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Contributing
Writer
Ken Davey
“Whatever the job you are
asked to do, at whatever level, do a good job because your
reputation is your resume.”
Madeleine Albright (1937 - )
Former U.S. Secretary of
State.
First foreign-born U.S.
Ambassador to the United Nations
Your
Reputation Is Your Resume
My favorite part of working
in the trucking industry has always been the relationships that
I’ve been able to build with people. Co-workers and customers
alike, the relationships are usually long term, and friendly while
being focused on the transaction at hand.
A man is judged by his
actions and ability. You tell people about yourself by the way you
back in a load or, when appropriate, how quickly you pitch in to
help unload freight,.
You earn a reputation by your
actions and anyone that knows you will talk about you based on
those actions.
However these types of
characteristics are personality traits and, while they may help
decide who may make a good employee, they are not necessarily
reliable in helping determine who will make a good driver. The best
indicator of who will be a good driver in the future is who was a
good driver in the past.
A good driver is one that
arrives on time without incident. What is “on time?” To be “on
time” the driver must first be given a reasonable running time that
is actually possible. Quite often there can be unavoidable
adjustments to this schedule. A driver, starting fresh, traveling
on a 13 hour trip from Vancouver to Calgary should call and inform
dispatch if time is lost. For example; if the driver is delayed for
2 hours due to weather then the new “on time” becomes 15 hours.
Because the driver called Dispatch about the delay, the customer
was informed and he is still “on time.” There should of course be
no accidents, no tickets, no violations, and no public complaints.
This is tall order to fill.
Here are some of the ways a
fleet Safety Manager can look at your driver history. Keep in mind
that the Safety Manager’s job is to look at your history and try to
predict your future ability to have incident free trips.
First let’s look at
accidents. Your future employer is not required to get an ICBC
Accident Summary. However, it would be foolish not to. It’s free
and it provides a five-year summary of any accident recorded to
your driver’s license over this period. It also includes the dollar
amount of the claims and the percentage of fault ICBC may have
assigned to you. I believe that I am typical when I stay away from
anyone that has had 2 major accidents on this report where they
were found to be at fault. I may hire a person with one major at
fault accident after hearing his side and looking for evidence that
he or she has learned from the incident.
We all know sometimes a
person has to cross over a line to see where it is. I can’t
remember who first told me but I try to remember that experience is
the best teacher, but it is also the most
expensive.
By law, employers are
required to examine your drivers abstract. In BC employers can get
an “N” (for National Safety Code) driver’s abstract that lists
every normal driver violation as well as any National Safety Code
violations committed in the past 5 years within BC. You can get
your own by asking at any BC licensing office. The provinces are
starting to negotiate with other jurisdictions for this information
so in the not-so-distant future, tickets from other jurisdictions
may appear here as well. It takes 5 years for a ticket to fall off
your record and a single ticket a year can be too many for really
good fleets.
A criminal record check is
almost mandatory for any cross border work. Even domestic fleets
often consider it a “best practice”. Unfortunately, these records
never go away unless you receive a pardon and the record is sealed.
Seldom would a criminal record alone cause you to lose you a
typical driving job. Each record would be considered with respect
to the actual job,
The new employer is also
required to check references with your past employers. This record
must, at minimum, confirm your employment dates and any accidents
or tickets you may have accumulated while on that fleet. If you
were operating in the USA a drug and alcohol testing history is
also required for that employer. Too many employers or gaps
in your employment history are both things an employer will ask you
about, as they can be indications of a problem.
This is not an exact science
and there are no single indications of how a person is going to act
in the future but these records offer a look at how you behaved in
the past. No single record tells the whole story. However, you may
want to think about these things and how prospective employers and
insurance companies will view your record.
Next issue we will look at
some ways for drivers to evaluate prospective employers.
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