It’s a new year and the trucking and transportation industries are starting strong. All the economic numbers look good for industries that rely on Class 8 trucking for freight and logistics. All this means is that carriers will be looking for drivers harder than ever. Will you make the cut? Don’t get disqualified from a new contract just because you may appear unappealing on paper. Make a few nips and tucks to your resume to make sure you get a second look from companies looking to hire.
Write a better truck driving resume
Here’s a few things to do to make your trucking resume stand out:
- Don’t make your resume one big list. Make it easy on the eyes to scan and find relevant information. You can do this by splitting things up into short paragraphs and bulleted lists (like this article is, for instance).
- Experiment with size for your contact information at the top to make it stand out from the normal font used in the resume body.
- Write your main professional achievements as a truck driver next to the main objective section. This will give potential employers an immediate idea of what you can do and what you expect.
- Put all of your Professional Experience above anything about your license qualifications and education, as they are much less important.
- Keep your professional experience and related basic job responsibilities in short bulletted lists.
- Write all of your key skills that are related to truck driving in Skills section of your resume.
Things You Should Include:
- Do your best to write an active, compelling job objective that makes you sound like you’re excited to go to work.
- Make sure to feature your strengths and key qualifications in the top half of the first page.
- When writing a Professional Experience section, always highlight your major accomplishments.
- Under each employer, give a bulleted list of your major accomplishments.
Things You Should Not Include:
- Don’t stuff the resume with details about responsibilities and accomplishments. You can provide details later in phone and face to face interviews.
- Don’t include photos.
- Don’t add irrelevant personal information, such as your hobbies, religious affiliations, social security number, age, and similar things.
- Don’t falsify information of any type.
- Don’t make your resume too lengthy. The best length is one to two pages, not counting the cover letter.
Don’t use the same words to describe actions and responsibilities:
Using action words can change the entire attitude of your resume. Using an active voice when describing your qualifications and duties help keep potential employers involved in what they’re reading. These are some good action words for the transportation industry:
Accustomed, Advised, Assisted, Cleaned, Collected, Dealt, Drove, Ensured, Handled, Inspected, Kept, Maintained, Obtained, Operated, Performed, Positioned, Provided, Prepared, Reported, Required, Scheduled, Serviced, Tied, Transferred, Transported, Used.
Good luck in finding great jobs in 2012 truckers!