10 Ways to Stand Out From Your Competition

Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com Editor

Job hunting on the Internet is fast, easy and economical. According to a survey of outplaced managers by international outplacement consulting firm Lee Hecht Harrison, more than 40 percent of those who posted their trucking resume or retrieved job listings online got interviews as a result.

Only problem is, with the sheer volume of job seekers on the prowl, it can be hard to get an employer’s attention. Most companies today use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to scan resumes and weed out irrelevant candidates. The systems use keywords and phrases that describe the required skills, education and experience to place the most qualified resumes at the top of the list. So, how do you make it past the gatekeeping technology? Here are 10 things you should keep in mind:

Pay close attention to the employer’s or recruiter’s instructions for submitting your resume on each posting. What format should the resume be in and should it be embedded in an e-mail, e-mailed as an attachment, faxed or mailed? Do they want you to include a position code to help them identify the job you’re applying for?

Don’t get labeled a resume spammer by applying for jobs you are not qualified for or by applying for the same job several different times.

Do post one or more versions of your resume on national online recruitment sites. It gives employers’ 24/7 access to your credentials and targets your resume to more jobs.

Think twice about using a resume distribution service that “blasts” your resume to thousands of recruiters, headhunters and potential employers. The resumes are generic and may not address the actual job qualifications. Corporate recruiters are largely unimpressed as one described these mass mailings as “a lazy person’s way of looking for a job.”

All resumes should be accompanied by a brief cover letter or note (it should take no more than two screens to read) that specifies the job you are applying for and sells your credentials. Make sure you use keywords so that search engines will pick up on them. Since most e-mail programs don’t have spell-check, you may want to compose it in a word-processing program and copy and paste it into the e-mail message.

If you’ve sent your truck driver resume to a corporate Web site, follow up once to see if the job is still available and remind the employer that you are interested and highlighting one or two qualifications.

While fancy resume designs may look attractive on a hard copy, they could pose formatting problems online. Remember to keep it simple. Choose a standard typeface and avoid using any graphics or shading or indents. To enhance readability of your text resume, make sure you left justify all text. Most online sites give you the ability to preview your resume before it is submitted. Make sure you do so thoroughly.

Never send an unsolicited resume as an e-mail attachment. Fearful of viruses, many companies warn employees not to open attachments from unknown senders.

Make sure your resume is noun-intensive. Scanning technology used by most companies tends to search by nouns, not verbs. For example, instead of writing “managed projects” on your resume, write “project manager.”

You may also want to include a Career Summary section at the top of your resume to allow you to use more of the keywords and jargon that describe your skills and accomplishments. This will increase your chances of your resume making the first cut by the ATS as well as the recruiting staff.

Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com.

Truck Brokers Aren’t All That Bad.

Many owner operators think Brokers are all bad because some brokers can not be honest with the fuel sur charges now days. There is a misconception that all brokers are stealing the fuel sur charges from owner operators and that they are getting ripped off every which way but loose.

This is not the case. I used to own a dispatch service and had worked at a trucking company prior to my dispatch service. I have dealt with a lot of brokers in my time. I’ve even made a lot of friends because I’ve called on some honest brokers that were very fair to the carrier I worked with and my owner operators who were contracted under my dispatch. These brokers were very helpful and nice. The good brokers I had found went to the extent of bumping up the rate for me so that my drivers and company I worked for could make a little extra money, or would give my drivers a comcheck to help my drivers out with lumper fees so that my truck drivers wouldn’t have to take the money out of their pockets which was the carriers road expenses to live on. The carriers under my dispatch would not have to wait for the money to get reimbursed a week later. I’ve even made some long term friendships with some brokers who were honest and still stay in contact with most of them.

Yes, like in any industry you have good people and bad people and the trucking industry is no exception. I was told a few months back by a broker when I was trying to find a load for one of my carriers “if you see an extra thousand dollars wouldn’t you take it?” my reply to them was “no, that is the truck driver’s fuel money to help compensate for the fuel its not the brokers to take. This money should go to the carriers not in your pocket; they are the ones paying for the fuel at the truckstops.” This had gotten the broker vary angry at me because I am honest due to my up bringing.

These kinds of brokers who take the carriers fuel sur charges, all they are thinking about is money, living the high life and getting their loads hauled as cheap as possible. They have not had any formal training to learn right from wrong, but work according to what they had learned as a broker agent under another dishonest broker. They do things the wrong way and do not doing things according to correct procedure (yes there is a procedure to being a good broker) that is taught in a formal classroom setting.

I’ve recently noticed that a lot of brokers have gone out of business due to not only owner operators going out of business due to the fuel crisis at all the truck stop locations this nation is undergoing but who are also taking the fuel sur charge away from the owner operators and small carriers who had ran under their dispatch.

Now I am not a broker yet, I am going to school to become a Broker, I have been taught not to be a dishonest broker. I was taught that if your honest with not only the shipper and owner operator and treat them fair, you will keep an on going business relationship with both the shipper and the carrier for many years. I was taught that if you’re dishonest to the owner operator and the shipper they will turn their backs and go elsewhere or there will be to much liability bestowed upon the company that these brokers who do not do things according to procedure learned in a classroom setting will have a lot of liability claims bestowed upon them.

Mind you there are a lot of brokers now days, who only see dollar signs and think they represent or are an agent of the shipper only. This is the wrong mind set. You are a mediator not an agent for neither party. These brokers that have not gone to school for formal training have been taught the wrong way and conduct their business in a very wrong manor. But the good brokers, they treat both shipper and owner operator with respect and dignity by being honest and staying in communication with both of them as a mediator between both parties thus acting as a mediator between both the carrier and the shipper..

So to think all brokers are bad this is the wrong misperception for I do know most owner operators do have a great working relationship with good brokers and would rather leave the bad brokers on their alone.

Being a Modern Truck driver

In the freewheeling days of the CB craze, a truck driver would deliver the http://www.infotrucker.com/loadboard-available-loads/ that he/she was on, driver to the nearest truck stop, grab the nearest pay phone, call their dispatcher or broker and then wait until there was another load available, then deadhead to their new origin or place of pickup. In some cases this would require an over night stay at the truck stop.
The modern truck driver of today have many new technologies such as cell phones, computers or laptops, Qualcoms, GPS systems etc in order to obtain and deliver their loads from their companies dispatch.
This makes life a little easier on the drivers of today because this helps the drivers make more money by keeping those big wheels rolling all or most of the time with back to back loads instead of having to stop at a truck stop after every load to call dispatch to find their next load as in years past. The truck driver no longer suffers the almost total isolation as in years past. Truck drivers have come a long way since their predecessors – the Pony Express.
Drivers of today care more abut their rigs. Some like to fix them up with new decals, new technologies etc. They live everywhere. On every freeway, in nearly every corner of the continent, each of them hauling their truck loads, their livelihoods, and items from home such as sheets, and pillow cases for their bunks, blankets, pictures, xm satellite radio TV’s and VCR’s, books, laptops, cassette tapes, CD players etc in order to make their sleeping area or the sleeper feel more like home since their rigs are basically their home away from home.
Since most drivers are away for long periods of time, sometimes up to a month at a time, they put in a refrigerator, a microwave and bring food from home with them and put it on the truck to save on the ever rising cost of eating at truck stops and such.
For some truck drivers, being on the road represents an artistic expression of independence and heritage thus also known now days at “The last of the cowboys.” whose lives were very similar back in the old western days. Some more of the reasons behind wanting to become a truck driver are many and very person has his own specific reason which prompts him to choose to become one. To some it may be the money, while to others it is the sheer love of being on the road. Yet others opt for the profession because of the health benefits that are given while on the job. Essentially one must love the job to become a dedicated trucker.
One very important reason for the hike in wages is the increasing shortage of truck drivers available. As a new driver the average annual income is thirty five thousand dollars which continues to rise with time. The wages are based on the number of miles logged in and the more the miles, the more the wages.
Being a truck driver also means tough work, long hours of driving and being away from home frequently, in addition to the dangers and hazards of the road. But, if you can take all this and more you must really love a truck driver’s job.

By Debby Richardson