Long Haul Truck Driver Job Description

General:

Safely and efficiently operate a tractor-trailer combination throughout U.S. lower 48 states and all bordering provinces of Canada. Pick up and deliver freight on time and without damage or shortage that might result claims filed by customers to loss prevention department. Inspect equipment daily and seek appropriate maintenance and repairs to avoid unnecessary delays due to breakdown.  Maintain a positive image in behavior and appearance. Comply with all state, provincial and national laws. Maintain daily written records as required by the company and state, provincial or national jurisdictions. Read maps and plan routes for the most efficient travel time and fuel mileage. Attend regular company required training sessions without compensation for your time. Maintain your personal health through proper eating and exercise in your spare time.

Credentials:

• Be a U.S. citizen or possess proof of legal residence and right to work certification.
• Must have a U.S. passport or other legal document that will allow border crossing into Canada.
• Must have a Transportation Workers Identification Credential as required by the TSA.
• Class A Commercial Driver’s License
• Hazardous Materials Handling Endorsement to the CDL.
• Various other CDL endorsements as required for equipment such as double trailers or tanker.
• Graduation from an accredited truck driving school or one year of verifiable experience.
• Clean driving record. (No accidents or convictions in past three years.)
• No criminal record or DUI conviction ever.

Requirements:

• Ability to remain calm in stressful or difficult situations.
• Not easily angered by rude or thoughtless people.
• Ability to negotiate large equipment in tight spaces at various speeds ranging 0-70 MPH.
• Must be able to work 12-14 hours per day up to 70 hours in any 8 day period.
• Must be away from home for 2-4 weeks at a time including holidays and family events.
• Be thick skinned enough to take the heat from a customer when an office person screws up.
• Be gracious enough to let the office people have the credit when things go well.
• Have the judgment to know when to run and when to wait for inclement weather to pass.
• Have the tolerance to be judged wrong for whichever decision that you make.
• Have the self-esteem to be satisfied that if you kept the shiny side up and the dirty side down, the freight intact and the equipment undamaged then you did it right, regardless of negative judgment against you.
• Tolerance for people who couldn’t move your truck off of the fuel island, much less negotiate rush hour traffic and back the truck into receiving dock but, nonetheless, believe that they know more about your job than you do.
• The skill to get the job done right even when the office person, who doesn’t know the difference or relationship between gross weight, axle weight, pin to axle length and bridge law, wants you to “run with it anyway” because “we do it that way all of the time.”

Additional skills (not required):

• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Multi-lingual
• At least a limited command of French so that French-Canadians will give up and speak English after you have attempted their preferred language.
• Ability to understand diverse and sometimes unintelligible dialects of the English language.
• Ability to make a surly asshole smile and like you in spite of his sociopathic demeanor.

marlinwoosley.mw/funnierthanafartinaspacesuit/justb4takeoff