Refuse Truck Driver Resume Examples & Writing Guide

One page, written for a route manager who needs a driver on a truck next Monday. The name and companies are invented. The stop counts, tonnage and safety figures are the kind of numbers on your route sheets and your onboard computer reports.

In this industry the license and the record are the qualification. Give them their own block near the top and be exact, because everything here gets verified before an offer.

• CDL class and issuing state. Most refuse trucks are Class B; roll-off and transfer trailer work can require Class A. Say which you hold and which you are working toward.
• Endorsements and restrictions: air brakes, tanker, hazmat, doubles. List an air brake restriction honestly if you have one, because it limits which trucks you can be assigned.
• DOT medical certificate with the expiry date. An expired card stops you working the same day it lapses.
• Driving record. Years without a preventable accident, moving violations in the last 3 years, and any employer safety awards. Write it plainly; recruiters pull your record anyway.
• Training you have completed: defensive driving, backing, entry-level driver training, forklift or equipment cards.
• Testing status. This is a federally drug-tested job with a national clearinghouse for violations, so a clean record is worth a line and a problem is better raised by you than found later.

• Whether you can start. License class, medical card, clean record and a passable background check decide that before anything else.
• Truck type. Automated side loader, rear loader, front loader and roll-off are different skills, particularly the arm work on an automated side loader and the placement work on roll-off.
• Route numbers. Stops or lifts per day, loads to the transfer station, tonnage, hours to complete. This is how the business measures a driver.
• Backing and incident record. Most refuse claims come from backing, mirrors and low clearances. A driver with 6 clean years is a lower insurance cost, and the manager knows the figure.
• Physical reality. Early starts, 10 to 12 hour days, heat, cold, rain, and getting in and out of the cab hundreds of times. Say you have done it, with the stop count to prove it.
• Customer manner. Residential drivers are the most visible employee the company has, and one complaint a week is expensive.

“License class, medical card, accident record, truck type. If those four are clear I read the rest. What separates people is route detail: tell me your stop count and how many loads you take to the transfer station, because that tells me you actually ran a route rather than rode one.”

• Trucks and equipment: automated side loader, rear loader, front loader, roll-off, grapple truck, transfer trailer, air brakes, hydraulic systems, tarping systems.
• Route work: residential and commercial routes, route sequencing, missed pickup handling, bulk and yard waste collection, recycling contamination checks, transfer station and landfill procedures.
• Safety: pre-trip and post-trip inspections, defect reporting, backing and spotting procedure, mirror and camera use, load weight limits, cargo securement on roll-off, winter driving.
• Technology: onboard computers and route tablets, electronic logging where it applies, GPS routing, camera systems, service verification photos.
• Customer facing: handling resident complaints, working around schools and hospitals, cart delivery and repair requests, working with municipal contacts.
• Physical: early starts, 10 to 12 hour shifts, hundreds of cab entries a day, lifting when a cart or bag needs handling.

The most common way into a refuse truck seat is the back of one. Haulers hire helpers constantly, many of them pay for CDL training, and a helper who already knows the routes is the easiest driver they will ever hire.

1. 1Apply for helper, loader or laborer roles and say in your objective that your goal is a driver seat and a CDL.
2. 2Ask directly about tuition assistance or in-house training. Several national and municipal employers run their own programs, and the details differ by company and state, so ask rather than assume.
3. 3Put physical evidence on the page: stops a day handled, weather worked, weight lifted, attendance record.
4. 4List any driving you have done, including box trucks, dump trucks, delivery vans and farm equipment, with the years.
5. 5Say clearly that your driving record is clean and that you can pass a physical, a drug screen and a background check.
6. 6Once you have a permit, say so with the date. Employers will hold a seat for someone with a test scheduled.

• One page. Route managers hire quickly and read fast.
• Single column PDF, plain headings. No photo and no date of birth on a US resume.
• License, medical card and safety record go in the top third, before job history.
• National haulers and city sanitation departments both use applicant tracking systems, so mirror the posting: CDL Class B, side loader, rear loader, roll-off, pre-trip inspection, DOT, route.
• Municipal jobs often require a separate civil service application and a written test, so follow the city's process exactly and keep your resume consistent with it.
• In the UK and Ireland this job is advertised as a bin lorry driver or refuse collection vehicle driver, with an HGV licence and a Driver CPC instead of a CDL; keep the US resume format and mention the term once if that is where your experience comes from.