If you’re looking for a career with solid pay, good benefits, a high level of autonomy, and no risk of your job being outsourced to India or replaced by a software program from Office Depot, consider becoming a truck driver.
Trucking jobs offer good income and job security, and rather than being shackled to the confines of a cubicle for forty or more hours per week, truck drivers enjoy the freedom of the road and visiting new places every day.
Some truckers prefer the adventures of over-the-road work, hauling loads across long distances. The trade-off for being gone days at a time is getting to see every corner of this beautiful and diverse country while being paid to do so.
For drivers who have families or who otherwise don’t want to be away from home for the lengths of time that hauling over the road often requires, there are also an abundance of local truck driving jobs in every region of the country.
As opposed to over-the-road drivers whose deliveries often take days, local drivers pick up a load in the morning and usually are home by dinnertime.
Whether you’re looking to drive over the road or locally, finding the right truck driving job for you doesn’t have to be an arduous process. Truckers are in high demand, and trucking companies currently are starving for qualified, reliable drivers to work for them. By following a few simple steps, you can be on the road getting paid to do what you love in short order.
Here is how to find the best truck driving job for you.
Figure out if you want to drive over the road or locally. This will help you narrow your search. According to Jiggy Jobs, “Over the road trucking jobs, as a whole, are much easier to land for a newcomer in the field. A lot of local trucking outfits want to see over-the-road experience when they hire a new driver, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible to get hired directly into local trucking.”
Secure the proper licensing. Becoming a truck driver requires a special type of certification on your driver’s license. Simply being licensed to drive a Ford F-150 or a Chevrolet Impala won’t cut it. Trucking requires a CDL, or Class D License. By attending a trucking school and obtaining your CDL before applying for trucking jobs, companies will see that you mean business, you’ve taken the initiative to be successful in this career, and that you’re ready to get out on the road for them.
Browse openings and do plenty of research. Pay structures can vary wildly from company to company, and particularly in the current industry climate where there is a shortage of truckers, employers put a lot of time into making their comp plans out to be the best in the business, whether that is the case or not. When comparing pay structures of various companies side by side, find a way to standardize them and figure out how much you’ll be earning per mile with each company, as well as any fringe benefits they offer. Also try to talk to drivers who drive for each if you’re able, and pick their brains for honest feedback and opinions.
Put in lots of applications. Particularly for local driving jobs, which tend to be more competitive, getting hired is nothing more than a numbers game. Putting in one or two applications and then getting bummed out when both are rejected is not a recipe for success. If you want the best truck driving job, you need to be applying to dozens of companies. Access an online yellow pages web site for your city and start going down the list, from A to Z.
Network. When possible, companies prefer to hire someone who was referred by a current employee in good standing than to call on resumes submitted from an online job board. Seek out people currently driving for the companies you’re considering, and let them know what you’re looking for. Sometimes that is the only “in” you need to land your dream job.
