As a sales and marketing professional with many years in the trucking industry, I have witnessed professional truckers who have spent many years in good paying CDL truck driver jobs. Only to watch them stretch to maintain a continuous and effective job search. Primarily, these pour souls are always searching for the world’s best truck driving jobs.
In this article, we will share a limited number priceless job search secrets and strategies. If implemented correctly, you will put yourself in a position to land your dream truck driving job and negotiate the best possible compensation plan for you and your family at the same time.
Before we begin, keep in mind that the probability of these priceless job search techniques ever being uttered from the mouths of trucking company hiring managers or truck driver job recruiters are slim at best. Why? The primary function of a trucking company hiring manager is to staff its local truck driving jobs at the lowest possible cost to it’s bottom line and to maximize its profits.,/P>
The primary goal of a truck driver job recruiter is to collect commissions for getting you hired on to one of his clients. Their concern for your compensation package is not on the top of their priority list.
All too often a trucker will leave behind a good CDL truck driving job at a company with a solid business model and a good record of taking care of their drivers. Only to realize that they could have avoided making an incredibly bad career move, had they only thought it through more carefully. If there is one common mistake that I have seen dedicated, hard working truck drivers make through the years, it is poor career decisions.
Hopefully our top 5 secrets to a successful truck driving job search will help you avoid a poor career move in the near future. They include:
1. The key to a successful truck driving job search is to plan your work and work your plan. The first step in any considerable life changing move is to be realistic with your expectations and create a list of objectives and strategies to achieve your short and long term goals.
Many professionals in search of the best truck driving jobs fail to set realistic job search career goals. If you were an olympic archery expert would you not agree with me that you would be highly focused on your target during your event. Of course you would. Setting career goal strategy has two major benefits. First, it helps you develop laser focus in establishing career priorities. Second, it will dramatically improve your self esteem for this highly stressful process.
2. Prepare a list of short and long term career goals. Before you start your career search process, spend some serious time laying out on paper 1,3 and 5 year goals. Is you long term goal to become and independent owner operator, or are you more likely to work for a trucking company? There are positives and negatives with each opportunity. Most employers consider an employment package to include approximately 70% salary and 30% benefits. This may be more suited for someone with a young family with a wife who has decided stay at home with the children. Whereas and owner operator may make more money, they usually have to acquire benefits on their own which can be an enormous expense
Bottom line: As an employee of a trucking company, you’re more likely to be offered a compensation package that includes salary and a benefits package.
3. Inadequate pre-employment research is the primary reason why professional truck drivers is unhappy 1-2 years following a job change from one company to another. The last thing you or your family wants to do is to accept a new truck driver job position by hastily jumping to a company that offers you $.50 more per hour or $.05 more a mile. Far too many times good truck drivers make a quick move from an established company that has treated you well to a company that offered you the sky for a small, short term economic gain. This can ruin your mine emotionally and inflict real havoc on your family.
Bottom Line: It is imperative that you take this process seriously and spend the necessary time researching all truck driver job opportunities.
4. Evaluate your current job satisfaction. Keep a written journal of your daily reactions to your job situation for at least 30 days. Along the way look for recurring themes or events that bring pleasure to your mind and soul. This will help you focus in on which aspects of your current truck driving job deliver the most positive and negative job satisfaction.
Bottom Line: You must determine whether or not your primary positive and negative responses related to the duties related to your job, the company culture or the individuals with whom you work everyday. This will go along way in helping you pinpoint key job satisfaction areas for your next truck driving job career move.
5. Contract with a professional trucking jobs recruiter. Listen carefully. A successful truck driving job search is a full time job and unless you can be in two places at one time, this is the best investment you can make. In most cases, with an 80,000 job shortfall, a successful recruiter would gladly take a phone call from an educated, professional owner operator looking ot make a career move. A reputable recruiter will have established relationships with the key decision makers you are looking to connect with and in most cases their fees are paid for by the trucking companies. They will make sure your resume is professionally prepared and provide you with a customized cover letter. The additional services of resume/cover writing and interview preparation are skills you should definitely consider investing in.
Key Point: Contact at least 2 or 3 professional trucking industry recruiters and meet with them to discuss your results from the previous step.
Always remember this, trucking company human resource personnel do not have your best interests in mind. All companies have one primary objective. Obtain the best talent available for the least amount of money. In today’s economic climate, as long as that industry’s job market is tight, the hiring managers have the upper hand. However, with the trucking industry’s current truck driver shortage, a professional OTR independent owner operator has more room to negotiate the best compensation package available.
Archive for the ‘jobs’ Category
Truck Driver Jobs – Top 5 Secrets To Successful Cdl Job Search
0 January 24th, 2010Job Search Engine Tutorial
0 January 24th, 2010How does it works?
A job search engine is very similar to doing a search on Google or Yahoo. It search true the Internet and shows you the best possible matches according to the keyword that you entered.
The indexes of job search engines are mainly from the web sites of the employers. Job seekers are greatly benefited due to the vertical search engines since they are able to locate new job openings, which are not available through traditional web search engines because vertical search engines provide information about specific business.
Many job search engines are emerging owing to the popularization of vertical search in USA and other countries. The popular search engines in US are Hound and indeed. Another search engines like Flipdog has rise in popularity throughout the world. Tolmol and Bixee are the famous search engines in India, while Hippo is a famous Australian search engine.
Some of the benefits of using a job search engine is:
* It has a wide category of job lists of various fields
* Enables the job seekers to have a glance at the wide and multiple web sites that are available on the Internet
* Provide index about the primary traditional job boards
* Cut down on the search time
* Gathers information from all sources available on the World Wide Web and presents it together in one search.
Things you should be aware of!
The job candidate are encouraged to post their CV along with their contact details. Job seekers should be cautious while up loading personal information since control cannot be exercised over the resume. This is just a tip to be kept in mind, but you should make sure that the website where you are uploading your information is a genuine job provider website. It might happen that the resume may get into the hands of fraudsters who might misuse the information.
Job search engines to some extent bridge the gap between the employers and the job seekers. Many opportunities in certain sectors like education hospital management, health care and non-government sector are also available through job search engines.
Job search engines depend on the technology of Search Engine Optimization. They will index those pages, which have maximum keywords and rank them higher in the search result. Obviously, the web surfers, most of the times will click the first web link provided through the result.
While using the job search engines, job seekers must provide appropriate keywords to get the exact result. Keywords like jobs in Denver, job opportunities in Denver, etc. help in getting the desired information in just one search. Job search engines also help in finding the appropriate job positions with help of keywords.
Find what you were looking for? I hope this article provided good information about job search engine and how to use them.
Thank you for your time!
Patrik Karlsson
http://Hotjoblive.com
Job Clubs
0 January 24th, 2010
Are you looking for employment? Do you feel as if you are alone in this endeavor? Are you seeing no light at the end of the tunnel? A job club might be the answer for you. Job Clubs are a group of individuals getting together to supporting each other through the trials and tribulations of finding employment. There are no size or activity limitations. The design of the Job Club sets the tone, flow, time, and material covered. As the Job Club grows, it will continue to change to meet the needs of the participants.
The basic objective of a job club is to stimulate, motivate, and provide peer support to unemployed people encouraging greater activity in their job search. This is accomplished by expanding awareness and helping individuals learn the techniques to enhance their job seeking skills. Finding employment is a difficult process for all persons.
The economics of the country is a contributing factor on the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate among the blind, visually impaired, and disabled population continues to be triple that of the standard unemployment rate. Job Clubs have been very successful in assisting this population to find employment.
How to find a Job Club
The first thing to do is contact the employment service in your community to see if a Job Club currently exists. Sometimes local colleges or businesses sponsor these clubs. If you find that, there is a Job Club in your community schedule an appointment with the facilitator to evaluate if the program will meet your individual needs. Contact your local Blind Services Agency, Blind Training Centers, or local Vocational Rehabilitation office to see if they offer a Job Club. You might be able to work with these agencies in stating a Job Club if one currently does not exist.
How to set up a Job Club
If you are interested in starting a Job Club in your area there are a few things to consider. What type of Job Club do you want? Will it be long or short term? What material will be covered? Will you meet weekly or monthly? Do you need to find a facilitator? Where will you meet?
You only need a few energetic, enthusiastic, and motivated people to start a Job Club. Meeting places can be at local restaurants over coffee or a meal. Local churches, community centers, or libraries often have meeting spaces at no cost.
Participants will find that the peer support system developed through regular meetings provides stability, understanding, and emotional support while facing the rejection and frustration that accompanies the job hunting process.
The thing to remember is that all participants have a common goal and that is to find employment. It is essential that all have a well organized resume’, abilities statement, and action plan. Having individuals from the community speak at meetings provides members with knowledge, techniques, and networking skills for successful job hunting. In addition, the group is letting the community know that they are actively part of the job market.
Job Club Topics
Networking is a skill that all people need to refine when in the job market. The networking process will continue to develop as the Job Club grows. All persons involved in the Job Club will be able to contribute to the networking process in the membership, guest speakers, and community resources. Members need to continue to seek out community resources that can assist in the Job market process.
One might have excellent education, work history, and references’ but falls short in the interview arena. Mock interviews are the answer for solving this problem. It is easy, as the Job Club meets regularly, to forget this very important component. No one likes the dreaded interview but how we present our selves in the interview determines employment. It is best to ask individuals not involved in Job Club to facilitate the mock interviews allowing an element of realism. Video taping the interviews to critique later provides honest intervention from the peer support system.
The Job Club also might want to cover the following topics:
· Job readiness skills
· Communication and body language skills
· Disclosure of disabilities – the advantages and disadvantages
· Americans with Disability Act (ADA) – affects employment and the work place
· Identify individual strengths and skills matching them to local work opportunities
· Explore and analyze local work opportunities
· Transportation
· Social Security benefits
As the Job Club continues to meet and grow the interest and the needs of the group will dictate the topics to cover. Now that you are armed with the basics, it is time to call on a few friends, neighbors, or acquaintance to meet and get the ball rolling to find that job you are dreaming about. Remember, it is a timely process but the rewards are great at the finish line.
Author:
Susan Hipple
Director
http://visualinovations.org
.
I have been legally blind all of my life and have understanding and compassion for an individual losing their sight.
In my 28 year career I have had numerous successes in job placement and overall integration into everyday life for those that are disabled.
Now with my Board we have created a non-profit foundation dedicated to bringing technology to the blind and visually impaired. Please visit us at: and help us help them.
WP Robot