Driver CV: lorry, van and bus

What haulage firms and bus companies look for

Driving jobs vary a lot. Parcel delivery by van is about pace, many stops and customer contact. Distribution and long haul by lorry are about safe driving, load securing and drivers' hours. Bus drivers carry passengers on scheduled routes, tours or school transport, where punctuality and service count. The employer first wants to know whether you have the right categories and papers, and then whether you are reliable, safe and trustworthy.

Ads use many standard terms. Use them where they match what you have done, and write the categories exactly as they appear on your licence. Selja picks out the words from the ad for you. Our guide to an ATS-friendly CV shows how to make sure the systems read your CV correctly. These words come up often:

• Driving licence categories B, C1, C, CE, D1 or D.
• Driver CPC, known in Norway as YSK, and code 95.
• ADR certificate for dangerous goods.
• Distribution, long distance and long haul transport, and deliveries.
• Crane lorries, tippers and temperature controlled transport.
• Scheduled routes, coach tours and school transport.
• Load securing, drivers' hours and the driver card.
• Punctual, safety conscious, service minded and tidy.

Formal requirements: licence, Driver CPC and ADR

Your licence categories should be at the top, ideally just below your name or in the summary. According to Statens vegvesen, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, a category B licence lets you drive a vehicle with a maximum authorised mass of up to 3,500 kg, category C1 a light lorry between 3,500 and 7,500 kg, and category C a lorry of any maximum authorised mass. Category D1 covers minibuses with up to 16 passengers, and category D covers buses. Heavy categories usually have to be renewed every five years. List the categories and the expiry date, for example “Driving licence categories B, C and CE, valid until 2029”.

Statens vegvesen states that anyone who transports goods or passengers for payment in a heavy vehicle category must hold a Driver CPC, known in Norway as YSK. You get it through initial training of 280 hours, or accelerated initial training of 140 hours, followed by a theory test. The qualification appears as code 95 in box 12 on the back of your licence, with the date it expires. You renew it with 35 hours of periodic training before the expiry date. So write, for example, “Driver CPC for goods, code 95 valid until 2028”, or Driver CPC for passengers if you drive buses. If you hold a trade certificate as a professional driver, which according to utdanning.no is a trade of its own, list it under education.

If you transport dangerous goods, you need an ADR certificate. According to DSB, the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection, the certificate is valid for five years from the date of issue, and the refresher course and exam must be passed within the last year before it expires. Tanks, explosives and radioactive material require separate specialist courses, so list the ones you have. If you drive a vehicle covered by the drivers' hours rules, Statens vegvesen says it must have a tachograph, and if the vehicle has a digital tachograph, you need a driver card. If you operate a lorry mounted crane over 2 tonne metres, Arbeidstilsynet requires certified training and a certificate of competence, so include that too.

Example of a summary for a driver CV

The summary should state your categories and papers, the kind of driving you have done and what you are looking for. Here is a made up example for a lorry driver:

Example: “Driver with a category CE licence, Driver CPC and ADR including tanks, and ten years of experience in distribution and long haul across eastern and central Norway. Drive around 120,000 kilometres a year with no accidents and no breaches of the drivers' hours rules. Experienced with crane lorries, load securing and deliveries to building sites. Looking for a permanent role with regular routes and responsibility for my own vehicle.”

A bus driver might instead write about scheduled routes, passengers and punctuality, and a van driver about stops per day and customer contact. Read more in our guide to writing a CV summary.

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

All drivers drive, so “drove a lorry” says little. Show scope and quality instead: number of stops or kilometres, types of load, how punctual you were, and that you have driven without accidents. Start with a verb in the past tense, and use numbers where you can.

• Weak: “Drove a van.” Strong: “Delivered 110 to 140 parcels a day on a fixed route in Oslo, with more than 99 percent delivered within the agreed time.”
• Weak: “Long haul.” Strong: “Drove an articulated lorry with chilled goods between Oslo and Trondheim four times a week, with the correct temperature and documentation on every trip.”
• Weak: “Crane lorry.” Strong: “Delivered building materials with a lorry mounted crane to 6 to 10 building sites a day, lifting the materials into place myself.”
• Weak: “City bus.” Strong: “Drove city buses on the busiest routes in Bergen, with high punctuality and good passenger feedback in the company's customer survey.”
• Weak: “Followed the rules.” Strong: “Drove for five years with no accidents and no deviations at checks of drivers' hours.”
• Weak: “Trained new drivers.” Strong: “Trained seven new drivers in routes, load securing and use of the tachograph.”

Licences, courses and systems worth including

Group licences, certificates and courses in a separate section at the top or right after the summary. Give the expiry date wherever there is one, so the employer does not have to ask.

• Licence categories with expiry date.
• Driver CPC for goods or passengers, with the date after code 95.
• ADR certificate, with the basic course and any tank, class 1 or class 7 specialisation.
• Certificates of competence for lorry mounted cranes and forklifts, with the class.
• Driver card for digital tachographs.
• Courses in load securing, eco driving or winter driving.
• Systems you have used, such as handheld terminals, route planners, fleet management and electronic consignment notes.

New driver, or many years behind the wheel

If you are new as a driver, your categories, your Driver CPC and how well you know the roads matter most. Say how much driving you did during training, and include jobs where you drove a van, delivered goods, worked in a warehouse or dealt with customers. Many start with vans or distribution before moving on to long haul or buses. If you have worked in a warehouse, see also our guide to a warehouse worker CV. Our guide to a CV for recent graduates has more advice for a CV with little experience.

If you have driven for many years, safe and steady driving over time is what counts. Say how long you have driven without accidents, which types of vehicle and load you know, and whether you have been responsible for training, planning or your own vehicle. Older jobs can be grouped in one line, for example “Driver at various haulage firms, 2005 to 2014, distribution and long haul”. If you are aiming for traffic controller, transport planner or driver supervisor, planning and responsibility should come first.

Common mistakes in a driver CV

Read your CV with the ad beside it, and look out for these mistakes in particular:

• The licence categories are far down the page, or just listed as “driving licence”.
• Driver CPC and ADR with no expiry date.
• Nothing about the type of driving, load or vehicle.
• No numbers for stops, kilometres or punctuality.
• The same CV for bus and lorry jobs, even though they look for different things.
• Gaps between jobs with no explanation. Our guide to gaps in your CV shows how to explain them.

Create your driver CV in under a minute with Selja

A parcel delivery job asks for different words from long haul with dangerous goods or scheduled bus routes. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job. Selja picks out the keywords from the ad, such as category CE, ADR or distribution, and works them in where they match what you have done. In the app you will also find vacancies from arbeidsplassen.no, and you can create a CV and cover letter for them directly.

Selja never adds licence categories, courses or experience you do not have. If the ad asks for something your CV does not show, for example crane lorry experience, Selja asks you first and only uses what you confirm. It is free to start: check your CV for free, or take a free ATS check against the ad. Get started when you are ready.

The application and next steps

The cover letter for a driving job can be short. State your categories and papers, the kind of driving you are best at, and when you can start. Also say whether you can work shifts, nights or weekends, and whether you can be away from home some nights a week if the job requires it. See our example of a job application for a template.

In the interview you will often be asked about safety, drivers' hours and how you handle a delay or a difficult customer. Practise with the interview questions. If you are wondering about pay, the free pay check shows figures from Statistics Norway (SSB), and the hourly pay calculator converts hourly pay to monthly and yearly pay.