Before you begin your truck driver job search, we’d like to give you a few things to consider. The internet opened up so many new ways of finding a trucking job, so we need to take a slightly different approach than we did a few years back.
Some things have changed for better and some for worse. If you’ve been out of job searches for a while than article should help point out a few things to be aware of.
A truck driver job search is something we all find ourselves doing at some point in our career. I spent some time online myself recently looking at different job sites. I became concerned at how many of the companies are representing in a true and professional way. With the so-called “driver shortage”, one would think companies looking to hire a truck driver would be a little more professional?
I wonder if it’s just me, or do many of you feel these truck driving companies have something to hide?
There are two things that seem to be lacking from these companies. Disclosure about the job, and disclosure about the company.
If you’re new to this industry, you can consider this part of your truck driving job training. You may need this skill as much as you’ll need the behind the wheel driving skills throughout your career. Protecting yourself against bad employers is an essential skill in this industry.
Truck Driver job searches are much easier during boom times in the oil and gas industry.
So after browsing through Kijiji ads for trucking jobs where I was living in Calgary, These are the areas of concern I noted.
I don’t want to pick on Kijiji as they’re a great resource for a truck driver job search, but:
- Who is it that you’re applying to?
- Who’s getting your sensitive personal information? (Your address, social identification card numbers and your abstract with your drivers license number).
- What do they pay?
- Where are they located?
- What are the hours?
- Where will you be driving?
The first thing I thought about was identity theft.
With identity theft on the rise, shouldn’t there be a certain amount of information that should be provided by law in order to advertise for an employee?
A company name, address, contact name, or number perhaps? This should be the bare minimum. This would also save thousands of hours a day in wasted time for drivers. Sometimes I couldn’t tell the difference between OTR truck driver jobs, and the city P&D jobs with the ad.
“Truck driver wanted”. So you click on the ad expecting more information and all you get is,
“Please respond with resume and driver abstract”.
A law making them provide more information would also reduce the amount of bogus jobs in the sales section by half or more. Imagine that? A guy with some creative ad about making thousands a week now having to reveal he works for Amway, or some other pyramid type organization. (Trust me, have a look for yourself if you haven’t already.)
Calgaryjobshop.ca will at least will provide you with more standard information about the company. Indeed.com is another good resource in case you’re wondering.
So here’s a few general warnings of things to look out for in your truck driver job search. They’re not always the case, but I’d like you to consider them. If they don’t provide any information, it just might be possible they have something to hide.
If the job sounds too good to be true, it just might be. The best companies and jobs rarely make it to advertising. They have a waiting list of family members, friends, and a backup stack of resumes dropped off by those who know how good of a company they are. This isn’t always the case, it depends on your local job market (supply and demand).
