How to Hire a Driver

Why hire a driver?

Hiring a driver can be a beneficial addition to your team and business, especially when you find a driver who can perform day-to-day tasks responsibly to ensure deliveries are made on time, passengers are transported safely and company equipment is properly maintained. Accomplished drivers demonstrate flexibility when adapting to changing circumstances, remain focused when working under pressure and handle packages and deliveries with care.

Contributions of a great driver:

• Drive safely in all types of weather, including rain, fog and light snow
• Follow written and verbal instructions to complete deliveries and routes in a timely manner
• Properly maintain logs to track routes and deliveries
• Perform preventative vehicle maintenance checks and notify the appropriate contact of any red flags
• Identify ways to increase productivity and exceed goals
• Occasionally work overtime, evenings, nights or weekends
• Strive for zero preventable incidents/accidents
• Comply with all traffic regulations and safety rules
• Safely operate equipment such as vehicle power lift gates, carts and dollies

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance driver

Before writing a driver job description or interviewing candidates, it’s important to decide if you need a full-time or freelance, part-time or contract driver (and what your budget will allow).

Common types of freelance or contract drivers include rideshare, taxi, delivery and personal drivers. Examples of full-time drivers include bus and truck drivers. However, any kind of driver can work on a part-time, contract or full-time basis, depending on your specific needs.

What are the types of drivers?

When hiring a driver, it’s important to understand the specific kind of driver you need for your business. Whether you need someone to transport passengers or make deliveries, there’s a driver that can get the job done. Here are some of the most common types of drivers to help you find one that meets your needs:

• Bus driver: Transports people from one place to another, making scheduled stops to pick up and drop off passengers. Common types include school bus drivers, local transit bus drivers and intercity bus drivers.
• Truck driver: Transports goods and materials with a heavy truck or a tractor-trailer, typically over long distances. When there are two people in the cab sharing driving responsibilities, the role is commonly referred to as team driver.
• Personal driver or chauffeur: Typically transports one individual or a family in a luxury passenger vehicle, such as a large sedan or limousine.
• Delivery driver: Drives a motorcycle, car, van, small truck or bicycle to pick up, transport and drop off items. May deliver packages, food or other items.
• Taxi driver: Picks up passengers from airports, hotels, restaurants and other locations and safely drives them to their drop-off destination.

Where to find drivers

To find the right driver for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Advertise on your vehicles. Post signs on your bus, truck or other vehicle to let people know you’re hiring with a phone number to call so they can apply.
• Ask for referrals. Ask your current employees, industry connections, friends and family if they know a driver who may be a good fit.
• Offer CDL training. To reach a wider range of candidates, consider offering on-the-job CDL training so that people without a CDL can apply.
• Indeed Resume. Type “driver” into the search bar, choose a location, select your must-have skills, search through the resumes of drivers and contact the ones that meet your needs.
• Post your job online. Try posting your driver job on Indeed to find and attract qualified driver candidates.

Skills to look for in a great driver

Successful drivers can positively impact your bottom line. By referencing prior training, managing time effectively and adapting quickly to unexpected circumstances, a talented driver is able to increase company revenue, boost customer loyalty and conserve resources with these skills and qualifications:

• Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)
• Good driving record
• Ability to understand and follow traffic rules
• Knowledge of defensive driving techniques
• Navigation app, GPS and route map reading skills
• Ability to lift and move heavy items safely
• Vehicle maintenance and troubleshooting
• Time management
• Customer service skills
• Communication skills
• Dependable
• Resourceful

Writing a driver job description

A thoughtful job description is important to finding qualified driver candidates. A driver job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position. You may also want to include details about the physical demands of the role (e.g., ability to sit for long periods of time), as well as what availability is required.

To improve the visibility of your driver job description, consider including keywords that job seekers are using to search for driver jobs. Here are some of the most popular search terms leading to clicks on driver jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Driver
• Delivery driver
• Truck driver
• Hiring immediately
• Non CDL driver
• CDL driver
• Driver non CDL
• Transportation
• Driver delivery
• CDL

Interviewing driver candidates

After you’ve reviewed the resumes of your top driver candidates, ask meaningful interview questions to gain insight into a job candidate’s experience, character, personality traits and specialized training in order to find a focused and dedicated driver. Strong candidates for driver positions will be confident when answering a variety of questions about the following topics:

• Driver’s license and driving record
• Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations
• Driving experience
• Maintaining documentation, such as route and vehicle maintenance logs
• Customer interactions
• Manual dexterity
• Heavy lifting and carrying
• Safety procedures
• Traffic regulations

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of driver interview questions for examples (with sample answers).