Can a Convicted Felon Get a Job Driving Truck? part I

So I finally decided that I would get serious about trying to break out of the low earnings category I am currently in. I have had a few people telling me I should go drive truck for some time now. The thought of being away from my family for 2- 10 weeks at a time just always reminded me of being in prison. With the birth of our little girl last month I decided it might be worth the sacrifice to ensure my kids and wife never have to worry about having enough money.



Now starts the documentation of my attempts to move my family up and out of the janitorial class in America's economic caste system. My goal is to find an opportunity for a convicted felony to have the potential to earn at least $50,000 a year. Of Course I do not expect to just walk in and make this kind of money. I currently work for a company that offers individuals chances to climb into the 6 figure salary range. The company I currently work has a glass ceiling in place for felons though. I cannot say I blame them as they are often the subject of press coverage.



Starting June 03, 2009 I began locating trucking companies that are hiring new drivers. I was able to quickly eliminate the following companies as potential future employers because their web site or the recruiter I spoke with informed me that they either do not hire felons or that the conviction must be older than 10 years. My last conviction date was November, 1999 so I am not yet at the 10 year mark. The companies I eliminated based on this follow:
CR England, Knight Transportation, Yellow/Roadway, Celadon Trucking, Covenant, Crete, CRST, FFE, Hunt, Land Air, National, United Van, SCG, Watkins, and Shepherd.
Not too bad. There is still hope. Right?


I kept going and located a few companies that state on their web sites that they may hire felons if the conviction date is over 7, 5, or in some cases 3 years old. So I began calling each of the companies and speaking with recruiters. Here is what I found out.
The following companies told me they would not hire me after I explained what I had been convicted of:


Gordon, Prime, Schneider, Southern Refrigerated, Quality Carriers, Perkins, Landstar, and Davis


I am kind of surprised at this point as I remember many of the guys I was in prison with either had Ken Worth or Peter Built (truck brands) tattoos. They also had a CDL course at the prison where I did my time. Many of the guys I met there informed me that they were going to drive truck again upon their release.


I still had hope though as May and Swift told me to fill out an application. I filled out applications with both and began calling the recruiters back the following week. Although I have left multiple messages I have yet to receive a call back from either company. This being the case, I decided to start checking out CDL schools in the area.


After doing my research and calling back to speak with numerous recruiters regarding the best schools, it came down to Fage and Road Masters. I called both companies. I spoke with Fage first and informed them that I was interested in getting into the trucking industry. I explained I had five felony convictions and did not know if this would keep me from obtaining employment. The Fage representative told me this should not matter and proceeded to try to schedule me to meet with a councilor.

I declined the offer to meet with Fage and called RoadMasters. I was put into contact with Gloria and , once again, explained my situation. Gloria told me she would like to meet with me the next day so she could run a back ground check to see exactly how my record came up. We scheduled to meet the following day.

I will finish this in a couple of days.

Until then stay strong and free!