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Trucking offers rewarding career opportunities

Being a professional truck driver is a challenging profession, but it also can be a rewarding one — especially when the economy makes other jobs hard to come by.

While some business sectors are still struggling to recovery from recession, the trucking industry is booming and trucking companies are always looking for hard-working dependable drivers to help them get their customers’ freight from Point A to Point B.

Many successful drivers got into trucking from other professions and have built their own businesses as owner-operators working as independent contractors for trucking companies.

Two of those successful drivers are Alexandr and Luba Dohnenko, a husband-and-wife team who own their own truck and drive for Panther Expedited Services Inc.

The Dohnenkos, who came to the United States from Russia 18 years ago and live in Lorain, Ohio, have been driving for about 10 years. They started with Panther in November 2006, driving for another fleet owner, and bought their own truck less than a year later.

“I like it,” Alexandr Dohnenko said of working with Panther. “They’re very good and very patient with you.”

Before he and his wife became drivers, Alexandr Dohnenko was a maintenance worker in downtown Cleveland. Now he and his wife work side-by-side each day.

Alexandr Dohnenko said he and his wife drive about 120,000 miles a year.

Because they work with Panther, the Dohnenkos will be eligible to join the Panther Premier Rewards Program.

The program, which began July 1, allows Panther’s owner-operators to accumulate points based on every safe, on-time mile they drive and every safe, on-time load they deliver.

The program has three levels — Bronze, Silver and Gold — and as they move up, drivers qualify for rewards and perks based on their points.

While Panther’s program is unique within the trucking industry, it demonstrates the value that trucking companies place on drivers and owner-operators.

Trucking has become a way of live for the Dohnenkos, and they’ve become very successful.

“They are very good contractors that work hard, and service the customers to perfection,” said Jeff Garra, Panther’s manager of capacity development. “We are very proud to have the Dohnenkos affiliated with Panther.”

Want to find out more about the trucking industry and the career opportunities it has to offer? Then visit the Expedite Expo trucking show and job fair on July 22 and 23 at the Roberts Convention Centre in Wilmington, Ohio.

Representatives from many trucking companies will be on hand to answer your question, and the show also will feature a variety of events and entertainment.

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