Truck Driver Resume Sample (Skills, Objectives, Experience)

“There’s a trucker shortage,” they say.

“If you can drive a truck, you can get a job in a day,” they say.

Maybe that’s true for lousy jobs where you have to wait for 10 (unpaid) hours for the loading and then drive an 11-hour shift. All while having to deal with a dispatcher who has the patience of a toddler.

But to get a well-paid job with good benefits, you need to stand out in a crowd of what feels like 1000 other candidates.

And that’s why you need an impressive resume that crushes your competitors like a monster truck crushes a bunch of toy cars.

But how do you write it? Use our truck driver resume guide. It’s like a fast lane towards your dream job.

This guide will show you:

• A truck driver resume example better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
• How to write a truck driver resume that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a truck driver resume.
• How to describe your experience on a resume for a truck driver to get any job you want.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Create your resume now

Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.

Sample Truck Driver Resume

Looks good? You can have a job-winning truck driver resume, too. Just follow this simple formula:

1. Structure Your Truck Driver Resume Template Properly

Before the hiring manager even gets to read your resume, they already get their first impression.

Hard-to-read fonts and messy formatting are about as annoying as getting blinded by some idiot’s high beam headlights.

So be nice to the hiring manager and spare their eyes. Use simple, classic fonts, set the line spacing to 1.15, and leave even margins on all sides. If you’re still not sure how to format your resume, check out our top resume layout tips. 

Divide your resume into clear sections with big headings and lots of whitespace between them. Otherwise, your resume will look and feel like a stress-inducing traffic jam.

What sections should you include? Use this checklist to guide you:

• Header with contact info
• Summary Statement/Career Objective
• Work Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Additional Sections (Extra Training, Volunteering, Certifications, Etc.)

The header is pretty straightforward: just put your name and contact info, and leave it at that. There’s no need to add photos or any personal information.

What about the other sections? We’ll skip the summary/objective section for now and start with work experience. Writing your resume in this order makes it a lot easier—you’ll see why later on.

2. Craft a Powerful Work Experience Section for Your Truck Driver Resume

This section can easily make or break your entire resume, so make sure you structure it well.

First: start with your most recent jobs and end with your earliest gigs. This is called the reverse-chronological format. Reverse-chronological resumes are easy to write and recruiters love them just like you love a smooth highway.

Second, make sure all the entries in the work experience section contain details like the employer’s name, your job title, and the dates when you started and left. You don’t have to remember the exact days—months and years are enough.

Each entry should contain up to 6 bullet points that highlight your achievements. Yes, achievements. Simply describing your duties (drove a truck, kept a log, helped unload stuff…) won’t cut it. Anyone can write they drove a truck, but were they actually good at it?

Oh, and these achievements should be tailored to the job ad. Does the employer want you to do emergency roadside repairs by yourself? Then, by all means, mention the fact that you managed to fix your malfunctioning alternator in 20 minutes with nothing but a screwdriver and a lot of cursing.

(OK, omit the cursing part.)

It’s a good idea to include numbers whenever possible. Wrecked zero trucks? Great! Recruiters love numbers.

Still unsure how to structure your bullet points? Try the PAR technique. The letters stand for Problem (or Project), Action, and Result. Basically, a bullet point written with the PAR technique shows what actions you took, what you worked on, and what the result was like.

Let’s look at some examples.

Sample Truck Driver Resumes: Work Experience

This candidate clearly has some numbers to speak for him. And the fact that he trained quite a few people suggests that he did it well.

What about this one? Well, the candidate was a truck driver and drove trucks. Meh. To get a decent job, you have to prove that you were actually good at whatever you were doing.

Numbers and specific achievements are good proof. Just describing your responsibilities isn’t.

OK, this sounds nice if you’ve got some trucking experience under your belt.

But what if you’re looking for your first truck driver job ever?

First, get your CDL, as well as all the necessary licences and certifications that are required in your province. Without this step, your job-searching efforts will be like driving with the handbrake on.

Second, go ahead and mention your non-trucking work experience in your resume, as long as it’s somewhat relevant to driving, vehicle maintenance, and so on. Let’s look at an example:

Resume For Truck Driver With No Experience: Work History

This person is a delivery driver who wants to become a trucker. And you can see they’ve already got some of the necessary skills, like planning routes and following tight schedules.

So if they’ve already got their CDL, the hiring manager will definitely want to talk to them in person.

It looks like this candidate doesn’t even know his exact job title and can’t write a full sentence. Would he be able to keep up with all the documentation that truckers need to maintain?

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

Create my resume now

When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

3. Add Your Education

Who cares about your school education when all that matters is your driving license?

Well, stop and think again.

Your education section is a great place to showcase your work ethic and honesty—personal qualities that every employer is secretly looking for.

You don’t have to write a lot if you’ve got enough work experience to speak for you. But if you’re applying to your first truck driver job, you can go into more detail.

Truck Driver Resume Examples: Education Section 

This candidate used the education section of their resume to show several important qualities:

• Their passion for driving
• Their ability to work in a team
• Their interest in being physically fit and active (when was the last time you saw a frail trucker?)

By omitting additional information, the candidate missed an opportunity to show their best qualities. This is particularly bad for beginner truck drivers who don’t have any professional achievements to speak for them.

If you’re just starting out as a trucker, you can expand your education section to include even more info.

Education on a Truck Driver Resume (No Experience)

This candidate definitely has a talent for math and science, and their involvement in Scouts Canada suggests that they share values such as honesty and responsibility.

Hiring a smart, honest, and responsible guy (or gal) is always a good idea. So spice up your education section with achievements and projects that paint a good picture of you.

4. List Your Skills

Now’s the time to fill out the skills section of your resume!

But before you mention every single skill you can think of… hit the brakes and re-read the job ad. Your prospective employer is looking for a specific skillset, so go over the job ad with a marker and highlight all the skills-related words.

Which of these skills do you have?

They’re the ones that go on your resume. Aim for about 5–10 bullet points with your truck driver skills.

Once you’re done, go back to your work and education sections. Do they illustrate the skills you’ve just listed? If not, edit them a bit.

Here’s an example. Let’s say the employer wants a truck driver who has the necessary skills to transport hazardous materials. You should put this in your skill section and then check if your work experience section has a bullet point that goes like “Transported hazardous waste with zero security incidents”.

Of course, you’ll also add your TDG certificate later on when you get to the extra sections.

If you’re stuck, here’s a bucket list of truck driver skills for your resume.

Truck Driver Skills for a Resume

• Safe driving
• Navigation using maps and GPS
• Time management skills
• Operation of equipment to lift heavy cargo
• Maintaining clear logs
• Vehicle maintenance
• On-the-spot repairs
• Physical fitness
• Clear oral and written communication
• Understanding of both metric and imperial systems
• Patience
• Attention to detail
• Securing cargo for safe transportation
• Interpersonal skills
• Transporting hazardous goods

And here’s what your skills section could look like:

Skills for a Truck Driver Resume: Sample Skills Section

• Safe driving
• Securing cargo for safe transportation
• Vehicle maintenance
• Understanding of both metric and imperial systems
• Navigation using maps and GPS
• Maintaining clear logs

5. Supercharge Your Resume with Extra Sections

Now’s the time for all the “other” things you wanted to include on your resume:

• Your certifications
• Any relevant awards you’ve won (if any)
• Hobbies and interests
• Volunteering activities
• Foreign languages

When writing about your certifications, don’t forget to include the year and the name of the certifying organization if applicable.

And please, please don’t mention any potentially creepy hobbies. We don’t judge you, no matter what you’re into, but hiring managers probably will.

Here’s an example of extra resume sections for a truck driver resume:

Truck Driver Sample Resume: The Extras

This candidate doesn’t just have all the necessary certifications and licences. They also lift weights and hike, so that unloading cargo and spending hours in the driver’s seat won’t give them crippling back pain.

Oh, and they volunteer at a cat shelter. While this is not a job requirement, it definitely makes the candidate look like a kind, compassionate person—and provides a nice conversation topic during the job interview.

6. Summarize Your Awesomeness in a Truck Driver Resume Summary

Finally, it’s time for that section on top of your resume, just below the header.

What do you put there?

If you’ve already got some trucking experience, this section is for your resume summary. This is a short paragraph (under 5 sentences) that summarizes your most relevant achievements and skills.

If you’re a newbie, write a resume objective instead. In under 5 sentences, show how your current skills can help the employer achieve their business goals.

Sounds complicated?

Just follow this formula. It works for both resume summaries and objectives.

Adjective + Job Title + Years of Experience + Achievements + Skills + What You Want to Do for the Employer

What could a truck driver resume summary look like, then?

Sample Truck Driver Resume Summary

This one is loaded with certifications, skills, and achievements. That’s the kind of summary that lands you top-notch trucker jobs.

This one doesn’t say a lot about the candidate. Most hiring managers would just shrug and move on to the next resume. Unless, of course, the job is so lousy that they only got one job application.

And what about resume objectives?

Sample Objective for Truck Driver Resume

This resume objective carries a well-packaged freight of relevant achievements and skills. And since the candidate already has a truck driver’s licence, there’s no reason not to hire them.

Nope. Just nope. This is as bad as driving summer tires on a mountain road in the middle of winter.

Honestly, this candidate sounds like someone who’ll crash a company vehicle on their first day and say, “oops, I’m just learning”.

7. Make an Effort and Write a Truck Driver Cover Letter

Many companies reject all applications that don’t come with a cover letter, so it’s always a good idea to write one. After all the effort you’ve put into writing your resume, you don’t want it to be rejected straight away!

While the thought of writing a cover letter may sound as disturbing as the thought of having to reverse-park into a tight space in the middle of the night…

It’s not.

They’re actually pretty straightforward. Here’s how to write a cover letter: 

First: remember that they’re just 3-4 paragraphs long. Can’t believe it? For in-depth info, check out our detailed guidelines for cover letter length.

Second: successful cover letters follow a simple structure, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Start your cover letter with your contact information, add the date and the employer’s contact info. Then write “Dear…” and insert the hiring manager’s name (write something like “Dear Hiring Team” if there was no name in the job ad). 

Just avoid opening formulas like “To whom it may concern” or “Dear Sir or Madam”. You’re driving a truck, not a 19th-century horse-drawn wagon.

In your first paragraph, mention a big professional achievement and promise to do the same for your new employer.

In the next paragraph, show that you understand what is expected of you, that you’ve done similar things before, and that you were excellent at them.

After that, explain why you want to work for this specific company. Just don’t write things like “I want to work for you because you pay good money”.

In the final paragraph, ask the reader to schedule a call or an interview because you’re so eager to tell them more about your awesomeness.

Now you can write “Sincerely” and add your name. You’re almost done!

Almost?

If you really want to impress the recruiter, add a P. S. that goes like this:

PS. I can’t wait to tell you about that day when my truck broke down in the middle of nowhere and I still managed to meet the deadline.

In other words, promise to tell them about your most story-worthy achievement.

And now you’re done. Congrats!

A great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

Create my resume and cover letter

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Key Takeaways

To sum everything up, here’s how to write a job-winning truck driver resume:

• Choose a tried-and-tested resume layout
• Show your best achievements in the work experience section
• Use the education section to highlight your best qualities
• Make a list of relevant skills
• Create a powerful resume summary or resume objective
• Write a short, catchy cover letter

Thanks for reading my guide! Now I’d love to hear from you: 

• What are the biggest challenges of writing a trucker resume? 
• What part do you struggle with the most? 

Let me know. Let’s get the discussion started!