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.
Job-hopping is never a great idea — for a truck driver or someone working in an entirely different industry. Too many jobs on your resume or work verification report can reflect poorly on you. It may look like you’re flakey or disloyal.
But as a truck driver, it’s even more harmful — especially in the current market. You lower your chances of getting hired at top carriers and you’ll barely be bringing home a paycheck.
I’ve been doing this driver recruiting thing at Anderson Trucking Service (ATS) since 2015. I spend my days talking to truck drivers and reviewing applications. I keep in good contact with the drivers I’ve hired on here at ATS as well, so I have a great pulse on what’s happening out in the trucking world in real-time.
In this article, you’ll learn:
Drivers hop from one job to the next for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, they do so because of burnout, unclear expectations, a bad carrier fit, bad equipment and mistreatment.
When drivers make a change in this sort of market — a soft market where freight rates continue to drop and freight availability is down — most commonly it comes down to pay.
Drivers think the pay will be better somewhere else, so they go to the other carrier and the pay isn’t better, so they change jobs again. The pay isn’t better at that carrier either, so they switch again. And the cycle continues.
Changing jobs just once in a soft market can be a slippery slope.
We saw a pattern of job-hopping occur in 2008 and 2015 when the market was bad. Some companies even had to loosen their hiring guidelines because they couldn’t find drivers who didn’t have at least a few recent jobs in their work history.
Now it’s up for debate whether drivers are switching carriers because they’re hopeful they’ll make more at a different carrier or recruiters aren’t providing real-time pay average. It could be a little of both.
Some recruiters don’t have the most recent driver pay averages, so they’re quoting numbers from a couple of months ago when talking to potential drivers; no driver right now is making what they made two months ago. However, that conversation set the expectation for the driver.
Job-hopping never tends to reflect favorably on drivers. It can make you appear flighty and carriers are looking for loyal drivers. Hiring drivers is costly; carriers are looking for drivers who plan to stick around as long-term employees.
If you’re constantly making job changes, you aren’t giving yourself adequate time to adapt to the carrier. It puts the carrier’s reputation at risk and you’ll face financial burdens.
If you have a history of job-hopping, you may not get hired at the best trucking companies in the industry due to their strict hiring guidelines. Too many jobs in a set timeframe — for instance, three or more jobs in six months — will disqualify you from most large carriers.
Smaller, independent carriers might not care as much as some of the mega-carriers about job history.
When the market does turn around or stabilize, you may end up stuck at a low-end carrier that doesn’t pay well because you can’t get hired by a better carrier. And the last thing you want is to be relegated to lower carriers that’ll take any driver.
Related: Working For Small Trucking Companies vs. Mid-Size vs. Large Trucking Companies
Not only will you decrease your job pool, but you’ll also significantly cut your pay. You’ll be spending more time traveling from one orientation class to the next rather than being out on the road moving freight. It can take weeks to get your first paycheck and you might not get hiring bonuses unless you’ve been working with a company for a certain number of months. It can also take weeks — or months — to start earning at your full potential.
If you switch companies again just as your first paycheck comes in, you’ll be off to orientation again and without a paycheck.
When drivers switch carriers, they tend to make the decision very quickly — maybe without even looking too closely at the carrier. They might not check out reviews, talk to other drivers who work for the carrier or really take the time to understand what the company does and doesn’t have to offer.
This is a recipe for disaster. You may end up at a carrier that doesn’t align with you and you’ll end up — you guessed it — jumping to another carrier again.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever make a job change. Sometimes it’s the right move. Maybe you need to switch from over-the-road (OTR) driving to a local route. Maye OTR trucking — or trucking in general — just isn’t right for you anymore with the way the current market looks. Your trucking company might not be treating you with respect, you might not be getting paid on time or you might suspect the carrier is doing poorly. Sometimes, changes in the market can bring to light problems that already existed within the company.
Changing jobs is okay, but take your time making the decision and be mindful of the first company you switch to. If you choose a bad company in your first switch, it can be a slippery slope and lead you into a pattern of job-hopping.
If you must switch companies, follow these tips:
I know I sound like a broken record when I tell you to research, but it’s the most important thing you need to do. Prepare a list of your wants and needs along with a list of related questions. Take your time with a recruiter asking these questions and make sure you’re satisfied with their answers.
Double-check this information by talking to drivers. Go to the truck stop and find drivers who work for the carriers you’re talking to for a fresh perspective. Does the information align?
Keep in mind when you’re talking to drivers you might not get an accurate pay estimate. They can show you their paycheck, but what if you don’t run as aggressively as they do? What if you haul different types of freight? Rely on recruiters as a primary source of information for pay averages.
Next, check social media and company reviews. Do the reviews align with what you’re hearing from drivers and recruiters? If not, go back to your recruiter. It might put the recruiter on the spot, but they’ll address the issue with you. There may be an explanation or a reason the same issue won’t apply to you, or it may be an issue that takes a specific carrier out of the running for you.
Here’s the thing: Some companies really are paying better than others. If you were working at a top-paying carrier at the start of the downturn market, you’re certainly making less than you were a year ago but you’re probably doing okay.
However, if you were working at a carrier that wasn’t paying well to begin with, your current wage might be less than stellar.
So, sometimes, switching carriers to increase your pay in this market does make sense. However, make sure you have a very clear picture of what you can expect to earn week by week at the carrier you plan to switch to.
Ask for the current driver pay averages — not the averages from a few months ago — and stress the word average. You need to know what the average driver is making, not what the top 10 or 15 percent of the company is making. If you base your potential earnings on what top drivers are earning, you’re going to end up disappointed week after week if you don’t make that much; you’re probably going to blame the company. And then you’ll probably switch companies again.
This isn’t the time to rally and try to be okay with something you’re not okay with. You need to be honest with yourself about what you need and want out of your trucking career and, consequently, the carrier you choose.
For instance, if you want to make $4,000 a week, but the carrier can only promise $2,000 maximum, don’t take the job thinking you’ll make it work or you’ll outperform all the drivers in the company’s fleet and make more. Assuming you’ll make more than all the top-performing drivers in the fleet is presumptuous and you set yourself up for failure by doing this.
If you want to go home daily, don’t take an OTR job. But could you be okay with a regional job that gets you home every weekend? Maybe.
Dig deep to determine what you can and can’t live without.
Excessive job-hopping always has the potential to be detrimental to your career and a deterrent to your earning potential. But job-hopping in a downturn market is a whole other story. It can be a slippery slope that leads to a handful of jobs in under a year. And that leads to the potential for financial ruin.
One of the best ways you can avoid job-hopping is to take a step back and figure out how you can change up your running style and maximize your income.
It’s also a good idea to know what’s going on with the market and to decide if being an OTR truck driver is the right move for you right now.