract of employment with the agency, not with the company for whom they are actually carrying out the work.

However, businesses are increasingly using agencies as a part of their recruitment process. This allows them to bring in a driver and have them work for them through the agency for a period of time, usually a minor 12 weeks, to see if the driver likes the job and if they like the driver.
If it’s not working out for any reason they can get rid of the driver without the usual formalities of firing someone, but if it does work out then at the end of the agreed period then the driver is free to leave the agency and sign a contract of employment with the business and commence working for them directly.

An agency will normally insist that a worker (you) can only sign with them, and that you can not work for any other company or agency. There are two reasons for them doing this. The first is so they know what hours you are working so they can keep everything legal, stop you working too many days/hours etc. The second reason is that if you only work for them and they have no work booked for you on a certain day, and for some reason some work falls into their lap at the last minute, theoretically you should be available to cover it.

This is the main downside with agencies. There is no guarantee of work, the contract you sign is a zero hour contract, so you could end up working any sort of shifts with different start and finish times, sometimes at several different companies in the same week. Don’t get me wrong, it is possible to specify that you only want certain times/days, but if they have nothing available that suits then you will have no work and therefore no pay.
Walk through your local town and you will see recruitment agencies, they look a bit like estate agencies, but instead of houses in the windows they have job descriptions. Examples of agencies include Driver Hire, Search, Drivers Direct and Proactive Personnel.

Some people think things like Indeed, Reed or GlassDoor are agencies, they are not, they are job boards. Think of these as being similar to what you would find in the Job Centre. Agencies and businesses alike can post vacancies on here, either full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary. The main issue with these is that agency listings might not be 100% legitimate, as they tend to post their best jobs, but these may already have been filled, but by posting them they will get enquiries from people, and they can use these details to register new drivers to fill less enticing vacancies

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6

Sorry I seem to have taken over this thread, not my intention. I’m just unclear are Indeed, Reed, totaljobs etc Agencies? Or are Agencies different to those. Anyway please answer the Op not me.

7

stu675:
Sorry I seem to have taken over this thread, not my intention. I’m just unclear are Indeed, Reed, totaljobs etc Agencies? Or are Agencies different to those. Anyway please answer the Op not me.

You haven’t taken over the thread, sometimes my answers just get a bit needlessly longwinded.
Indeed, Reed, TotalJobs etc are not agencies, they are just job boards. Their only purpose is to act as a place where people can list vacancies. In effect they are no different to your mate down the pub telling you that Tesco are looking for drivers.
You can work directly for an agency, such as one you will find on the high street, but you can not work directly for Reed, Indeed etc.

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8

SBJames:
OK, now I know I am setting myself up for some abusive comments… so feel free to crack on, but if you could give some helpful advice as well that’d be appreciated :slight_smile:

The job market out there seems busy (obviously), but also as confusing as anything! There are jobs from £10phr to £30phr (OK the last one is BH rates etc, but you take my point). I passed about 10days ago, so am a total newbie and I live in South-East Essex, so Basildon, Thurrock, Chelmsford and (at a push) Dagenham are just about OK to get to.

I am in a very fortunate position where I don’t need full-time hours, or even a fixed number each week.

Musts:
Class 2
New driver OK
Not full-time and not perm
Agreed shifts up front, where I’ll be 100% reliable (if I say I can do it, I’ll be there, on time!), but where it isn’t really held against me if I say ‘I can’t do Tuesday, however much you might tell me you need someone, sorry!’

Wants:
Ability to start ASAP after contacting agency/firm
Trunking/as few a drops as possible (and I’ll take as read the fair comment of ‘well do your f*cking Class 1 then!’)
Longer, fewer shifts
Paid breaks
Highest hourly rate possible (not fussed about Day/Night/Weekend working, will do whatever)

Having cake and eating it:
I think I’d like something like RM, Tesco/Sainsbury’s (etc), DHL etc. But presume as I don’t want F/T and perm, it’ll only be agency stuff.
No/little handballing

So I know I’m going to have to talk to a few agencies and probably register with several and work out what shifts I can/can’t do and not double book myself etc.

Any thoughts, tips, help etc would be greatly appreciated. :smiley:

Looking at the terms that you are specifying, you will be a lot better off going down the route of finding work through agencies then looking for permanent employment.
In more ‘normal’ times, your list of requirements would usually see you register with several agencies, most of whom would struggle to find you much work. This would be the case for experienced drivers, but much more so for newbies, as intheir minds, you should be grateful for the opportunity to work and get paid.
The type of work you are looking for, trunking, no handball, few drops etc tends not to be that readily available on class 2, so as you pointed out, class 1 would be a better option. However there are alternatives if you look outside the box. HIAB or tipper work would be good examples of few drops with minimal handball.
Another option would be for you to specialise and get a qualification in something. ADR (dangerous goods), HIAB (vehicle mounted cranes) or Moffat (vehicle mounted forklift trucks) could all help in this regard.
Having said all that, we are not currently in ‘normal’ times, so you might be able to find sufficient suitable work out there thanks to the shortage. The best way to do this will be to sign up with as many agencies as you can find and see what they can offer you

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9

I say go down to Driver Hire they always come across as decent enough.

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10

Many thanks Terry. Yes I was considering tipper worker, there is a local company too who seem to have a lot of lorries on the road, so I’ll have to see if they are interested in a part-timer who wants his cake and eat it :slight_smile:

Cheers

Terry Cooksey:

SBJames:
OK, now I know I am setting myself up for some abusive comments… so feel free to crack on, but if you could give some helpful advice as well that’d be appreciated :slight_smile:

The job market out there seems busy (obviously), but also as confusing as anything! There are jobs from £10phr to £30phr (OK the last one is BH rates etc, but you take my point). I passed about 10days ago, so am a total newbie and I live in South-East Essex, so Basildon, Thurrock, Chelmsford and (at a push) Dagenham are just about OK to get to.

I am in a very fortunate position where I don’t need full-time hours, or even a fixed number each week.

Musts:
Class 2
New driver OK
Not full-time and not perm
Agreed shifts up front, where I’ll be 100% reliable (if I say I can do it, I’ll be there, on time!), but where it isn’t really held against me if I say ‘I can’t do Tuesday, however much you might tell me you need someone, sorry!’

Wants:
Ability to start ASAP after contacting agency/firm
Trunking/as few a drops as possible (and I’ll take as read the fair comment of ‘well do your f*cking Class 1 then!’)
Longer, fewer shifts
Paid breaks
Highest hourly rate possible (not fussed about Day/Night/Weekend working, will do whatever)

Having cake and eating it:
I think I’d like something like RM, Tesco/Sainsbury’s (etc), DHL etc. But presume as I don’t want F/T and perm, it’ll only be agency stuff.
No/little handballing

So I know I’m going to have to talk to a few agencies and probably register with several and work out what shifts I can/can’t do and not double book myself etc.

Any thoughts, tips, help etc would be greatly appreciated. :smiley:

Looking at the terms that you are specifying, you will be a lot better off going down the route of finding work through agencies then looking for permanent employment.
In more ‘normal’ times, your list of requirements would usually see you register with several agencies, most of whom would struggle to find you much work. This would be the case for experienced drivers, but much more so for newbies, as intheir minds, you should be grateful for the opportunity to work and get paid.
The type of work you are looking for, trunking, no handball, few drops etc tends not to be that readily available on class 2, so as you pointed out, class 1 would be a better option. However there are alternatives if you look outside the box. HIAB or tipper work would be good examples of few drops with minimal handball.
Another option would be for you to specialise and get a qualification in something. ADR (dangerous goods), HIAB (vehicle mounted cranes) or Moffat (vehicle mounted forklift trucks) could all help in this regard.
Having said all that, we are not currently in ‘normal’ times, so you might be able to find sufficient suitable work out there thanks to the shortage. The best way to do this will be to sign up with as many agencies as you can find and see what they can offer you

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