IVE POSTED A FEW THREADS NOW ASKING FOR ADVICE AND IT HAS BEEN GOOD ADVICE BUT…
Last may i spent close to 2grand after the theory and hazard perception, medical and practical test and CPC.And now i have my class c licence but no job. Im on direct gov every night and ive got the indeed app on my phone constantly looking for jobs. Ive google mapped haulage firms in shropshire and rang LOADS of companys and they dont want to listen.
the closest ive got is “come on your day off and we’ll send you out with one of our drivers”…i go out the bloke im with say ive done great with a few nasty reverses involved…not crashed, not killed any1, not come close to causing any damage but…still all i get is “get some experience and come back and we’ll give you a shot”
ive posted on here done everything, rang everyone and still NOTHING.
So to people looking on this site …thinking “id love to be a trucker”…dont waste your money because no one wants to give in experienced drivers a chance…not even the agencies.
Sorry mate but your attitude is all wrong. You’ve no chance behaving like that. You’ve had no luck in 9 monthes so you tell everyone not to bother coz its a waste of money?
1 - Forget the online job centre. Its full of agencies or companies who want experience
2 - Forget phoning and e-mailing companies. GO to them. It really does help if they see a face. Some of these companies get dozens of calls a day from guys looking for jobs. Putting in the effort to go to them gets you noticed
3 - Keep calling the companies who put you out there with their own drivers. They might get desperate during holidays or sick cover etc and need a bum on a seat. Or even better,an employee might have just said “[zb] you boss,im outta here”. Theres an opening for you right there
4 - Exaggerate your experience a bit. When they ask if you have experience say Yes. You have. Its with the companies who sent you out. Just pad it out a bit in terms of how long.
5 - Forget agencies. They need 2 yrs experience because of their insurance premiums.
6 - Forget the big boys. They get hundreds of applicants all the time and can afford to be choosy. Go the small outfits.
7 - Get a positive attitude.
Ive wanted to drive artics since I was 5. I couldnt wait to get my C+E. And when I did,I also kept getting told I needed experience. It was 18 monthes before I got behind the wheel. For 1 shift. I then had to wait another 6 months of constant trying to get a full time,permenant job. You just need to keep trying and something will come your way.
But I cant help feeling your attitude is all wrong and thats putting potential employers off. (But i might be wrong so dont start! )
The-Snowman:
Sorry mate but your attitude is all wrong. You’ve no chance behaving like that. You’ve had no luck in 9 months so you tell everyone not to bother coz its a waste of money?
1 - Forget the online job centre. Its full of agencies or companies who want experience wrong because I got my first job through this website( I applied with no experience to a job that wanted it and i was 23 when they wanted 25, I got the job because the manager liked my CV
2 - Forget phoning and e-mailing companies. GO to them. It really does help if they see a face. Some of these companies get dozens of calls a day from guys looking for jobs. Putting in the effort to go to them gets you noticed that’s very true
3 - Keep calling the companies who put you out there with their own drivers. They might get desperate during holidays or sick cover etc and need a bum on a seat. Or even better,an employee might have just said “[zb] you boss,I’m outta here”. Theres an opening for you right there
4 - Exaggerate your experience a bit. When they ask if you have experience say Yes. You have. Its with the companies who sent you out. Just pad it out a bit in terms of how long.
5 - Forget agencies. They need 2 yrs experience because of their insurance premiums. depends on the agency and the client’s they have having class 1 helps, they’re flooded with class 2 drivers
6 - Forget the big boys. They get hundreds of applicants all the time and can afford to be choosy. Go the small outfits.
7 - Get a positive attitude.
Ive wanted to drive artics since I was 5. I couldn’t wait to get my C+E. And when I did,I also kept getting told I needed experience. It was 18 months before I got behind the wheel. For 1 shift. I then had to wait another 6 months of constant trying to get a full time,permanent job. You just need to keep trying and something will come your way.
But I cant help feeling your attitude is all wrong and thats putting potential employers off. (But i might be wrong so don’t start! )
damien88:
IVE POSTED A FEW THREADS NOW ASKING FOR ADVICE AND IT HAS BEEN GOOD ADVICE BUT…
Last may i spent close to 2grand after the theory and hazard perception, medical and practical test and CPC.And now i have my class c licence but no job. Im on direct gov every night and ive got the indeed app on my phone constantly looking for jobs. Ive google mapped haulage firms in shropshire and rang LOADS of companys and they dont want to listen.
the closest ive got is “come on your day off and we’ll send you out with one of our drivers”…i go out the bloke im with say ive done great with a few nasty reverses involved…not crashed, not killed any1, not come close to causing any damage but…still all i get is “get some experience and come back and we’ll give you a shot”
ive posted on here done everything, rang everyone and still NOTHING.
So to people looking on this site …thinking “id love to be a trucker”…dont waste your money because no one wants to give in experienced drivers a chance…not even the agencies.
1: have you been to every agency about near you? when I was looking for work I signed up to at least 10 which most of them said they have clients who’ll take new drivers on
2:apply to every job there is, there’s no point of being on the website looking at jobs without putting yourself out there!
3: make sure your CV is good!
4:go to the companies and hand out CV’s rather than just ringing them
ive been knocking on doors…like i said ive seen and rung so many people and 2 grand is alot of money to invest for a load of bull…even when ive been out with the drivers on the tippers.
jamiep1988:
1 - Forget the online job centre. Its full of agencies or companies who want experience wrong because I got my first job through this website( I applied with no experience to a job that wanted it and i was 23 when they wanted 25, I got the job because the manager liked my CV
Well thats me told! Ok,I sit corrected. Maybe not FORGET the online job centre. But he’s been there every day he says. For nine months. Its not working. But Yes,keep trying it by all means,just dont put all your eggs in it.
jamiep1988:
7 - Get a positive attitude.
His attitude has descended from depressed at not getting a job to being ■■■■■■ off. Its not gonna help is it?
Yes £2K is a lot of money. That’s why you need to keep at it. Dont give up right away.
I would never encourage anyone to go into just driving i would always suggest doing research before venturing into any job. What’s required in your area etc.
My lads a qualified Air traffic controller. You think your having a hard time. At the moment he’s in the Shetland Isles for an interview, he was lucky this time as he got free travel this time last time it cost £400 + to get to one of the islands. So Tuesday next week he has an interview in Durham. I’m taking him up as his car’s not much cop and we’re going Mon evening staying overnight and back Tues night cost £60 b&b + fuel. Not easy finding a job when you’ve spent 4 yrs training on p poor money
I found class C work hard to find, I ended up handballing wooden fences for minimum wage just for the experience!
Have you considered 7.5 tonne work to try and build a reputation with an agency?
Make sure your CV and covering letter are top notch. Get help from the jobcentre or local college if needed. If you’re knocking doors, make sure you look like you’re worth employing. Take the ■■■■■■■■ job imaginable if you have to, it’s experience.
If you go for your C+E licence, you’ll find work much easier to find. Don’t give up, that first job is around the corner and that great job is just over the horizon. That’s my experience talking. Good luck.
Can see where your coming from m8 I have the same trouble since passing class c last June , trolling online jobs and seems to be same old trash that keeps coming round again or the 2 years expierence thing , I’m kind of been stubborn also , I’m in this for a driving job and not handball tatties or kitchens up stairs etc , and I won’t do it for sweeties either well I mean no less than £400 a week or £9 per hour , that’s acceptable I think any less I would just ditch the job so no point . I have long term work with agency atm but not a lot of hours in it so also do some runs in a van to keep the wages up . So still getting expierence as well as a living wage. I’m also planning c+e test in June so I’m trying to save for that too so I will have this all over again lol! . I’m 40 years old so not got a lot of time and I guess it won’t be as easy getting a job as a younger applicant . I guess I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. But for my love of driving I will keep on going no matter what.
i’ve only had my class 1 for 3 years i started with an agency, christmas was you best chance every one with a class 1 gets to drive around this time if your on an agency.
I was on agency for 2 and a half years and in that time turned down two full time jobs waiting for a job to come up where i was working, in the end it did and i’ve been full time for RM for 2 months now. keep knocking on doors maybe join an agency or as a friend of mine has recently done take a job with a company that runs artic’s and ridged trucks as a ridged driver with the chance of driving artic’s .
i hope to get with a firm that does artics…but at this point ill do ANYTHING i was thinking about doing my class 1 but if its this hard tryna get a class 2 job how hard is it guna be to get a class 1 job.
I paid for all my own hgv licences medicals, theory’s, dcpc, Adr, digital card. Yes it cost, but it’s a foot on the ladder to where you want to be. How you put yourself forward in the way of getting work with a company or agency is up to the individual. I was out driving class 1 after passing within about one to two weeks, & progressed rapidly with a company from there.
If you can’t get work on the type of driving you want to do, then try & get any type of work driving within the class you hold. That will give you some experience which will help you at a later date to get the type of work you want. Maybe alter the way you approach company’s, & maybe review what you say to them . Maybe alter your cv to suit that job or to cover a broader driving range.
damien88:
i hope to get with a firm that does artics…but at this point ill do ANYTHING i was thinking about doing my class 1 but if its this hard tryna get a class 2 job how hard is it guna be to get a class 1 job.
You’re in a slightly worse situation than I was over 30 years ago.When as a naive new class 2 driver instead of the international drawbar work I was looking for I ended up doing 5 years as a council driver.( This was in the days when class 2 meant rigids and drawbars ) and when we still actually had an international running fleet but one of the worst,if not the worst,recessions in history ).
Firstly the job is historically since at least that time over subscribed IE more drivers than jobs.In that environment the best jobs and getting a start on them will be a case of extreme luck or who you know.Everything else is just varying opportunities of looking for the least worst option work.Don’t believe anyone who says that you have to work your way up from the worst jobs to what you want because it’s bs.You’ll find that employers will brush you off with the old experience zb,then you’ll get advice that you have to start at the bottom,then find out that others with less time in the job are often taken on in those jobs with no problem.
In that environment I still realised that not getting a class 1 licence wasn’t going to be an option and would probably be the difference between staying on the council and then probably going on the buses when they contracted the job out. As opposed to at least some sort of job driving a truck that was even remotely close to what I wanted.Which after numerous,failed,( experience and age and that was over 25 let alone less ) cold calling attempts eventually ended up in 15 years of night trunking.IE not ideal and not even close to what I really wanted to do ‘but’ still a lot better than it could have turned out.Would I do it all over again,yes.Cold calling in this case meaning a larger search area than Shropshire even though when I did eventually ‘get lucky’ the job was coincidentally a 20 ish mile commute every evening and morning each way.
IE no one said it will be easy or fair its just that I only realised that with hindsight.
damien88:
So to people looking on this site …thinking “id love to be a trucker”…dont waste your money because no one wants to give inexperienced drivers a chance…not even the agencies.
Spot on there drive, I have experience & even I can’t get a decent job driving…
damien88:
Last may i spent close to 2grand
Thats peanuts compared to what I’ve lost…Chin up, it’s just money at the end of the day!
damien88:
i hope to get with a firm that does artics…but at this point ill do ANYTHING i was thinking about doing my class 1 but if its this hard tryna get a class 2 job how hard is it guna be to get a class 1 job.
Don’t worry about the artic licence. I’ve had my class 2 since November 2000 and I’ve still not bothered doing class 1. I’ve got a nice easy job that pays the bills and lets me save a bit so I’m not keen on blowing £2k on a licence I wont use.
Search indeed site for quarry work, sometimes class 2 gets listed under that, you might find a plant op job on a dumptruck or a loader (good experience) which gets you known by the hauliers who visit the quarry.
Sounds to me like you’re trying too hard to impress when you go out. With no experience your reversing is going to be crap so take a deep breath and do it nice and slow. I still make a meal of it when I rush usually at the end of the day parking up in the yard, but when I go into a big distribution centre with loads of other drivers watching I use all the space and just crawl in with little adjustments and usually do it first time with maybe a little forward shunt just to line up. When I watch the old drivers do it most of them do it nice and slowly too. Less haste more speed.
Ultimately I’d like to get into either car transporter driving or fuel tankers, because it pays the best, but all the job sites I look at for this stipulate experience of doing it needed.
Your up against it with just a C licence, waste some more and upgrade to a C+E, which will open up a few more opportunities, there are just to many C licence holders like your self chasing to few jobs, C+E jobs have always been easier to find than C jobs.
IMHO the licencing regime should have been made similar to gaining a full motorcycle licence, were your restricted to what you can ride up to a certain age, then when you get to 25 you should be allowed to go for direct access to C+E.
Maybe this is the reason why there is a shortage of C+E drivers.
Not sure if its any help or not, but as a TM trying to find class 2 multi drop drivers it is hard. Most people go straight into the C+E and from then on deem themselves to important to drive a rigid.
There are jobs there on the likes of palletline and other such networks, people will scoff at them as they are not the glory £20ph, mobile christmas tree wallet on a chain style job BUT they are your door way to experience. 3663, Brakes and other food cage work is the same.
Whereabouts are you? I know someone who is screaming for drivers and will give someone who has just passed their test a chance. Its a small agency where the boss is a driver and actually drives 4-5 nights a week himself, its pallet company night trunking but its regular work and pays reasonably well. There’s the odd days/night overspill on Class 2 as well.
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