Truck driving jobs for high school graduates can accelerate your career and life goals. Getting a solid job as a high school graduate can be difficult, and college isn’t everybody’s preferred route. If you’re looking to learn a profitable trade in one of the most rapidly growing industries in the country, then truck driving may be the right career for you. The truck driving industry has some of the best starting salaries and benefits, as well as some of the lowest requirements for employee qualifications.

If you are a recent high school graduate, here are a few standout reasons why truck driving might be the right path for you. 

Truck Drivers Are in High Demand

One of the reasons many industries require years of experience for entry-level positions is because the market is saturated. There are too many people who can do the jobs, so the companies need to make sure they’re getting the best employees out of a pool of hundreds to thousands of applicants. In short, the supply is very high but the demand is very low, which makes the job market competitive and selective.

On the other hand, the supply of qualified truck drivers is extremely low, which makes the demand extremely high. There’s a nationwide shortage of truck drivers in the U.S. with over 30,000 positions available. Since the transport industry continues to grow, there simply aren’t enough drivers to move the materials that need moving.

As a result, many carriers have taken training the new trucking workforce into their own hands to ensure they have enough drivers. This makes the job market for truck drivers super uncompetitive, and creates plenty of opportunity for people with a high school education and little professional experience.

However, there is one way you can get a leg up on the little competition. If you get your CDL through a private truck driving school like TDI, you’re already more qualified than the learners who go to the trucking company to get trained. That’s because training truck drivers has been our specialty since 1973, and the nation’s leading carriers trust our quality of instruction. In fact, the majority of our students get job offers before they even graduate from TDI.

Truck Drivers Earn More and Have Great Benefits

Another reason why truck driving is one of the best jobs for high school graduates is the starting salary and benefits. The average salary for new truck drivers is anywhere between $40,000 and $70,000 per year, and they often get full benefits on top of that. This is another result of the high demand for qualified drivers.

Some of the benefits you could receive include:

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
• A 401k retirement plan
• Paid time off and vacation days
• The freedom to choose when and how much you work
• Paid training
• Tuition reimbursement

In other industries, entry-level pay and benefits like that is unheard of, and it takes many years to reach that level of income. Furthermore, jobs in other industries with starting salaries like that require a high level of education and experience.

Truck driving doesn’t require a university degree or unnecessarily high qualifications—all you need is a strong work ethic and a CDL (commercial driver’s license). The minimum education for most trucking companies is a high school diploma or a GED.

Getting Your CDL Is Quick and Affordable

Truck driving is a great job for high school graduates because it leaves you debt-free. The initial investment is low, and many truck driving companies offer tuition reimbursement and paid training. 

For example, Truck Driver Institute is one of the best truck driving schools in the country, and you can get your CDL here for as little as $225 if you take advantage of our financing options. Better yet, it only takes 3 weeks!

When you compare that to the cost and time investment for a 4-year college degree, you’re talking cents on the dollar. So, if you want to avoid a mountain of student loan debt that sticks with you for the rest of your life, getting your CDL is a good option for you.

Truck Driving Allows You to Travel

The freedom of the open road carries a strong appeal for people just starting to explore the world, and truck driving allows you to travel to your heart’s content.

You get to see new places, meet new people, and get paid to do it. Additionally, many truck driving companies make sure you get enough PTO and vacation time to lead a happy and healthy home life.

Truck Driving Jobs for High School Graduates at TDI

If you recently graduated from high school, you should know that you must be 18 to get your CDL, and you must be 21 to take on interstate trucking jobs. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing early! There are still plenty of opportunities for those ages 18-20, so don’t be disheartened. Our blog page is full of useful information for you to browse, so feel free to explore your options before you’re old enough to drive long-haul.

Whether you have a high school diploma, a GED, or no diploma at all, so long as you’re 21 or older, the interstate truck driving industry is wide open to you. The nation needs more drivers, and the best place to earn your spot is at TDI.

In order to give you the best advantage possible, our job placement program boasts a success rate of over 86% because it takes place in 3 steps:

• Pre-screening takes place before you walk through our doors for the first time. In this stage, we make sure you’re qualified to work with one of our carrier partners.
• Placement during training is the stage in which you work closely with our staff to determine what your career goals are and which carrier fits them best.
• Post-graduation placement is available to all of our students if they don’t secure a job before they graduate.

Along with our thorough process, our carrier partners have trusted TDI’s quality of training since 1973.

So, if you’re a high school graduate interested in truck driving as a first career, contact us today.