Driver Employment Verifications: Why are They Necessary? [4 Reasons]

As a truck driver, there are a lot of background checks you need to go through and, therefore, a lot of releases you’ll need to sign. Just when you think you might be finished, there’s another release form to sign and more information to provide: work history for driver employment verifications.

Why do companies have to perform yet another deep dive into your background?

Work verifications are just one of the few reports trucking companies will run on you before they’ll hire you on. Oftentimes, it’s the last one they’ll run on you. But why do they have to do it at all when they’ve already run all your other records? 

As an application processor at Anderson Trucking Service (ATS), it’s my job to essentially be an investigator and look into the work verifications of each driver before we can hire them. I talk to other carriers to verify that you drove for them and that you drove for them as long as you said you did. 

In this article, I’ll explain what verifiable experience is, why you need to have work verifications and what most trucking companies are looking to find out when they look into your employment history. 

Hopefully, when you finish reading, you’ll not only have an idea of what recruiters are (and aren’t) looking for, but you’ll also know how to fill out your work history form.

What Is Verifiable Experience? 

Trucking companies that don’t train truck drivers often require verifiable experience. But what is verifiable experience and how do you know if you have it? 

Verifiable truck driving experience is trucking experience that can be confirmed by another carrier or otherwise proved. 

Work verifications are mandatory according to the Department of Transportation (DOT) and employers need to make an earnest effort to gain a certain level of information from every past job you’ve held in the last three years (driving and non-driving included). Recruiters can easily determine from your work history if you have a record of job-hopping, which many trucking companies frown upon. 

The information recruiters need to look for includes how long you worked at each previous position, the type of vehicle you drove, accident history, drug and alcohol test results and safety performance details. Recruiters may also look for information on the previous loads you hauled, why you quit and if you left in good standing.

To help recruiters gain this information, you’ll need to provide good contacts from each of your previous jobs. They’ll be the ones who can verify your experience. 

4 Reasons Carriers Look Into Your Trucking Employment History

Reason #1: Because it’s a Legal Requirement  

First and foremost, carriers look into your employment history because they’re legally required to do so. Not only is it mandatory for truck drivers to provide information detailing their preceding three years of work experience — including how long they worked at the employer and why they left — but carriers are also required to review this information. 

According to the DOT, carriers legally have to make a strong effort to dive into applicants’ work history to gain information about the driver.

Reason #2: To Make Sure You Fit into Hiring Guidelines

Trucking companies must ensure you fit into their hiring guidelines. One way they can do this is by looking at your past trucking experience. 

As I mentioned before, a lot of trucking companies require a certain amount of trucking experience before they’ll hire you. They want to make sure you can start the job on day one and know exactly what you’re doing without them needing to provide you with extensive training. 

In some cases, over-the-road (OTR) companies will require a certain amount of OTR experience. Driving OTR can be difficult. You’re away from home for weeks at a time and it can be tiresome and lonely. To ensure you can handle the lifestyle, companies may require at least six months to a year of OTR experience (if not more). 

If an OTR trucking company hires you and you can’t handle it, not only do they have an unhappy driver on their hands, but they also have a driver that is likely to quit. Then they have another empty truck to fill. Ensuring you have the proper experience ahead of time results in a better experience for everyone in the long run. 

Work verifications can also reveal unseemly qualities about your previous experience at companies that may not have been caught from other background reports. Perhaps you abandoned a truck or you have a lot of minor moving violations that didn’t get reported. You might fall out of hiring guidelines now. 

Some drivers also may fudge the truth a bit on their verifications. Maybe they didn’t work at the company for as long as they said they did. That, coupled with another red flag, can be enough to turn drivers away from employment at that trucking company. 

Reason #3: To Make Sure you Can Handle the Work

If you’ve ever applied for a non-truck driving job, you know that you have to turn in a resume with details about every job you’ve held and what you did at each job. When you go to an interview, the interviewer will most likely ask about your experience at past jobs and how those skills apply to the job you’re interviewing for. They’ll more likely than not also call your references. 

That’s the same thing trucking companies are doing when they conduct work verifications. Just like the interviewer for a non-trucking position wants to make sure you’re a good fit for the team, so does a trucking company. They can do that by talking to other companies about what kind of driver you were at their company.

Keep in mind that many trucking companies won’t provide specific details about the driver. They’ll simply provide info on the dates worked and if you had any major issues, like a truck abandonment or failed drug test. So, your new company may not be able to learn about your work style. 

Reason #4: To Prove You Did/Didn’t Haul Specialty Freight

This tip is for drivers who haul specialty loads or loads that require specific experience to haul. Over-dimensional freight is a great example.

For instance, if you haul over-dimensional loads, work verifications can help prove how much you hauled at previous companies. That way, when you start at a new company, you won’t have to restart by hauling smaller loads and working your way up again. 

If your new company is unable to get verifications, you may not qualify to haul what you’ve been hauling with previous companies. If your previous carrier will send verifications of your specialty hauling history, you may be eligible to start hauling specialty loads at your new company. If they can’t verify your experience, you may need to test into that class or work your way up again.

3 Tips for Speeding Up the CDL Employment Verification Process 

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), companies have 30 days to supply a work verification. You can help speed along the process with the following tips.

1. Keep good contacts from your previous employers. Especially if you’ve worked at a lot of small trucking companies with only a few trucks on the fleet, it’s best practice to keep good contact information from at least one person at the company. 

The reason this is especially important if you worked for smaller companies is because they may be hard to find. If they're small, simply writing that you worked at “Joe’s Trucking Company” may not be enough information for recruiters to reach out. It’ll take a lot longer to find them. Include phone numbers, addresses, and even DOT numbers on your work history form if possible.

Keeping good contact information is also helpful if you’re an owner-operator and plan to work for a company again one day.

2. Accurately fill out your information. Be sure that you’re not only thorough when you’re filling out your work history, but that you’re also double-checking to make sure the information you include is accurate. One transposed number can send recruiters on a wild goose chase trying to contact your previous employer. That can delay the process and it may take longer for you to get hired on.

Accurate information can help speed up the process for you.

3. Be honest about your past work history. You should also be mindful of the information you add to your work history. It’s one thing to include rough estimates of how long you worked at a company, but major errors or failing to include jobs entirely can be enough to get you turned away from some trucking companies. They’ll easily discover that you were less than truthful when they talk to your previous employers.

Because companies legally have 30 days to report back with work verifications, you may already be at orientation by the time they come back. If anything unseemingly comes back in a work verification — let’s say a truck abandonment — you can be sent home immediately.

It’s best to be honest from the start about your work history. After all, when you sign that release form, you’re giving the recruiters and processing team permission to look into the information you provided. 

Stand Out to Recruiters and Secure the Trucking Job You Want

Work verifications are ultimately very simple: Be honest and accurate. As long as you do that and have a good working history, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. 

Talking to your recruiter about their hiring guidelines will help you feel confident that you meet their standards, so don’t shy away from asking them. You should also be asking them these 94 in-depth questions to ensure the company is the right fit for you.

Drivers who are honest and thorough on their applications stand out to recruiters industry-wide. Check out our article for other tips to help you stand out to recruiters and get hired at the best trucking companies.