For example, in the United States, commercial truck drivers need to have their commercial driver’s license (CDL) on top of their regular driver’s license. In some states you can hire truck drivers as independent contractors, while other states require you to hire truck drivers as full-time employees.
For example, your insurance company may only insure commercial drivers who have at least 1 year of commercial driving experience. Most insurance companies require drivers to be at least 21. It may cost more to hire young (21-24) or senior (65+) drivers because younger drivers get into more accidents due to limited experience while seniors are the most expensive for insurance companies to pay for medical services after a collision.
If you’re not sure how much to pay drivers, take a look at your budget and look at what other companies are offering. You may want to offer more to be competitive. When you’re coming up with the hours for the job, keep in mind your delivery schedule and any local or national laws that regulate how many hours commercial drivers can be on the road at a time. In the job ad, ask candidates to include a resume and cover letter with their application. Ask candidates to submit the contact information for their previous 2 employers.
If you’re interested in hiring entry-level drivers, mention in your ad that you’ll also consider candidates that recently completed a truck driving program at an accredited school.
For example, you could ask candidates “If you’re halfway to your destination and you realize something was left behind at the warehouse, what would you do?” You could ask candidates something like “What strengths would you bring to this position?” Keep in mind that finding and interviewing candidates for the job can take several weeks or longer.
For example, you could ask their reference “Was Mark late to work a lot?” or “Did Mark take a lot of days off when he worked for you?”
For example, you could ask a candidate’s reference “Can you tell me what John’s work performance was like when he was at your company?” You could also ask something like “What were Sarah’s strengths and weaknesses when she worked for you?”
Give candidates up to 3 days to accept your job offer. Keep the contact information for the other candidates you interviewed in case candidates you offer the job to decline or don’t work out.
Make sure your employment contract follows all applicable laws and regulations. You may want to hire a third party, like a contract lawyer, to review your contract.
For example, if a new driver forgets to log a delivery, you could remind them to do it in the future and explain why it’s so important that deliveries are logged on time. If you notice a new driver taking initiative or asking a lot of good questions, you could stop them at the end of the day and say “Hey, nice job today. "
