After completing TDI’s comprehensive truck driving training program, we’ll help you find an employer that suits your needs. Once you get matched, how do you prepare for an interview? What happens if you find a different employer later? Below are examples of truck driver interview questions to prep for and advice on how to respond to make you the shining star!

Tell Me About Your Professional Driving Experience, Including Any Accidents You’ve Been in or Any Special Licenses You Have. 

When interviewers ask this question, they want to know more than what’s on your resume. They want to know anything you’d left off, any more recent updates, and how truthful you may be. Although it feels like a trick question, it’s always better to be upfront about your experience so that you are both prepared to answer and explain your experiences to your advantage. 

If you were in any accidents, you don’t have to provide every detail during the interview–but it is better to be clear on what happened and your role in the accident. If it wasn’t your fault, be sure to say that! If you were culpable, explain it as a learning experience. If it was at the beginning of your truck driving career, emphasize that even with all the training, in-the-moment expertise is all that will prepare you. Briefly explain the situation and move on. They may ask you follow-up questions about how that made you feel, how it has changed your driving, and what you have done to prevent it from happening again. 

Tell me About Your Routine with Truck Driving Maintenance and Route Planning. 

With this question, interviewers typically try to gauge your attention to detail, how experienced you are in preparing for trips, and how you care for your vehicle. Knowing your vehicle as a truck driver is vital for being as prepared as possible. If you’re an experienced driver, this will be an easy question to answer. If you’re a newer driver, do your research to see what a thorough maintenance and planning routine looks like. However, your interviewers will likely know you have little experience from your resume, so be upfront and tell them what you would do. 

Tell Me About a Time When You Addressed Unexpected Circumstances, like a Truck Breakdown. 

Interviewers and their companies want to know you can handle stressful and unexpected situations. Although you can plan for many situations, trying to know everything that will happen is always difficult. If you haven’t yet experienced a situation like this, let them know! Your interviewers may then ask what you would do if a situation arose. 

What Skills or Abilities Do You Have that Make You a Good Fit for this Position?

While you can spin this question to your advantage, it can take time to develop skills or abilities off the top of your head. Truck driving involves a lot of attention to detail, concentration, and preparedness. Some skills and abilities you can mention include:

• Organization
• Navigation skills
• Patience
• Communication skills
• Time management
• Basic mechanical skills
• Excellent driving skills

How Do You Create and Maintain Relationships with Clients?

Another of the truck driver interview questions to prep for is: how do you create and maintain relationships with your clients? Again, it may seem like something done by other areas of the truck driving industry, but the truck driver will often be the face a client sees first and most frequently. Some key actions to maintain these relationships are to make the extra effort by greeting and holding a conversation each time you encounter a client and check in to make sure their experience went well (you may want to check with your company before doing so, however), and being as quick and efficient as possible delivering and unloading cargo.

Tell Me About the FMCSA Regulations Related to Your Role as a Truck Driver. 

Like other questions and moments during your interview, the interviewer(s) are most likely trying to gauge your knowledge and experience of the industry. Now’s the time for you to flex your knowledge! If you’re an experienced truck driver, you can go into great detail about FMCSA regulations. If you’re newer, be sure to research to see which regulations will most apply to this new position. 

What is Your Greatest Strength, and How Would You Apply It to Truck Driving?

Like the last question, now’s the time to flex what makes you the best candidate possible. Moreover, these may be similar to the previous skills and abilities we’ve already discussed. You can also flip any skill or ability to your advantage. Some strengths of truck drivers can include:

• Stress management
• Customer service
• Independence
• Always puts safety first
• Passion for the job
• Flexibility

How Do You Handle Work-Related Stress?

For this question, the interviewer(s) are looking to ensure that your performance isn’t affected by the stress of the job. Truck driving can come with high-stress situations being on the road so frequently. Although it may feel unrelated, it’s better to let them know how you care for yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally outside the job. For example, you could talk about your hobbies like running, crafting, reading, cooking, and more that help you destress. 

Tell Me About a Time When You Made a Mistake and How You Handled the Situation. 

Like the question above, most jobs want to see how you handle stress and how you would handle a situation where you make a mistake. This question may seem tricky at first, but it is important to make clear that:

1. This mistake was a learning experience, and 
2. You won’t make the same mistake again after learning of it!

How Would You Handle Discovering a Coworker was Misusing or Mishandling a Company Truck?

As a company, the vehicles are a huge component of truck driving, so if they become damaged–or if there’s even the possibility of damage–those companies will want to know. While it’s also essential to create trust between coworkers and fellow truckers, it’s just as important to maintain and care for the very vehicles that allow you to do your job. With this question, you don’t want to be a tattle-tale. No one will have a good or productive time if they constantly feel they’re being watched or can’t make a small mistake. However, it’s essential to be upfront and truthful in mishandling situations. Be sure to inform your interviewer(s) that you’ll help protect and care for the vehicles. 

Join TDI Today

Are you looking for a new truck driving job or just starting to look into a career truck driving? Contact us today to get matched with TDI’s employment matching program and start your search for the truck driver interview questions to prep for.