my boss will give anyone a go but you have to do it right, noshortcuts or bent running, he’s trained a few up thru their test as well. do your job best you can and learn is one of his mottos.
Agencies don`t always make the rules,its their clients that stipulate the rules,all the Agency can do is abide by the rules.
When I did Driver Assessments years back I had to go by what the Company stipulated about their requirements.
Rottweiler22:
The whole “experience” charade is a big thing in the haulage game. Everybody wants “experience”, with no or little thought to what happens when these old warhorses pack-in, and there’s nobody to replace them, because they daren’t give anyone else a chance.That being said, if you stick at it, you WILL find a directly-employed job eventually, I certainly did.
Firstly the experience thing often translates in the real world as new drivers being lumbered with the jobs that the ‘experienced’ drivers, ( or often just those who know the right people and/or got into the right type of job by being in the right place at the right time ),don’t want.
Also that issue doesn’t all miraculously stop at some arbitrary 2 year point.It then often carries on with all the different types of jobs.In which case there’s no reason to think that 2 years of doing zb 7.5 t or class C jobs will mean anything when trying to look for something better as the first paragraph applies at every stage along the ladder.Possibly to the point of,at best,having to settle for a whole career based on a less coveted compromise regardless of timescale.Which in my case meant forgetting all about the international work I was hoping to do and settling down to a career of mostly uk night trunking after 5 years spent as a council driver.On that note unfortunately,for anyone who wants to do the job,this is probably one of the worse possible countries to have been born in regards job opportunities v somewhere like Australia,NZ,North America or Europe/Scandinavia. 
Evil8Beezle:
They may say that Coner, but I’ve yet to be turned away by an agency because I don’t have 2 years experience.
I’ve been sacked by one though!
So Evil how the hell did an agency sack you ?
Carryfast:
Rottweiler22:
The whole “experience” charade is a big thing in the haulage game. Everybody wants “experience”, with no or little thought to what happens when these old warhorses pack-in, and there’s nobody to replace them, because they daren’t give anyone else a chance.That being said, if you stick at it, you WILL find a directly-employed job eventually, I certainly did.
Firstly the experience thing often translates in the real world as new drivers being lumbered with the jobs that the ‘experienced’ drivers, ( or often just those who know the right people and/or got into the right type of job by being in the right place at the right time ),don’t want.
Also that issue doesn’t all miraculously stop at some arbitrary 2 year point.It then often carries on with all the different types of jobs.In which case there’s no reason to think that 2 years of doing zb 7.5 t or class C jobs will mean anything when trying to look for something better as the first paragraph applies at every stage along the ladder.Possibly to the point of,at best,having to settle for a whole career based on a less coveted compromise regardless of timescale.Which in my case meant forgetting all about the international work I was hoping to do and settling down to a career of mostly uk night trunking after 5 years spent as a council driver.On that note unfortunately,for anyone who wants to do the job,this is probably one of the worse possible countries to have been born in regards job opportunities v somewhere like Australia,NZ,North America or Europe/Scandinavia.
You know what they say, the best jobs don’t need advertising, because people are already after them! I can imagine nowadays that there aren’t as many British companies working internationally now, when foreigners will do it cheaper, like Waberers.
At my last firm, I don’t think I ever remember them doing any advertising of vacancies, or recruiting, even when positions were vacant. All the jobs were filled by either promoting current employees, word of mouth, a current employee who knew someone who was after a job, or just someone dropping their CV on the boss’ desk at the right time.
el_presidente:
Winseer:
Food delivery firms are crying out for drivers with a Cat C in hand already… You only need the 2 years experience to get on a job with agency - not go straight in as full time.P&H, 3663, Bidvest, & Brakes are all recruiting around this way - full time jobs rather than agency contracts…
Brakes have a vacancy for an apprentice driver. Pay will be pants, but short term pain, long term…kinda gain. Ish.
Shame their Admin staff can’t spell…:
‘You must be able to demostrate a desire to work within the field and aged between 18-24. This is an apprenticeship scheme aimed at developing of future talent so we are looking for pasisonate and dedicated people.’
The apprentice thing includes “warehouse to wheels” and is aimed at non-drivers. We’re talking about someone with a Cat C licence in hand already, rather than someone who “wants to do the training to get a cat C”.
As far as I know, pay for an incoming cat C holder going full time on a fresh start is getting £25k straight out of the gate… That’s not bad for a 5 day week 8-9 hour shifts on early starts - IF you like that sort of thing.
Swampey2418:
Evil8Beezle:
They may say that Coner, but I’ve yet to be turned away by an agency because I don’t have 2 years experience.
I’ve been sacked by one though!So Evil how the hell did an agency sack you ?
I don’t think “turning down a shift, so they never darken your phone earpiece again” counts as “Being sacked by an agency”. 
Winseer:
Swampey2418:
Evil8Beezle:
They may say that Coner, but I’ve yet to be turned away by an agency because I don’t have 2 years experience.
I’ve been sacked by one though!So Evil how the hell did an agency sack you ?
I don’t think “turning down a shift, so they never darken your phone earpiece again” counts as “Being sacked by an agency”.
It wasn’t quite as simple as your presumption, but I’m not going into details for you other than saying I was escorted off site halfway through a shift. The rest I’ll leave you to jump to conclusions over… 
I’ve passed some of your suggestions into the lad in question, about looking at places like brakes and other good distributors. Thanks for your comments.
I’ve been in the game since 2002 and this 2 years experience is crippling the flow of fresh blood coming through the ranks.
The lad in question is not unemployed but he just wants to get on the wagons. Currently he’s in a different job altogether. Cheers guys.
Evil8Beezle:
Winseer:
Swampey2418:
Evil8Beezle:
They may say that Coner, but I’ve yet to be turned away by an agency because I don’t have 2 years experience.
I’ve been sacked by one though!So Evil how the hell did an agency sack you ?
I don’t think “turning down a shift, so they never darken your phone earpiece again” counts as “Being sacked by an agency”.
It wasn’t quite as simple as your presumption, but I’m not going into details for you other than saying I was escorted off site halfway through a shift. The rest I’ll leave you to jump to conclusions over…
Caught tampering with the mayonnaise?!
Hey guys. Am new qualified driver. Passed both my class 2/1 test back to back (£2800). I signed up to 6 agency and in 4 week, no luck. I want to a company who said they’ll take me on and train me up but the money is ■■■■ (minimum wage for class 2) what do you think? I use to drive forklifts for 8.5 ph.
You just gotta be persistent and keep ringing and applying for jobs no excuse not to find a job really if you try hard enough… These places that want experience is a joke really
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Evil8Beezle:
Winseer:
Swampey2418:
Evil8Beezle:
They may say that Coner, but I’ve yet to be turned away by an agency because I don’t have 2 years experience.
I’ve been sacked by one though!So Evil how the hell did an agency sack you ?
I don’t think “turning down a shift, so they never darken your phone earpiece again” counts as “Being sacked by an agency”.
It wasn’t quite as simple as your presumption, but I’m not going into details for you other than saying I was escorted off site halfway through a shift. The rest I’ll leave you to jump to conclusions over…
Being treated so harshly would bring me to think that you’ve done something very naughty, or the firm has. 
Conor:
Butcher:
How on earth have we arrived at this ridiculous situation when he’s paid all the training fees himself, he’s keen to learn and ambitious honest and hard working! I don’t get it!What do you mean arrived? It was the case in the 1990s when I first started driving on agency and in addition to that they wanted a minimum 25 years old as well. I have no idea what rock you’ve been hiding under but companies and agencies wanting a minimum 2 years has been the case for almost the last quarter of a century.
When you started, the 2 years thing was in force with gusto.
When I started at beginning of 2000s, if a monkey turned up with a set of diesel gloves they’d stick him in a Scania. You could walk between jobs at will, no interviews, nothing. Desperado time.
Now, it’s back to 2 years. It’s arguable whether that’s because there isn’t really a shortage or because haulage is more corporate and had gone towards anything that’s anti liability. That’s a separate boring conversation. It hasn’t always been 2 years min for 25 years. It’s cyclical.
Winseer:
Evil8Beezle:
Winseer:
Swampey2418:
Evil8Beezle:
They may say that Coner, but I’ve yet to be turned away by an agency because I don’t have 2 years experience.
I’ve been sacked by one though!So Evil how the hell did an agency sack you ?
I don’t think “turning down a shift, so they never darken your phone earpiece again” counts as “Being sacked by an agency”.
It wasn’t quite as simple as your presumption, but I’m not going into details for you other than saying I was escorted off site halfway through a shift. The rest I’ll leave you to jump to conclusions over…
Being treated so harshly would bring me to think that you’ve done something very naughty, or the firm has.
The only people being naughty were the agency mate…
sent via phone