New shiny semi-truck? Or old reliable? Which option should you choose when you’re going to lease a truck?

Are you a new truck driver? Are you also ready to hop into a lease? Wait, wait, wait. Slow down! I can understand your excitement. You’re new to the industry and you’re excited to operate your own business. However, the trucking industry is tough. Being a truck driver is no easy job and if you’re new to the industry, you have even more to learn and an entirely new lifestyle to adapt to.

We’re driver recruiters: Of course we’ve had drivers ghost us. As recruiters, we’ve heard every excuse in the book about why a driver can’t make it to orientation. Some are pretty creative (my dog ate my homework) and others are less so. That’s if we even get an excuse. More often than not, drivers just don’t show up to orientation — no warning, no notice, nothing.

You might be a job hopper if: You stay at a trucking company for a month or two before going elsewhere You've worked at more than a handful of carriers in the last year Does this sound like you? Job-hopping isn't an uncommon practice for truck drivers.

As a truck driver, every time you interact with a driver recruiter or member of the orientation team, consider it a pre-screening or interview. You may never have to show up in a suit and tie for a formal interview, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare for truck driver interview questions.

Struggling to get hired? Too many accidents on your record? Hiring standards are strict at a lot of top carriers. If you have a lot of violations and accidents, you’ll severely limit your ability to get hired. You may not have your choice of the carriers you want to drive for. You may have to settle for a different carrier or wait until your record improves.

Picture this: You’ve been needing an item for a while, so you hop on Amazon, type the item in the search bar, click “Add to Cart” and purchase the item on the first listing you see. You spend good money on it and you’re excited for it to arrive. But once it does, it’s clear you made a mistake. Right out of the box, it looks cheaply made. It breaks after a week of using it.

The grass usually isn’t greener on the other side. It can be tempting to switch to another company right now when the market isn’t doing great. There are times when trucking companies are doing poorly in the industry and times when the entire industry is struggling. This is one of those times when the entire transportation industry is battling low freight rates.