CDL A Jobs With No Experience: Which Companies Hire New Drivers, and What They Ask For
Where a brand-new Class A holder actually gets hired: the carriers with finishing programmes, what they pay during training, the contract terms to read twice, and the local and regional routes that skip the year over the road.
Coach Ray audio brief for this topic
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Short answer
New Class A drivers get hired by carriers that run their own finishing programme: a few weeks with a trainer, then a solo truck, usually over the road for the first months. Prime, Schneider, Knight, C.R. England, CRST, Roehl, Wilson Logistics and Stevens run them; Melton, PTL and McElroy hire recent graduates and reimburse tuition instead. Local jobs with no experience exist, mostly foodservice, LTL docks and small carriers, and they are found by walking in, not on the job boards. Below is what each route asks of you and what to check before you sign.
Who hires a Class A driver with no experience
Insurance is why most companies say no. A carrier's policy usually sets a minimum, often one year, sometimes six months, and the companies that take new drivers are the ones that carry the training risk themselves. They fall into three groups.
1. Carriers with a finishing programme (the "no experience" jobs)
You already hold the CDL. They put you with a trainer for two to eight weeks, pay a training rate, then hand you a truck. Verified on their own pages this month:
- Knight Transportation: a short academy followed by paid over-the-road training, 14 or 28 day minimum depending on experience.
- Stevens Transport: entry-level driver training with 240 hours of paid over-the-road training, plus tuition reimbursement.
- Schneider: hires inexperienced drivers into a training programme; drivers on the forums describe it as "no drama" and light on pay.
- Prime: the longest training of the large carriers, and the one drivers most often say taught them properly.
- Wilson Logistics: sponsored training with a weekly pay guarantee during training, hiring across the lower 48.
- CRST and C.R. England: pay during school and training in exchange for a contract, ten months at CRST.
- Roehl: the Get Your CDL programme makes you a paid employee from day one; graduates of other schools are taken too.
2. Carriers that hire graduates and reimburse the school
These do not train you from zero, but they will hire you the week you graduate and pay your tuition back over time: Melton (up to $10,000, $150 a month, an 8-day pre-hire course and about three weeks with a road trainer), PTL (up to $6,000, no contract), McElroy (pays the lender up to $6,000, paid orientation). Read the reimbursement schedule: it pays monthly while you stay, so leaving early forfeits the rest.
3. Local and regional with no experience
The advice that repeats in every driver thread: foodservice distributors, LTL carriers, grocery delivery, small "mom and pop" outfits, and Class B jobs at construction companies with dump trucks and lowboys you can step up from. These rarely advertise for new drivers. You find them by calling the terminal and asking for the safety manager, and by being near one. One driver's list of companies that took people at three months or less, posted in r/Truckers: Decker, Paper Transport, Garner, DOT Foods, Hirschbach, Melton, Bison USA, Continental Express. Treat that as leads to check, not a guarantee; programmes change every year.
What they will ask for
- A valid Class A, a clean MVR (most want no more than two or three moving violations in three years), a current DOT medical card.
- A drug test at orientation and enrolment in the FMCSA Clearinghouse.
- Work history for the last three years and, for over-the-road, a willingness to be out two to three weeks at a time in the first year.
- Endorsements help: tanker (N) and hazmat (H) open fuel and chemical work that hires new graduates at some terminals.
Four questions before you sign
- Is there a contract, and what do I owe if I leave early? Sponsored programmes typically want eight to twelve months; some charge the full tuition back on day one of leaving.
- What is the training pay, and for how many weeks? Ask for the number per week and the length, not "up to".
- How long am I with a trainer, and do I drive while the trainer sleeps? Team-style training pays more and teaches less.
- How often will I be home in the first year? Regional and dedicated accounts exist for new drivers at the larger carriers, but you have to ask for them.
Drivers with a record
Several carriers look at felonies case by case rather than by rule, and a placement partner we work with has a carrier that takes candidates with records. Our second chance list covers who and what they ask. Say it up front; a recruiter who finds it on the background check later will not call back.
Skip the job boards
The job boards show you the carriers that need drivers the most. The better ones fill seats through referrals and schools. That is what our placement programme is for: you send one profile with your class, months driving, endorsements and home-time preference, and we route it to a hiring partner covering your zip. The carrier pays the fee. It is free for you, and it works for brand-new graduates, drivers with three months, and drivers with a record.
Send one driver profile, free, and a hiring partner covering your zip calls you
Not licensed yet? Start with the company-paid CDL training comparison, or the WIOA grant route that pays the school with no contract at all.
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From real driver threads
What people get wrong about no-experience CDL jobs, from driver threads
The jobs exist. These are the ways new drivers picked the wrong one, in their own words.
Is high training pay a good sign? Usually the opposite
The mistake: Choosing the carrier with the biggest training pay, which is often the one that puts you in a truck with a trainer who sleeps while you drive.
“Some of these companies let drivers with 3-6 months total experience train the new drivers, training that consists of them sleeping while you drive. They lure you in with the training pay. My advice, ignore the training pay”Reddit r/Truckers, "Best Starter Companies?": read the thread
How to avoid it: Ask how many weeks with a trainer, whether it is team-style, and what freight you will haul. Pick the training, not the training pay. Our placement form asks your preference and routes accordingly.
Does the contract matter if the pay is good? It is the only thing that matters when you leave
The mistake: Signing a sponsored programme without reading what happens at month six if you want out.
“If you go for any company make sure there is not contract. You can leave whenever as long as you paid off the schooling.”Reddit r/Truckers, "Best Starter Companies?": read the thread
How to avoid it: Get the payback schedule in writing before orientation. The company-paid training comparison lists contract lengths side by side.
Should I pick the company with the best reviews? Pick the one with a terminal near home
The mistake: Choosing by reputation alone and then spending the first year unable to get routed home.
“Go with the ones that is near your home so they can route to home easier when you are away for months.”Reddit r/Truckers, "Best Starter Companies?": read the thread
How to avoid it: Filter by terminal location first, then by programme. The state and metro hiring pages show who is advertising near you this week.
Is one week of training enough? Drivers who had it wish they had not
The mistake: Taking the shortest training because it gets you earning fastest, then learning the job from YouTube and warehouse staff.
“Prime gets a bad rap for having the longest training time of all the megas, but you know how much you missed by only getting that one week of training. I'd rather have 3 months of training than 1 week of training.”Reddit r/Truckers, "Companies that hire with 3 months experience": read the thread
How to avoid it: Ask for the training length in days and whether you can extend it. A carrier that says yes is telling you something.
Driving already?
Carriers are paying to hire drivers with three months on the road
Tell us your CDL class, months driving and endorsements and we route your profile to a hiring partner covering your zip. Free for drivers; the carrier pays the fee. New graduates and second-chance drivers are routed too. How placement works.
