As a truck driver on a job hunt, it is normal that the things on your mind are the benefits and the income potential awaiting your new company. Despite how important benefits and income potentials are, there are some other questions you ought to pay more attention to.
Asking these questions sets you apart from other trucking job hunters as a more serious job seeker to your potential employer. It also gives you more than enough information to make the best decision about your potential workplace.
Here, we have helped you with 8 of such questions with reasons to ask them. But before we go too far ahead, let’s discuss the common questions that truck drivers ask.
The Everyday Questions
The everyday questions are those that most truck drivers ask during job hunting.
The Important Questions Truck Drivers Ask During Job Hunting
When hunting for truck driver jobs, there are some common questions truck drivers always ask. Visit some online trucking forums and you’ll find this same set of questions there in the comments sections. Some of these questions are:
- What are your trucker employee benefits?
- What amenities are there in your trucks?
- What are the pet/rider policies of the company?
- And, of course, how much will I get paid?
- And on and on…
These questions are very important, and rightly so. After all, you would want to know if you can bring your pet along on those never-ending solo hauls. You would also like to know if your cab has enough amenities to keep you comfortable on your trip. And ultimately, are you going to get enough pay to take care of your needs? And what benefits are attached to the base salary?
The questions are so important that trucking companies package their answers as offers and dangle them in the faces of truck drivers in their job postings. This is their way of attracting the best truck drivers.
The Not-so-important Questions Truck Drivers Ask During Job Hunting
And then there are the less-important questions that you’ll see around as well. Some of them are:
- How fast are your trucks?
- Do your trucks have an automatic transmission or a manual transmission?
- Do you hire felons?
- How far back do your DUI checks go?
- And oh! Do your trucks have those dashboard cameras?
These questions are important too, but only when asked in their place. Out of place, they make you seem unserious to your potential employer. For instance, the question about trucking companies hiring felons is so important that we have a guide that teaches felons how to land truck driving jobs. But when you ask the same question in the wrong circumstance, you may strike the recruiter as trying to hide some grievous details from your past.
Imagine asking the trucking company how fast their trucks go during the interview. What for? So you can start a truck race with the precious freight of the customer in your trailer and get the company in trouble? Also, asking the recruiter how far back they check for DUIs just attracts their attention to your DUI in the wrong way.
The Questions You Should Be Asking
But there are some other questions nobody seems to ever ask. They aren’t the questions with fancy answers that can be packaged into enticing offers to attract the best truck drivers, like those everyday questions up there. But they are just as important. In fact, these questions can pull enormous weights in determining whether or not you stick to the job.
So, when you’re sitting face to face with your potential employer, chip these questions into the conversation:
1. When Is a Driver Eligible for Your 401k?
Some companies require that you wait for 6 months before you’re eligible for their 401k plans. Others have a waiting time of up to 2 years. And of course, only employees that are 21 years and above can join a 401k plan.
These waiting periods may not matter too much to you if you’re young and still have a lot of service years ahead of you. However, aging truck drivers should pay attention to this. Imagine your trucking company requires that you wait 3 years before you’re eligible for 401k, and you only have about a decade of service left in you. It could hugely affect your retirement savings.
2. How Well Has Your 401k Performed in the Last Few Years?
The 401k is a sumptuous benefit exploited by trucking companies to attract the best truck drivers. And it is easy for truck drivers to get distracted by this offer and put their signature to paper for a trucking company. But the mistake they often make is not first considering what’s in the 401k package and how the company’s 401k has performed in recent years. And this mistake could cost you a sizable chunk of your retirement savings.
Some trucking companies have enticing matching rates on the contributions of their truck drivers. These are the kinds of companies you want to work for. But since there aren’t many companies that match their truck drivers’ 401k contributions, you can’t afford to be picky over this point alone.
Another thing to consider is how much returns the trucking company’s 401k investments have raked in over the years. Although the choice of specific investments largely depends on you, you can only choose from the options your trucking company provides. So, you may consider it a red flag if the company doesn’t have enough investment options for you to choose from. You should also think twice when the 401k performance of the company has continued to suffer in the last few years.
3. Are There Safety Programs for Your Truck Drivers?
Truck driver safety programs are very important, as they help to preserve your life, your freight, and the lives and properties of everyone on the same road as you.
Unfortunately, when you work full time, you have little time to attend training classes. The responsibility then falls on the shoulders of your trucking company to organize such programs for you. This way, the company can work out your training schedule while you work.
It’s sad, however, that some trucking companies fail to take up this responsibility. They care more about squeezing so many trips and hauls out of their truck drivers than investing in their safety. Such companies are good examples of companies you don’t want to work for.
To find out if your prospective employer offers proactive safety training programs after employment. Also, find out how frequent the safety program is if the company offers it. Infrequent safety programs are just as bad as no safety programs.
4. What Other Employee Assistance Programs Are There?
If your emotional and mental well-being are important to you, then you should inquire about the Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) your company offers.
EAPs offer you confidential assessments, follow-up services, and short-term counseling, mostly on work-related issues. They have also proven to be effective at helping employees cope with workplace complications, such as trauma, violence, bullying, and other situations.
Very often, the EAPs cover wellness and nutrition, which is a big deal in the trucking industry. Truck drivers often live a sedentary lifestyle with little or no time for fitness and fewer opportunities to eat anything but junk food.
Other issues EAPs help with are substance abuse, retirement planning, family problems, depression, and anxiety. And if your employer offers these, it’s a sign that it cares about the well-being of its workers.
5. What’s the Relationship Between the Company Leadership and Employees Like?
Workplace relationships among colleagues and their bosses can be what makes or breaks a company. Toxic relationships can work against the company to bring it down, while healthy relationships can increase company loyalty, bringing the best out of the workers.
Working with a “bossy” boss is the last thing you want. All they do is order you around and boss you into doing most of their job for them, while they do the barest minimum. Even if the benefits you’re entitled to as a truck driver in the company are enticing, there’s only so much disrespect you can withstand from the leadership of your company.
Now, we don’t expect a recruiter to tell you that their company leadership has a toxic relationship with their truck drivers. So, this is more of a question you would direct to former or current workers of the company with whom you've built a rapport. You could also make use of online forums.
6. What’s the Company’s CSA Performance?
You should also consider the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) performance of your potential employer before working with them. The CSA performance tells you how much effort the company is putting into asserting safety measures among its employees.
A good CSA performance tells you the company is doing something right. Maybe they have trained all their truck drivers to be safety compliant. But if the company keeps getting safety violations in unsafe driving, crash indicators, and any other category, this is often a bad sign.
Unlike many of the questions on this list, you don’t have to ask your interviewer. You can easily check the company’s CSA performance online at csa.fmcsa.dot.gov. You only need your DOT number and Pin to get access.
7. What’s the Average Annual Truck Downtime Percentage Your Company Experiences?
Trucks, like other machinery, break down. But what sets the good trucking companies apart from the not-so-good ones is how long the trucks remain un-repaired. And this could affect you as a truck driver.
It is a good thing for you when the company has a very low annual truck downtime percentage because this means the company properly maintains its trucks. You get to work without having faulty truck issues. You log more miles, and your income is robust at payday.
But a high annual truck downtime percentage means you have less work to do, fewer miles to log, and ultimately less income.
8. What About an Accident Review Board? Is There a Provision for Driver Representation?
Accidents are, unfortunately, an unavoidable part of the commercial vehicle industry. But the way your potential trucking company handles its accidents says a lot about the company.
Of course, you expect insurance companies to be involved in the review of the accident. But does the trucking company have an accident review board that first aims to protect its truck drivers? Or do they throw their drivers to the sharks at the slightest hint of trouble?
Understandably, a company should only make decisions that are in the best interest of the growth and development of the company. But the effort they put into protecting their employees could be what glues your loyalty to the company. You don’t want to work where no one’s got your back.
Conclusion
You can also use these questions to your advantage during the interview process. They set you apart from other truck drivers that are competing for the same jobs as you. Asking about the company’s Employee Assistance Programs, for instance, makes you look more serious than the other person who’s asking if they can race in company trucks.
These are the questions you should ask from your next interview until you find a company to work with. After asking these questions, try to not decide based on just any single answer the company recruiter provides. Instead, consider all their answers and make a well-informed decision based on what you have.
Good luck.
