Can I Get Some Help Picking A Better Career? :o)?
Currently I am a truck driver. When I entered this career I had planned to be home daily, but had to enter the field as an over the road driver because I was lacking experience. Now that I have the experience, I’m beginning to realize that a lot of the jobs I had wanted aren’t so great after all. Most of them continue to pay by the mile, which forces nearly 70hrs per week of work, and require you to work strange hours and/or weekends. I’m hoping that I can get a little information on what careers might be other good options to look into. Here’s some background on me. I live around the Flint, MI, I’m 24 years old, I have a Class A CDL and 2.5 years of experience driving trucks, I need to make $40,000 per year or just slightly less, I need to be off weekends and would very much prefer 9-5 style hours. I also have loved working with computers in the past and am very proficient with them. Without too much schooling, what would be a good idea for another career choice?
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2 Comments to “Can I Get Some Help Picking A Better Career? :o)?”
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By YODEL, February 7, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
One idea….IF you want to keep driving, check out Allied Auto Group. http://alliedautomotive.com/
I have NO IDEA what’s going on with them in Michigan in the midst of all the car factory shut downs and strikes and other stuff I don’t really pay enough attention to….But, they had a LOT of work in Michigan at least a couple years ago. It may be worth checking out, if you don’t mind a bit of physical work.
It’s a union job and they will train you to load the carriers. Great benefits, great pay (can take home 50,000 +), at least in FL where I was they had 5-6 day work weeks (you can work as much as you want, really, but they only asked for 5). Only thing you may not like is the hours…..until you move up in seniority you may be stuck with a night shift or slightly odd day hours.
I lived in western Michigan (near Muskegon) for a short time a couple years ago, and I gotta say, the job situation there is freaking abysmal. I’ve never seen anything like it. I came up from Florida where the employment part of the newspaper has it’s own 4-page section, to Michigan where Grand Rapids’ jobs only took up 1/3 of one page and Detroit’s jobs only took up 1/2 of a page.
I hate to say it, but a good first step might be to move, if that’s at all feasible. Hell, I live in South Dakota now, and the small town I live in has more jobs in the daily paper than Muskegon did, and we don’t even have half the population. Or, at least look for job options in other areas not too far away (Cleveland, Chicago, etc), and be open to relocating.
Either way….you might want to check out a job as a dispatcher with a trucking company, OR as a freight broker. If you become a broker, you eventually have to get licensed, but I believe you can work *for* a broker, learn the ropes, etc….and eventually go out and get your own license, go out on your own. If you can successfully start your own freight brokering business, you can make a VERY nice living. I used to drive for a broker who owned 3 trucks, and judging by his house, cars, RV, racecar, shop facility and the other produce companies he owned…..my guess is that he was probably worth well over several million dollars.
Computer skills are a must with both dispatchers & brokers, and so is an understanding of the trucking industry. Especially with dispatchers- no driver wants a dispatcher who doesn’t understand what it’s like to be OTR. There’s a trucking company in Grand Rapids- Gainey, I believe…..and there’s Churchill from Detroit, in Detroit…..not sure if there are any major companies in Flint, but a larger trucking company would probably be the right place to start, seeing that you don’t have any experience (a smaller company is less likely to train you).
If you want to get away from trucking entirely, I don’t know of many jobs you could find with that kind of income, without going to school. Maybe some kind of vocational computer repair, or computer programming course? Check out a community college or vo-tech and see what they offer, usually they have options that don’t require 2 full years of school, and they’ll work around your work schedule so you could keep working.
By ANF, February 7, 2010 @ 5:47 pm
I am in the UK but the thought occurs to me. Does it have to be driving. How are you at jobs around the house,can you do decorating or woodwork etc. Why not set up your own business decorating. I am sure there are courses to give you the basic ideas and know how. I was a Sales Director for a medium sized company but when at a late age redundancy struck I started up my own business of Painting and decorating incorporating other home improvement. I made a really good living. Just a thought and best of luck.