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Professional truck driver hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring professional truck drivers in the United States:
Here's a step-by-step professional truck driver hiring guide:
Professional truck drivers have skills in communication, organization, and navigation, as well as a motivated personality and a good sense of responsibility. Their services are absolutely essential, with the most basic task being driving commercial trucks for transportation of goods and materials to distribution centers. Truck drivers transport everything from automobiles to produce to machinery.
Before you start hiring a professional truck driver, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.
A professional truck driver's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, professional truck drivers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.
This list presents professional truck driver salaries for various positions.
| Type of Professional Truck Driver | Description | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Truck Driver | Heavy and tractor–trailer truck drivers transport goods from one location to another. Most tractor–trailer drivers are long-haul drivers and operate trucks with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) capacity—that is, the combined weight of the vehicle, passengers, and cargo—exceeds 26,000 pounds... Show more | $15-33 |
| Driver | Drivers are responsible for safely transporting people, packages, or goods from one destination to another. They should be familiar with the different routes that may be taken to reach the desired goal... Show more | $10-25 |
| CDL Driver | A CDL driver is responsible for the transportation of goods from the manufacturing warehouse to specific store locations. CDL drivers' duties include inspecting the items before and after the delivery to ensure that the orders are correct with the right quantity, providing proof of delivery from the receiving customers, following the delivery schedule and report any delays immediately, monitoring the vehicle's engine for efficiency, and escalating concerns of incorrect deliveries and defective items... Show more | $19-46 |
Including a salary range in the professional truck driver job description is a good way to get more applicants. A professional truck driver salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.
For example, the average salary for a professional truck driver in Kansas may be lower than in Rhode Island, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level professional truck driver. Additionally, a professional truck driver with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.
| Rank | State | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts | $59,352 | $29 |
| 2 | Virginia | $56,451 | $27 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | $56,163 | $27 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | $55,210 | $27 |
| 5 | Illinois | $54,659 | $26 |
| 6 | Ohio | $54,512 | $26 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | $53,281 | $26 |
| 8 | Kentucky | $53,187 | $26 |
| 9 | California | $52,747 | $25 |
| 10 | North Carolina | $52,662 | $25 |
| 11 | Louisiana | $51,067 | $25 |
| 12 | Indiana | $50,641 | $24 |
| 13 | Alabama | $50,570 | $24 |
| 14 | West Virginia | $50,149 | $24 |
| 15 | Missouri | $49,847 | $24 |
| 16 | Michigan | $49,800 | $24 |
| 17 | Arkansas | $49,784 | $24 |
| 18 | Mississippi | $49,454 | $24 |
| 19 | Kansas | $49,331 | $24 |
| 20 | Florida | $47,411 | $23 |
| Rank | Company | Average salary | Hourly rate | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wellpath | $50,890 | $24.47 | 225 |
| 2 | McKesson | $48,021 | $23.09 | 4 |
| 3 | Cecil College | $40,710 | $19.57 | |
| 4 | Allied Universal | $38,029 | $18.28 | |
| 5 | Tulsa Tech | $37,397 | $17.98 |
A job description for a professional truck driver role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a professional truck driver job description:
There are various strategies that you can use to find the right professional truck driver for your business:
To successfully recruit professional truck drivers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.
Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Once you've found the professional truck driver candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.
It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.
To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.
Before you start to hire professional truck drivers, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire professional truck drivers pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.
You can expect to pay around $48,577 per year for a professional truck driver, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for professional truck drivers in the US typically range between $15 and $33 an hour.