Driver Resume Example & Writing Guide

In the age of online shopping, one-day shipping and home delivery, the demand for drivers is booming. Not all drivers move boxes however. Whether you drive a truck, a bus, or a limousine, a great driver resume is one of the most important tools to land you your next job on the road.

This writing guide and driver resume example is designed to help you highlight your ability to be trustworthy, efficient and flexible — key skills that will set you apart in the transportation industry. We’ll look how to:

• Understand the job market for drivers and how it affects your resume
• How to organize your driver resume and choose the best format
• Get your resume past the ATS scanners in use at most large logistics companies
• Optimize the impact of each necessary resume sections: header, summary, employment history, skills, and education
• Format your resume so it looks attractive and professional

What does a driver do?

Drivers are transportation professionals who transport passengers, goods, or vehicles. They seek to provide efficient and safe travel and please customers. Drivers must be able to easily determine the fastest driving routes. They have excellent judgment and are able to make confident decisions quickly. An ideal candidate for a driver position possesses excellent mechanical, navigation, and troubleshooting skills. 


Here are some of the common duties of drivers:

• Load cargo at warehouses and shipping centers
• Make deliveries to homes and businesses
• Complete delivery paperwork and obtain customer signatures
• Accept and process payments
• Maintain vehicles or report problems to supervisors
• Pick up and drop off passengers
• Clean vehicles
• Help load and unload passengers and belongings
• Follow predetermined routes avoiding delays

Although driving positions may sometimes be considered entry-level, they are often highly competitive. Drivers can earn decent income without ever facing a shortage of hours. Some large delivery companies even require that candidates for driver positions first gain experience in the warehouse.

How to write a driver resume

To beat out the competition, you'll need a resume that sets you apart. It also means you’ll need a different custom-tailored version of your resume for each driver job application. But first, let’s look at the basic framework of components that all resumes have in common:

• Header
• Summary
• Employment history
• Skills
• Education

Before taking a closer look at each of these resume sections, we have some advice about gearing your resume to the specific job and employer.

As you'll see in later guide sections, your resume should highlight your ability to ensure proper vehicle function and safe travel at all times. It should provide assurance that you are knowledgeable about the systems of a vehicle and able to handle a variety of issues ranging from simple to complex. Your superior navigation skills and ability to plan efficient routes should also come across. A winning driver resume sample should showcase excellent communication skills, as well as superior customer service skills.

Outmaneuver the ATS

In addition to impressing the hiring manager with your knowledge and understanding of what’s expected from the driver being recruited, there’s another important reason for reading and understanding the job description carefully. In fact, before your resume will be seen by human eyes, there’s a good chance it must first pass through an applicant tracking system (ATS), which a growing number of today’s large and medium-sized companies have implemented as a digital screen.

The ATS scans your resume for keywords and then ranks your resume against those received by other candidates. Only the top-scoring applications will be passed on to a human hiring manager. While this process saves the employer a considerable amount of time, it also means you could spend hours on a resume only to be filtered out by a machine.

Luckily, there are simple yet effective ways to protect your resume from ATS rejection:

1. Understand the hiring process for drivers and the most requested skills.
2. Use keywords from the job description strategically throughout your resume.
3. Format your resume so that is it well-organized and easy to read for both the humans and robots.

Choosing the best resume format for a driver

In about 90% of instances, regardless of occupation — the chronological resume format is recommended and used with good reason. Recruiters prefer it because they can easily tell at a glance how much of the most relevant experience you have. The emphasis is on your professional experience, outlined in the employment history section. For each previous job, descriptive bullet points are listed each employer heading and date, organized in order from most recent to earliest dates.

There are two other resume formats that sometimes work well for workforce newcomers or those changing careers. The functional and hybrid (combination) formats allow some flexibility in putting your skills or education above the employment history section.

Resume header

A distinctive resume header is like your personal brand, setting your job application apart from the rest. It has both a practical and esthetic purpose in creating a memorable first impression. It draws the reader’s eye to your personal information on the page: name, occupation, email and phone number. Recruiters will find it easy to go back to your shortlisted resume later and instantly know how to get in touch with you for an interview. The white space surrounding the body text makes the page look easier on the eyes and more inviting to read overall.

Driver resume summary example: Gearing up for success

Your resume summary is just what it sounds like: a place on your resume to offer a bit of your skills, experience and qualifications. A great summary (sometimes called profile or personal statement) shouldn't be boring. Even though drivers may spend hours alone on the road, they still need to have some customer service skills and a generally pleasant demeanor — no one wants to work with a grouch! So your resume summary should give a hint of your personality and attitude

Remember to use as many powerful action verbs and job-specific information as you can. Highlighting your key attributes and talents that prove your qualifications and accomplishments is crucial. 

Check out the summary section from our driver resume sample:

Employment history example: A great track-record

Your employment history sectopm is the place to showcase previous work experience. First, list the name of the employer, the location and the dates you worked there. Underneath, you can create 3-5 bullet points that highlight your most relevant skills. Remember to use powerful action verbs and mention job specific accomplishments that prove you are an excellent candidate.

If you have at least three positions related to driving, you may want to leave unrelated work experience off your resume. If this is your first driving job, use your employment history section to point out transferable skills that will help you quickly adapt to the driving role. Whenever possible, use numbers and percentages to quantify the bullet points regarding your your achievements and prove your value.

Here's the employment history section from our driver resume example:

CV skills example: Accelerating your career

The skills section is at the heart of a great CV. Make sure to include any hard skills from the job posting, like a clean driving record, mechanic experience or shipment tracking software. A driver resume sample should also include several soft skills like communication, efficiency or organization to show that you're a well-rounded candidate.

Here's the skills section from our driver resume example:

Driver resume education section example: The right direction

Since many drivers can begin working without a college degree, you won't have to worry about creating a lengthy education section on your resume. However, some large shipping companies are known to prefer college student drivers, so listing a degree in progress in this section may increase your odds of landing the job. If you hold a degree higher than a bachelor degree, you may leave out your high school information. 

Certifications

While drivers might not need much formal education, their certifications are essential for the job. List your licenses and their numbers here. If you've completed any training like hazmat driving or road safety courses, you should include it in your education example.

Here's the education section from our driver resume example:

Resume layout and design

Your essential driving qualifications won't amount to much if the information is not well organized in your resume page layout. It should allow both the ATS and the hiring manager to quickly find the information they are looking for. Use traditional section headings like "Education" or "Work Experience" so as not to confuse the reader.

When it comes to the design and formatting elements of your driver resume, we recommend keeping it simple, with sparing use of color and design elements. Readability and organization are key.

 If you don't have time to fuss with these visual considerations, or would prefer not to, using one of Resume.io's field-tested resume templates can help. Our collection of simple designs is a good place to start.  The resume builder can let you easily modify the template o create a stellar driver resume of your own.

Key takeaways for a driver resume

1. A thoughtfully prepared resume showcasing the right skills and experiences is the best way to get a hiring manager's attention and land your next driver job.
2. Your resume might first need to pass through the ATS, so make sure to optimize it with the right keywords and exact language from the job description.
3. Pay special attention to your summary section since this is the one place you'll get to show off your personality and professional demeanor.
4. Keep a balance of white space to text and
5. Use one of our field-tested resume templates to create a hassle-free result in no time!