Truck Driver resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 18 skills, tools and credentials that come up in truck driver job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 12
- Hours of service (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Pre-trip inspection (used in Luis's sample resume)
- DVIR (used in Luis's sample resume)
- OTR (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Regional routes (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Dry van (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Flatbed (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Load securement (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Route planning (used in Luis's sample resume)
- On-time delivery (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Clean MVR (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Safety record (used in Luis's sample resume)
Tools & software · 1
- ELD (used in Luis's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 4
- CDL Class A (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Hazmat endorsement (used in Luis's sample resume)
- Tanker endorsement (used in Luis's sample resume)
- DOT medical card (used in Luis's sample resume)
Soft skills · 1
- Customer communication
17 of 18 appear in Luis's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Regional routes, Dry van
Weak: Skills: Regional routes, Dry van
Strong: Run regional routes across Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana in dry van and tanker equipment, about 2,500 miles a week
Hours of service, On-time delivery
Weak: Skills: Hours of service, On-time delivery
Strong: Kept a 98% on-time delivery rate across 600+ loads while staying within hours of service limits
Pre-trip inspection, DVIR
Weak: Skills: Pre-trip inspection, DVIR
Strong: Complete a full pre-trip inspection and DVIR every shift; passed 11 roadside inspections with no violations
ELD
Weak: Skills: ELD
Strong: Log duty status on an ELD and plan fuel stops and rest breaks with dispatch to protect delivery windows
Strong bullets come from Luis's sample resume and our truck driver bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If a truck driver post asks for CDL Class A and you've used it, say CDL Class A, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If a truck driver post says "Hazmat endorsement", write "Hazmat endorsement", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on Hours of service — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Dry van. A bullet like the one under Regional Truck Driver in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
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/ Questions
Truck Driver keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should a truck driver resume have?
There's no magic number. Luis's sample resume uses 17 of the 18 terms on this page — the ones that fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If a truck driver post says "CDL Class A", write "CDL Class A" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Luis's sample, CDL Class A, OTR and Regional routes are in the summary and Dry van shows up in a bullet under Regional Truck Driver. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
Which tools should I list on a truck driver resume?
The ones you've used and the post mentions. Common ones in truck driver posts include ELD. Name the tool in the bullet where you used it, not only in the skills list.
How should I list CDL Class A and Hazmat endorsement on my resume?
Spell them the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
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