Can you lie about length of driving experience?

The only lying as far as experience I’ve seen is claiming work as a different type of work — yard dogs claiming day cab experience, regional/local guys claiming OTR, etc.

They will verify your experience more closely when you’re right on the verge of being eligible. But a 8 year experience driver only needing 2 years experience won’t be hounded about some employer not verifying when they have plenty years verified elsewhere

 

I came to find out yesterday that while I did not necessarily lie about work experience amounts, as I was upfront with a recruiter about exactly how much experience I had, I effectively wanted to see if they would hire me and it would come down to their want and perhaps (if they wanted to be strict) how they would count experience precisely.

I ended up being about a month short of what they specifically required and the recruiter said everything else about me checked out but that their safety department gave the final approval or denial. I presume to think that it has something to do with their insurance.

EDIT: I wanted to add, some of these applications only give an option for YEARS of experience. So if an applicant has 11 months would they be better listing one or zero in the experience category?

 

If you can, when confronted with that type of question put a <1 in that block. This means less than one year. If you can't put a 0 there and find a place for comments and explain your answer there.

 

Does the job specifically differentiate between solo experience and just experience? If not you can put your hire date. Then when they ask tell them you had X number of days training, then X days running as a team with the trainer, and then the amount of solo time. As someone else said it's an insurance issue. That's why new people are mostly with megas, they are self insured and can afford the risk. If you don't meet the minimum and you're close apply anyways. Alot of the listed minimums are not hard limits.

 

Simple. You list the employer, I verify via telephone, fax, or email. I am required to inquire about your dates of employment and any accidents during your tenure.

Do you think they will say a year when it hasn't ben that long?

Rarely do the dates on an application match 100%, but claiming more experience than verified is a quick way to be eliminated from the selection process.

 

Really desperate, aren't you?

Other jobs are not regulated like this one is, and if you consider this a job, then you really don't need to bother being in trucking.

I made the mistake of not completing my background checks before I put a driver in the truck, and I have had a couple who lied about their experience.

I don't mind some embellishment but lying on the app and to me in an interview just pisses me off.

I have left drivers at truck stops when it was confirmed they lied on an application. The last one was left in Arizona on a Saturday morning (2am) with his personal junk, he admitted to the two drivers who were there to pick up the truck and load up that he lied. He got a check with a little extra in it (wasn't going to cheat him out of his earned pay) and that was it. A week later I got a call from a fleet owner up here about this driver working for me. Apparently, the driver didn't get the hint not to lie, the driver applied for one of the openings at this fleet, and the owner said the driver put down a lot of experience but I told the guy why he was fired, he listened and then thanked me. I saw the owner a few weeks later and asked him how the new driver was working out and he said he never hired him because he lied on the app.

Technically the app isn't a federal document.

 

why not just be honest about the experience you have. Follow up on the application with a phone call and hope you get in touch with someone. I’ve gotten 2 jobs that I didn’t have “enough experience” for by doing exactly that.

Ignore experience requirements!! If they CAN hire someone with less experience than they “require” then they’ll possibly see you as ambitious and willing to learn. If they CANNOT, and truly require the experience (insurance) then they’ll simply move on. Nothing lost….

 

This is what i tell people here, there are a lot of jobs out there, and being honest is the best thing, experience isn't everything. Hell some of the worst drivers I have had apply for openings were ones with a lot of experience on the application.

 

The sin rate is 100% -1.

 

45 years ago, dispatching for a large carrier, we had a new hire that appeared to be the 'perfect' candidate.
During his 2nd week, Safety calls my manager and says he 'falsified' his application; he's done.

In the past 35 years I have answered a tremendous number of 'previous employer' checks; including around 10 years prior to 2008 using DAC [HireRite] and have made hundreds, if not thousands of checks on new hires.

Numerous people have reported more tenure than my records and I have always reported back the accurate information; usually without any feedback on what effect it had.

Most of the smaller intermodal container carriers usually don't respond to the checks sent out UNLESS they have been audited and found that TENSTREET solved their deficiencies and that company keeps digging to fill in all the gaps on the application and only document the failure of a previous employer after multiple attempts.

It is best to be honest.

The insurance companies standard is the real bar, not the DOT.

Still with that in mind; I would bring on someone with only 22 months out of the required 24 IF the rest of their application was correct and my personal take after interviewing the applicant was good.

Never had anyone fail to meet my expectations and none screwed up before reaching 24 months experience.

Did I mention it is best to be honest?

After almost 40 years of qualifying drivers and owner operators; I can say my BS meter was finely tuned and I've heard it all.

I've seen my share of screw ups too but I only ever put one guy in DAC as 'personal contact requested' on the termination form and about ten years later he is a Goodyear Highway Hero for pulling a man out of a burning wreck.

That guy and two or three positive drug tests [waaay before the clearinghouse] were the only negative reports I've ever made and only one; a post accident positive, produced a complainig wife a few years later after finding out her hubby didn't get that plum job because of his post accident positive for cocaine from an accident where he rear-ended a line of traffic pushing one out into a head on with opposing traffic resulting in a $600K insurance payout.

Even then I told his boss that he needed to go and find a new job before it got into DAC and I'm betting his wife never knew about it utill he tried to go somewhere else.

Did I mention it pays to be honest?