CDLjobs.com Trucking Jobs Blog

We must never forget

Across the United States today it's a day of remembrance, marking the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Ceremonies are taking place across the country, honoring the victims and heroes of the attacks of 9-11, when jets crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

President Obama is scheduled to meet with family members of those killed at the Pentagon.

In lower Manhattan, a light tribute will shine at sunset to commemorate all those who lost their lives.

And in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, private memorials will be held at the crash site, as they have every year since 2001.  There are plans by the National Park Service to turn the site into a permanent memorial.

In your own way today, take a moment to remember all the men, women, and children who tragically lost their lives in 2001 from a senseless and cowardly act of violence.  Pay tribute to all the first responders and rescue workers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of their duty.

Drive safe,

Mike Thayer, VP/Operations, CDLjobs.com

Make a lane change for Dallas

By Mike Thayer, VP/Operations

The Great American Trucking Show (GATS) kicks things off on Thursday, August 20th in Dallas, Texas.  If you're in the area, take a break and enjoy!

The nation’s second-largest trucking trade show, GATS offers attendees a wide variety of trucking industry exhibits and informational access.  Drivers can find a new job, attend free educational seminars, see the latest in trucking technology or check out the Pride & Polish Truck Beauty Contest.

Highlights

Midnight Trucking Radio Network:  A traditional part of GATS since the show's inception, the Midnight Trucking Radio Network (MTRN) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.  Walk the red carpet in celebration of MTRN’s 40 years of broadcast excellence and enjoy, “THE LEGEND LIVES”.  Get your photo taken with Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Cash, Cher and others at the MTRN lobby booth and watch them perform “live and in person”.  Meet show hosts Eric Harley and Gary McNamara who will be giving out some fun prizes, interviewing specials guests and sharing a little 40th Anniversary cake!"

Country music star Tracy Lawrence:  The Great American Trucking Show is proud to host country music chart-topper Tracy Lawrence during this year's show in Dallas, Texas. Lawrence will headline the Mobil Delvac-sponsored concert at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. Since his debut in 1991, Lawrence has produced hits such as "Sticks and Stones," "Texas Tornado," "If the World Had a Front Porch" and "Paint Me a Birmingham." His new album, "The Rock," is set for release this spring. Tickets will be distributed at GATS the day of the concert and are free for registered attendees.

Overdrive's Pride and Polish Truck Beauty Competition:  Always a crowd pleaser, Pride and Polish is held annually at five venues across the country, including the Great American Trucking Show. Cash and trophies will be awarded to winning trucks in a variety of classes.

The Great American Trucking Show runs through Saturday, August 22.

Make the most of your time with CDLjobs.com Search Options

By Mike Thayer, VP/Operations

Whether you want to narrow your job search to the type of trailer you like to pull or research all the jobs available in Ohio, our search function can streamline your job search experience.

Getting Started
Begin with the basic search box on the search directory page, or choose the directory link for a list of trucking industry categories.

The Basics of a CDLjobs Search
To enter a query into CDLjobs, just type in a few key words and hit the 'enter' key or click on the, “Load It” button for a list of relevant web pages. Since CDLjobs.com is specific to truck driving jobs, only the most applicable listings will display. Refining or narrowing your search is as simple as adding or changing words to the search terms you have already entered.

Choosing Keywords for the Search Box
Keep the following tips in mind for the best results:

• Keep it simple and try the obvious. If you're looking for information on Hirschbach Motor Lines, enter "Hirschbach" rather than "trucking company."
• Keep it short. Since this is a directory made specifically for trucking jobs, use a keyword shortcut such as "ohio" for trucking jobs available in the state of Ohio instead of, "trucking jobs in Ohio.”
• Be as specific as you can, "lease purchase" gets more relevant results than "companies with lease programs."

Using the Directory and Searching by Category
The CDLjobs Directory 'Menu' is a great place to start if you're not exactly sure how to phrase your search or what keywords to use. You can search for trucking jobs pulling a dry van for example within the Dry Van Jobs category if that is your preferred trailer type or if that is the only pulling experience you have.

Time Your Application

By Mike Thayer, VP/Operations

Did you send out an Internet application and it's been three or four days without hearing back from any carriers?  If you're looking for a fast response, the day you send can mean a quicker response time from a recruiter.

If you sent your application on a Friday, that may not be the best day to send one.  Submitting on a Friday automatically delays response time from many carriers a couple of days minimum.  Not all carriers staff the recruiting department on Saturdays and during these lean economic times others have dramatically scaled back if not scrapped Saturday staffing altogether.  These days, sending on a Friday means your app will most likely sit on a desktop through the weekend and on into Monday.  It could be Tuesday before a recruiter is done catching up from the weekend's load of apps and picks up the phone to call you.

Timing is key
Friday may have been the most convenient time for you to submit an app, but is it the most convenient for the recruiter?  It's understandable that you wanted to take some time to think about a job change, or submitting on a Friday is when you had some home time.  But since you're competing with other drivers for a recruiter's attention, timing can be key.  You want your app to be worked as it arrives in a recruiter's email box, not as a part of some pile.

Check your calendar and time your application submission.  If you prefer to send out a job application from the comfort of home, try to match up your home time - the next time you'll get time off in the middle of the week - with the task of submitting an application.  This works for down time in the comfort of your cab too.  Giving a recruiter your app in the middle of the week gives you an edge over the next guy.  Because you submit in the middle of the week and better yet during daytime hours, your app is two days ahead of a guy who waits.  Submitting in the middle of the week means your app is less likely to be in some pile of apps at the mercy of some recruiter playing application catch-up from the weekend.  You won't be dealing with a recruiter distracted by Monday meetings or having to compile some report for the previous week's activity.  A middle of the week submission means you have a much greater chance of getting a recruiter's full and undivided attention. 

Something else to consider are holidays and long weekends.  If you've been thinking about a job change, we're coming up on Memorial Day weekend.  That's a Monday, the 25th.  Submitting on Friday the 22nd would most likely delay the response not just three days, but four and maybe five days due to the short work week!  If you're going to pull the trigger on submitting an app, try to get your application in at least a couple of days before the weekend hits.   

Action Item: Review your calendar or day planner and cross-check it with your home time and/or down time. 

Planning when to submit your application can help you gain the attention of the recruiter, leading to that next job opportunity.

Looking at the jobs landscape

By Mike Thayer, VP/Operations

In the current economy, drivers and trucking companies alike have had no choice but to alter their behavior.  The number of drivers submitting applications has skyrocketed, while the number of jobs available has been in decline.  With the job market shrinking, this has intensified what was already a very competitive environment. As a result, drivers must pay careful attention to the jobs landscape on a regular basis.

Three factors to view in the jobs landscape

Current Events:  You need to keep doing your online research and review of trucking companies, just on a more continuous basis.  Pay attention to the news, staying alert to the merging or departure of existing companies, as well as the emergence of new players.  TIP:  Some companies that have been running nationally, are now focusing more on regional business - their hiring area is shrinking.  So with that in mind, a company adding states to their hiring area is an eye-opener. 

Offerings:  Drivers are placing a greater value these days in carrier stability over things like home time and dental policies.  That extra penny per mile becomes trivial if that company doesn't have enough freight to keep you moving consistently or will be out of business in three months. 

Availability:  As companies change the way they conduct business in the current environment, look for their online presence.  If you can't find them on a site like CDLjobs.com, they're probably not hiring.

Expanded use of the CDLjobs.com network can add leverage to your job search.  The integration of our news page, the blog, our presence on Facebook - those are all tools that can aid and support your efforts in looking for a better driving job.  We're here to help you track and analyze job developments, improving your view of the jobs landscape.  Stay informed so you can react to a changing environment in a timely manner and ahead of the next guy. 

Getting connected

By Mike Thayer, VP/Operations

"Tell me something more"

"Tell me something more" is a request that traditional advertising methods such as print media have never been well equipped to answer.

Those kind of ads aren't capable of being interactive, conversational, or following up and telling something more. 

CDLjobs.com can and does tell you more.  

CDLjobs.com recently announced a couple of updates which are designed specifically to tell you more.  The first update called 'Notifixious', enables you to receive immediate updates to industry news and job opportunities - via your email address, your cell-phone number, or your login on your favorite Instant Messaging network. 

The second update connects you with Facebook, the increasingly dominant social network.  In case you're not familiar with Facebook, it is a remarkable tool letting a large number of people to connect, reconnect, and interconnect with one another.  Want a job opportunity notification?  If you’re a friend of CDLjobs.com on the Facebook network, you automatically get notified. 

Those updates and other tools on CDLjobs.com make it possible for trucking companies to tell you something more and you can benefit instantly.  Through CDLjobs.com, carriers provide information and updates, which go online and quickly into the PC's, laptops, IPods, and cell phones of drivers.

Make CDLjobs.com one of your 'favorites' and our information becomes your information, positively impacting your job search in two ways.

- Notifixious provides you a whole new level of connection.  It's immediate if you want it to be.

- Being a friend of CDLjobs.com on the Facebook network makes every piece of industry news an interactive one.

So let's talk about the first, the benefit of being immediately notified about industry news and opportunities.  You can instantly satisfy your desire to get more information.  That information gives you a heads up and provides you an edge over other job seekers because you're more informed and now at an even faster rate.  That 'heads up', that 'tell me something more' notification can be anything from text, to audio, to web content.  There's almost no limit to what you can be alerted to.

The second benefit - CDLjob.com's presence on Facebook - is something you should take advantage of because the content is dynamic and so easily updated.  You can adjust your job search approach very fluidly, by being integrated with other drivers offering their assessments and experiences with various carriers.  Take advantage of back and forth conversation with other drivers and carriers. Have them tell you something more.  Input and updates made available by various people and companies is a combination that's tough to beat, and it's all available on CDLjobs.com.

Getting connected is easy, it doesn't require anything extra or cost any money.  Get connected today!

How to make your job application “Carrier Friendly”

By Mike Thayer, VP/Operations

Did you ever wonder how the process of reviewing your application actually works? 

There are a lot of wheels that go into motion after you submit an application.  While carriers might receive hundreds (or even 1,000’s!) of applications, recruiters are probably only going to look at the ones meeting their hiring criteria. 

That’s why drivers use CDLjobs.com, to ensure their application is at or near the top of the application pile.  In order to understand CDLjobs.com and how you can use it to submit an application with a top of the pile appeal, it’s important to first understand how CDLjobs.com processes your application. 

Each carrier has its own set of hiring criteria and they want a continuous flow of job applications, but they don’t want just any and all driver applications.  Carriers take advantage of technology and use online tools on CDLjobs.com to “crawl” over the content in your job application.  These tools aid carriers in building a “first impression” of your information.  Before a recruiter even sees your application, your information has been reviewed for your age, state of residence, driving experience, trailer endorsements, number of accidents, number of tickets and so on. 

If your information matches up with the carrier’s hiring criteria such as state of residence and trailer experience for example, then that application is sent direct to a recruiter and the hiring process moves along. 

Since CDLjobs.com is online and working 24 hours, seven days a week, the flow and review of applications never stops.  Carriers are constantly on the lookout for new drivers and applications to place at the top of the hiring pile. 

It is very important you understand that your #1 priority is to keep your application at the top of that pile.