E.L. Hollingsworth & Co., a native American owned and operated trucking company based in Flint, MI, has launched a truck driving school offering free CDL training for veterans that were honorably discharged within the last 12 months.
Truck Driving School for Vets began conducting driver training at the trucking company’s Plymouth, MI, terminal on July 9. There is no cost to participating students and upon successful completion of three weeks of training, E.L. Hollingsworth will offer permanent, full-time employment as a driver with the company. The program is available to qualified men and women nationwide.
“We have good paying jobs for our returning heroes and we are committing resources to help them make the transition back to the private sector economy. We believe the training our veterans received will make them great candidates for a career that requires responsibility and hard work — all they need is the career-specific training we can provide,” said Jeff Berlin, executive vice president & CFO of the company.
“These guys come home with a lot of uncertainty of what the future holds; we want to help remove that doubt,” said Wayne Flees, safety director, who is spearheading the Truck Driving School for Vets.
Berlin said the company continues to see tremendous growth moving auto parts round trip from supplier to plant and remains steadfast with its recruiting efforts to keep up with the growing demand for qualified drivers. There are multiple dedicated round trip lanes, mostly Midwestern, available for owner-operators and the company continues to fill company driver positions with focus in the Flint and Detroit, MI areas, Kansas City and St. Louis, MO areas, as well as Ft. Wayne, IN.
Company drivers are home weekly and are provided a full benefits package, which includes medical, dental, optical, free life insurance, 401K, paid vacation and holidays. Owner-operators are extended medical and dental benefits, fuel card discount at the pump, maintenance centers for discounted repairs and a plate/fuel incentive program.