Over-the-road drivers are truckers that drive long-distance routes, as opposed to drivers that make short deliveries in their area. OTR drivers can transport any kind of material, from raw supplies to finished goods. Some OTR drivers have special certifications that allow them to transport Hazmat material. Obviously, the most important skill for an OTR driver is the ability to drive long distances while maintaining road safety standards. OTR drivers also need to load cargo onto the trailer while knowing weight distribution regulations and safety guidelines. They also need to handle the administrative aspect of transporting cargo, such as obtaining the proper signatures and maintaining cargo logs.
To become an Over Road driver, most people only need a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and some driving experience. Many driving schools offer classes to help people earn their CDLs.
OTR drivers earn an average annual salary of $60,909, but that salary comes with a lot of hardship. Many drivers are on the road for days without seeing their families. Sometimes, they drive up to eight hours before they can take a break.
How to Become an Over The Road Driver
What is an Over The Road Driver
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an Over The Road Driver. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.09 an hour? That's $64,670 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 99,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Over The Road Driver Do
There are certain skills that many Over The Road Drivers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Hand-eye coordination, Physical health and Visual ability.
How To Become an Over The Road Driver
If you're interested in becoming an Over The Road Driver, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 13.0% of Over The Road Drivers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.3% of Over The Road Drivers have master's degrees. Even though some Over The Road Drivers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an Over The Road Driver. When we researched the most common majors for an Over The Road Driver, we found that they most commonly earn High School Diploma degrees or Associate Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Over The Road Driver resumes include Diploma degrees or Bachelor's Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an Over The Road Driver. In fact, many Over The Road Driver jobs require experience in a role such as Driver. Meanwhile, many Over The Road Drivers also have previous career experience in roles such as Truck Driver or Truck Driver-Over-The-Road.
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Over The Road Driver Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of Driver you might progress to a role such as Foreman eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title Terminal Manager.
Over The Road Driver Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for an Over The Road Driver
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12 Over The Road Driver Resume Examples
Build a professional over the road driver resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your over the road driver resume.
Bradley Price Over The Road Driver |
Zachary Woods Over The Road Driver Experience Over The Road Driver2020 - Present CARUSO•Richmond, VA
Equipment Driver2019 - 2020 Papa John's International•Richmond, VA
Line Driver2018 - 2019 J.B. Hunt Transport Services•Lowell, AR
Skills CDLTrip ReportsLTLSteel CoilsDOTHeavy EquipmentEmergencyCompany EquipmentOver-The-RoadFrac Education High School Diploma 2012 - 2012 |
Learn How To Write an Over The Road Driver Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Over The Road Driver resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Over The Road Driver Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Over The Road Driver Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Over The Road Driver templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Over The Road Driver resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Over The Road Driver Demographics
Over The Road Driver Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among Over The Road Drivers, 11.1% of them are women, while 88.9% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among Over The Road Drivers is White, which makes up 65.8% of all Over The Road Drivers.
- The most common foreign language among Over The Road Drivers is Spanish at 58.7%.
Find the best Over The Road Driver job for you
Over The Road Driver Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Over The Road Driver Jobs - $94K and Up
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- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Over The Road Driver Jobs
Online Courses For Over The Road Driver That You May Like
Engineers in the automotive industry are required to understand basic safety concepts. With increasing worldwide efforts to develop connected and self-driving vehicles, traffic safety is facing huge new challenges. This course is for students or professionals who have a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or similar and who are interested in a future in the vehicle industry or in road design and traffic engineering. It's also of value for people already working in these areas who...
This course provides an introduction to road safety, impacts caused by injuries and deaths, global data on mobility, and the global plan of action for safety improvement. A considerable part of the course is spent on understanding the importance of road infrastructure, implementing the Safe System Approach with global instances cited, and managing additional aspects such as police enforcement. It also looks at methods of safety implementation and examples of worldwide successful case studies...
Master Customer Service using this practical customer care course...
Top Skills For an Over The Road Driver
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 31.9% of Over The Road Drivers listed CDL on their resume, but soft skills such as Hand-eye coordination and Physical health are important as well.
Best States For an Over The Road Driver
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an Over The Road Driver. The best states for people in this position are Wyoming, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Over The Road Drivers make the most in Wyoming with an average salary of $76,195. Whereas in New Jersey and Massachusetts, they would average $74,425 and $74,284, respectively. While Over The Road Drivers would only make an average of $73,914 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Kansas
$72,062
Avg. Salary
2. Wyoming
$76,195
Avg. Salary
3. North Dakota
$72,302
Avg. Salary
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Over The Road Driver Videos
