PAM Transport prides itself on helping student truck drivers begin their truck driving careers. Unlike most other carriers, we hire drivers who have gone to CDL school and acquired a CDL-A license but don’t yet have any working experience.We’re able to do this because we collaborate with truck driving schools that give student truck drivers a strong foundation and then assign student drivers to a driver mentor for their first few weeks at PAM so they can gain the practical experience they need begin working as professional truck drivers.

Connecting with PAM as a Student Truck Driver

The first step to becoming a student truck driver, of course, is to train to earn your CDL-A license. To get started, you can apply to PAM directly and we’ll help you find a CDL school in your area.

Once you’ve acquired a CDL and met PAM’s hiring requirements (e.g., you have to be 21 years old; you can’t have a DUI/DWI in the last five years), you’ll then take the following first steps as you embark on your career at PAM and as a professional truck driver.

Once you’re hired as a student driver, you’ll get a call from one of PAM’s student liaisons. They’ll give you a PAM driver code and will want you to answer a few questions:

  • What is your gender — and are you willing to work with an opposite-gender mentor?
  • Do you smoke — and, if not, are you will to work with a mentor who does?
  • Are you ready to start work?
  • Where are you located?

If you’re ready to go, you’ll be put on the “ready list,” which means a matched driver mentor will be dispatched to pick you up. As soon as the student liaison learns the name of the driver mentor, they’ll call you with the information and send you an email with the details.

If you live or are staying in an area that PAM’s network of lanes passes through, you’ll be asked to remain at home and wait for a call from your driver mentor. If you’re located in an area where PAM doesn’t have such a dense network of routes (e.g., Florida or North Carolina), you may be issued a bus ticket to the nearest PAM terminal where you’ll meet up with your mentor.

While you wait for your driver mentor to pick you up, you’ll also be contacted by one of PAM’s driver advocates. They’ll send you a list of items to pack and will give you their contact information in the event that you have questions down the road or need someone to help you make adjustments to your driving assignments at any point during your career at PAM.