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How To Become a Truck Driver at Werner

Becoming a driver for Werner Enterprises can be the key to a lucrative and satisfying trucking career. From its humble beginnings, with a small fleet of trucks, Werner has grown to become one of the top carriers in the world.

Here’s how you can obtain training to begin a well-paid trucking career at Werner:

Step 1: Apply for a Werner Truck Driving Job

The demand for drivers is huge in the trucking industry. Even large, established giants like Werner need to hire new drivers to keep up with the demand.

A lot of experienced truck drivers leave the industry each year.

  • Retirement
  • Injury or illness
  • Family/personal leave or self-terminate to tend to personal matters
  • Health-related
  • Leave to pursue another career

But the demand for qualified truck drivers continues to grow. That spells an opportunity for new drivers looking to get into the industry.

Step 2: Get Your Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)

To drive the big trucks, you need to get a Class A CDL. You’ll need to pass a written examination and a driving test with your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The Written Knowledge Exam

Before you can get behind the wheel of a big truck to train, you’ll need a learner’s permit. It lets you drive a commercial vehicle as long as you have a licensed CDL driver riding in the front seat. Passing the written exam shows that you understand the basics of rules, regulations, and road safety in a commercial motor vehicle.
Classroom training at Roadmaster will help prepare you to pass the written knowledge exam. But we don’t stop there.
Roadmaster Driving School teaches you what you need to know to succeed as a rookie truck driver.

  • Equipment inspection
  • Trip planning
  • Map reading
  • Regulatory compliance

The CDL Skills Test

When you get your CDL training through Roadmaster, you’ll have access to modern training equipment while you practice driving and on the day of your driving test.
Through Roadmaster, you’ll get hands-on training in safely operating a commercial motor vehicle and vital trucking tasks.

  • How to maneuver in tight spaces
  • Backing with a trailer
  • Proper hooking and unhooking a trailer

Step 3: Drive with a Werner Trainer

Once you complete Roadmaster training and obtain your CDL, you’re now ready to hone your skills and haul freight with Werner safely and successfully. You’ll meet your Werner leader, who will ride along while you perform real-world trucking tasks. We say “trucking tasks” because there’s more to trucking than just driving up and down the interstate.

Your Werner leader will teach you how to safely and efficiently use the truck’s tablet-based communications.

  • Receive and accept work assignments
  • Update your progress
  • Use electronic maps and GPS
  • Get roadside assistance during a breakdown

You’ll learn how to complete daily inspection reports properly, how to weigh your freight, and other over-the-road tasks.

Step 4: Drive for Werner and Get Paid

As a new truck driver, you’re already valuable to the industry. Earning a CDL is a big accomplishment in itself. But get about six months of driving experience, and even greater opportunities will be available to you.

That opens up a world of opportunity with Werner. Here are some of the well-paid opportunities for experienced drivers:

  • Team driving. Go on the road with a friend, spouse, significant other, or anyone you want. You both get lots of miles, which means you both make good money. Don’t have anybody to go on the road with you? That’s okay. Werner can match you up with a teammate who fits you well.
  • Team Werner, $73,000 average/year
  • Toro Team, $70,000 average/year
  • Expedited freight. In 1979, Federal Express (now known as FedEx) had the slogan, “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” Nowadays, next-day delivery is standard in e-commerce, and the demand for expedited freight is growing. It’s a perfect driving niche for team drivers.
  • Dedicated freight. Werner contracts with several companies to serve their supply and shipping needs. Driving for a dedicated account means you’ll serve one high-value customer. This makes your work week a little more predictable. A lot of dedicated drivers get home weekly. Some even get daily home time.
  • Anheuser-Busch dedicated, $66,000 average/year
  • Walmart dedicated, $72,000 average/year
  • Temperature-controlled. Perishable cargo needs a refrigerated trailer known as a reefer. These loads need special care, and safe, on-time delivery is critical. Drivers for the temperature-controlled fleet average $69,000/year.
  • Intermodal. Import and export freight travels by numerous shipping modes: ocean liner, barge, train, and truck. The freight is loaded onto specialized containers that fit onto a trailer chassis when traveling by truck.
  • Final Mile. A shipment often consists of individual orders to several customers in the same city or geographical area. The orders get broken down at a warehouse or cross-dock and loaded onto city transit trucks for final delivery.