UPDATE: Jacob came back to our headquarters last week to share that he is about to buy his own truck and has secured a job for Fedex doing OTR as an owner operator! After things settle down for a bit, he will be visiting his family in Liberia to see what he can do for them.

Congratulations Jacob!!
—

Eight years ago, Jacob Benson left his home in Liberia, Africa to pursue his dream of becoming a professional truck driver and find a way to help support the family he had just left behind.

Jacob dedicated the next few years to saving up money so that he could help his family get away from the war in Liberia. He worked diligently. Eventually, Jacob had sent enough money that his family was able to move out of Liberia and start a new life in the safety of Ghana. Once he knew that his loved ones were safe and well provided for, he was able to pursue his dream.

Jacob enrolled in trucking school. He completed his training, received his CDL and applied for a driving position with Swift Transportation. Although his application was approved, when it came time to complete Swift’s driving tests, Jacob found himself struggling. “The experience I got in training wasn’t enough.” Jacob stated, “I had my license but the type of transmission I was used to driving was not up to their standards.” Swift recommended that Jacob reapply after completing some additional training.

Disappointed but determined to succeed, Jacob had a realization. He explained, “I found California Career School a few years ago. A truck class was training in a lot behind my house. I stopped and talked to the instructor, Robert, about my plans to become a truck driver. I wasn’t ready at the time but he told me to contact the school as soon as I was… and that is how I ended up at California Career School.”

At enrollment, Jacob explained his situation. Since he had already obtained his CDL, it was agreed that the classroom time and permit study would be redundant. Jacob was given credit for the first two weeks of the program and joined his classmates once they were ready to head out on the road. “The training offered here was so much better.” Jacob said “At my previous school, I was trained on an 8 speed, 28 foot trailer. Here, we train only on full size trailers with 10 speed manual transmission. My first day training here I said, ‘wow, backing a 48 foot truck is very different than backing a 28 foot truck.’” He continued, “I was also able to drive on the freeways here. I was never given that opportunity at the other school. Robert made sure to let me practice in the real situations that I will face as a professional trucker.”

Jacob met with his placement coordinator early in training to get started on the pre-hire process. He applied for driving positions with Swift Transportation, Werner Enterprises, Gordon Trucking Inc., CRST, Schneider, Covenant Transport, US Xpress and Stevens Transportation. Jacob wanted to choose a company that he would stay with for the duration of his career, so he began researching each of the carriers to find his perfect fit. Jacob explained, “I looked at each company’s policies, how well and how long they train you and I read the testimonies of their drivers. I also looked at what kind of equipment they provided and whether or not they upgraded it on a regular basis.”

Ultimately, all (yes, ALL) of the carriers he applied for responded and offered him a position with their company. Jacob had already decided that he would like to work for Covenant Transportation. He smiled and said, “My first choice was Covenant and I am sticking to it.”

Jacob just completed his training with Covenant and stopped by to visit while he was in town waiting to be assigned a truck. He told me stories from the road and talked about the different kinds of weather conditions he had encountered while driving with his mentor. Jacob has finally achieved his goal! I asked what he planned to do next. Without hesitation, Jacob replied, “Once I have driven for one year, by the grace of God, I am going to buy my own truck and become an owner operator. Then I will come back to visit and show you my truck. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Before leaving, there was one more update that Jacob wanted to share… he had just received his legal resident status and would finally be able to visit his family in Liberia!!!

What an exciting couple of months it’s been!!! Congratulations Jacob from all of us at California Career School! We are so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to share in your success. Good luck out there! We are looking forward to your next update!!!

“I would recommend California Career School to anybody that wants to be a professional truck driver. I would like to thank the instructors for their efficiency and the administration for being very professional, helpful and kind towards me and everybody that I trained with.”
–Jacob Benson

Author: Rachel Herold

Before she enrolled, Vanessa Abdin had been showing interest in our commercial truck driver program. Her three daughters were all grown, their children were grown, and now a great grandchild had also been born! Vanessa was “wanting a change in careers,” she told us. “I have worked as [an] LVN and surg. tech for the last thirty-eight years. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to be free, see the country and get paid.”

To qualify for our professional trucking program, there were several requirements that she needed to meet—one of them being a conditional pre-hire with a trucking company. Pre-hire applications entail review of the applicant’s driving record, criminal background and ability to meet any other expectations at that company’s discretion.

Rachel Herold, our placement coordinator, explained the benefits of sending out as many applications as possible, regardless of whether an individual has begun our program yet or not. She was “stressing the importance of getting these done now,” now being as soon as Vanessa showed interest in the program in the first place. That way, Rachel went on, “They could really focus on their training… Fill out all of the applications that you can… The rest of your training can be spent looking at your options, making the best choice that can fit your needs.” Vanessa began the process by completing applications to Swift, Werner, CRST, and GTI. She was accepted by three of them.

Upon receipt of her CDL on March 23, 2011, Vanessa had options to choose from because of these pre-hires that she sought out—she chose Werner.

“I’m very proud of myself,” Vanessa wrote to us. Once she gets through her orientation at Werner, we hope to see her travels as she goes over the road to finally travel the whole country. Congratulations Vanessa!