What is the job prospects for truck drivers in Big Island?

[MickeyE]

Originally Posted by Kansoku

No. I emailed one of the tour companies, Roberts Hawaii, but after my second email stating my job history (2 months of Kroger bagboy) and driving history they wouldn't reply. My driving history wasn't bad, although not squeaky clean. They didn't tell me the exact criteria. They also asked me if I was going to come to Hawaii soon and I answered in that 2nd email that I wanted to find out how employable I would be before coming first.

That probably is the reason they didn't reply to your second e-mail.

If you've read many of the posts asking about jobs in Hawaii, they all state that employers do not want to be bothered with someone who does not live in Hawaii, or have been there a very short time and my move back to the mainland soon.

Mickey

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by Kansoku

No. I emailed one of the tour companies, Roberts Hawaii, but after my second email stating my job history (2 months of Kroger bagboy) and driving history they wouldn't reply. My driving history wasn't bad, although not squeaky clean. They didn't tell me the exact criteria. They also asked me if I was going to come to Hawaii soon and I answered in that 2nd email that I wanted to find out how employable I would be before coming first.

Two months of employment history isn't worth squat.
No company that employs drivers will hire anyone with less than a perfect driving record. The insurance cost will be too great.

[Kansoku]

Originally Posted by mdand3boys

No company that employs drivers will hire anyone with less than a perfect driving record. The insurance cost will be too great.

I felt otherwise because truck companies will hire you as long as you don't have one of those big offenses like DUI etc, and if you have about 3 or 4 tickets that are minor in the past several years, so I thought the bus company would have about the same criteria.

[hotzcatz]

Ah, but those are mainland truck companies, companies here don't follow mainland rules. It also matters what kind of violations, if they were moving violations - something such as speeding - then they wouldn't hire you. Parking tickets probably wouldn't matter.

If you already had a commercial driving license, then they might hire you even with a less than spotless record although they would still want to meet you in person before considering it. However, if they are going to have to train you, your record isn't spotless and you aren't even living here yet, what possible reason would they have to hire you over someone already here? Add in the huge percentage of folks who move here that moved back to the mainland within a year or so and that makes employers even less likely to hire mainland folks. It takes company time and resources to train and get someone new integrated into the company, employers don't want to have to keep doing that if they can help it.

There aren't any good reasons for anyone - truck company or not - to hire you while you are on the mainland unless you have a very specialized skill set that they need. Otherwise, there are a lot of folks already living here who they can hire and then they will be able to meet the applicant in person and probably hire their cousin as well. There is a huge amount of nepotism around here.

For a trucking or bus company, there are a lot of reasons why they wouldn't want to hire a mainland person. If they hired a mainland person for a trucking company, the driver wouldn't know where anything was and dispatch would spend a lot of time giving directions and the mainland driver wouldn't know the traffic patterns or local driving style. If they hired a mainland bus driver, the driver wouldn't be able to tell the passengers about the area they were driving through. I think Hawaii is one of the few states which allows a bus driver to talk in a microphone at the same time so bus drivers are frequently tour narrators at the same time. Which would be difficult for a new mainland hire to do, just because they wouldn't know anything more than their passengers about the area.

[Kansoku]

I forgot to mention that in the 1st email from her she said you don't need a squeaky clean driving history.
I wasn't asking her if she would hire me from mainland, I was asking what my chances would be if I get there and then apply. But come to think about it I guess there wouldn't be much difference.

[Hawaiian Guy]

Originally Posted by Kansoku

I want to be a truck driver if possible in Big Island. Would it be better to get CDL from Hilo H2K Driver Training Services LLC Hilo, HI, 96720 - YELLOWPAGES.COM

or it doesn't matter where you get it from?

Don't steal local people's job bro !!!

[boodhabunny]

My husband's business employs several truck drivers on the Big Island. His drivers have squeaky clean driving records and flawless employment history. He hires drivers who know the island like the back of their hand. Many addresses are not marked, and even if they are, they are tucked away in remote areas with no cell phone service and are not available on GPS.

There are a lot of excellent local drivers who know the area inside and out, whom have experience, with perfect driving records, who have good communication skills with the local people (the ability to understand heavy pidgin, for instance) and are willing to work hard.

I don't know about Roberts Hawaii, but I would expect having a strong knowledge of Hawaiian history and culture would be an important part of a job like that too.