Top 12 Driver Helper Skills to Put on Your Resume
Landing a position as a driver helper takes a sharp mix of practical skills and quick judgment. A focused resume that spotlights those strengths can tilt the odds your way, signaling you’re ready to keep deliveries moving smoothly, safely, and on time.
Driver Helper Skills
- GPS Navigation
- Safety Compliance
- Time Management
- Route Planning
- Load Securing
- Customer Service
- Physical Stamina
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Problem-Solving
- Inventory Management
- Handheld Devices
1. GPS Navigation
GPS navigation uses satellites to pinpoint location and guide you with turn-by-turn directions, helping you reach stops efficiently with fewer detours and surprises.
Why It's Important
It keeps routes tight, avoids congestion, trims fuel and time waste, and helps ensure deliveries hit their windows.
How to Improve GPS Navigation Skills
Level up your navigation habits with a few simple moves:
Keep maps current: Update your GPS or app regularly. Brands like Garmin and TomTom push frequent map and feature updates.
Use live traffic: Choose apps with real-time traffic and incident alerts, such as Waze or Google Maps.
Tune route settings: Set your preferences—fastest vs. shortest, avoid tolls, skip ferries—so the app matches the job.
Mount for signal and safety: Place the device with a clear view of the sky and within easy sightline, not in a pocket or glovebox.
Integrate with the vehicle: Android Auto or Apple CarPlay can put guidance on the dash and simplify voice commands.
Lean on voice navigation: Hands-free prompts reduce distraction and keep you focused on the road.
Power and data: Keep a charger handy; ensure reliable data for live updates if you’re on a phone.
Small tweaks, smoother trips, fewer headaches.
How to Display GPS Navigation Skills on Your Resume
2. Safety Compliance
Safety compliance means following the rules and practices that protect people, vehicles, and cargo. As a driver helper, it’s the daily discipline—proper lifting, clear walk paths, secured loads, and precise vehicle checks.
Why It's Important
It prevents injuries and incidents, keeps operations legal, and sustains trust with customers and the public.
How to Improve Safety Compliance Skills
Stay current: Track updates from OSHA, NHTSA, and your company’s safety bulletins.
Train regularly: Refresh skills through toolbox talks, courses, and drills. NSC programs are a solid benchmark.
Wear the right PPE: Gloves, safety shoes, hi-vis, eye protection—use what the task demands.
Inspect, always: Do pre- and post-trip checks. FMCSA guidance is the standard for commercial inspections.
Follow handling protocols: Use proper lift techniques, spot each other in tight spaces, and secure items before moving.
Report hazards fast: Catch, document, and correct issues early. No shortcuts.
Improve from incidents: Review near-misses and close calls; adjust procedures to prevent repeats.
How to Display Safety Compliance Skills on Your Resume
3. Time Management
Time management is planning, sequencing, and executing tasks—loading, delivery, returns, paperwork—so the day clicks along without wasted motion.
Why It's Important
Deadlines get met. Customers stay happy. Stress drops. The team runs lighter and faster.
How to Improve Time Management Skills
Plan the day: Set stops, windows, and breaks before wheels move. A shared calendar keeps everyone aligned.
Prioritize: Hit tight windows and high-impact deliveries first.
Use live routing: Real-time traffic helps you dodge jams and adjust on the fly.
Stay organized: Stage freight by stop, keep essentials within reach, and keep paperwork tidy—digital or physical.
Block distractions: Limit non-work phone use during active runs.
Take short resets: Brief breaks maintain focus and reduce errors late in the shift.
How to Display Time Management Skills on Your Resume
4. Route Planning
Route planning builds the smartest sequence of stops by factoring distance, traffic, access constraints, and delivery windows.
Why It's Important
It saves miles and minutes, cuts fuel, trims stress, and boosts on-time performance.
How to Improve Route Planning Skills
Use planning tools: Route optimization software can bulk-load addresses, set time windows, and auto-sequence stops.
Leverage real-time data: Traffic and incident alerts let you reroute quickly when conditions shift.
Prioritize by need: Sort stops by deadlines, access hours, and customer availability.
Load for the route: Pack the vehicle in reverse stop order so every unload is quick and clean.
Review and refine: After the run, note bottlenecks and access issues; update plans for next time.
Ask the driver: Street-level experience—where to park, which alley works—beats any map.
Equip the team: Make sure devices and apps are updated and reliable before departure.
How to Display Route Planning Skills on Your Resume
5. Load Securing
Load securing means using straps, chains, blocks, bars, and dunnage to prevent cargo from shifting, falling, or spilling. It’s about safety, compliance, and protecting the freight.
Why It's Important
Unsecured freight can injure people, damage goods, and cause crashes. A tight load protects everyone and everything involved.
How to Improve Load Securing Skills
Know the rules: Review FMCSA cargo securement requirements and follow company standards.
Match gear to the job: Choose the right restraints and anchor points for the cargo’s weight and shape, aligned with the North American Cargo Securement Standard.
Balance the load: Even weight distribution preserves handling and braking.
Re-check en route: Inspect restraints at the start and during stops; tighten if anything settles.
Train and practice: Use OSHA-aligned lifting and securing techniques; stay sharp with refreshers and ride-alongs.
How to Display Load Securing Skills on Your Resume
6. Customer Service
Customer service for a driver helper is the steady, courteous handling of deliveries—clear communication, careful placement, and respectful problem solving at the doorstep.
Why It's Important
It builds trust, wins repeat business, and turns a routine drop-off into a positive experience.
How to Improve Customer Service Skills
Listen first: Clarify names, locations, and special instructions before moving freight.
Communicate clearly: Give quick, honest updates if delays or access issues pop up.
Show empathy: Treat each stop like it matters—because it does to that customer.
Be punctual: Strong time management is the backbone of great service.
Handle issues calmly: Offer solutions, not excuses; escalate when needed.
Ask for feedback: Simple questions—“Anything we can do better next time?”—unlock improvements.
How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume
7. Physical Stamina
Physical stamina is the ability to keep lifting, carrying, climbing, and maneuvering freight throughout a shift without fading early.
Why It's Important
It powers safer handling, steadier pace, and fewer injuries across a demanding day.
How to Improve Physical Stamina Skills
Train smart: Blend cardio with strength work—think intervals, core stability, and compound lifts.
Fuel well: Prioritize lean proteins, complex carbs, healthy fats; hydrate before you’re thirsty.
Sleep enough: Aim for consistent, high-quality rest to recover and stay sharp.
Manage stress: Short breathing drills, stretching, or brief walks help reset between runs.
Stay consistent: Keep a regular training and sleep schedule, even on off days.
How to Display Physical Stamina Skills on Your Resume
8. Communication
Communication is clear, timely exchange of instructions and updates—between helper, driver, dispatch, and customers—so everyone stays in sync.
Why It's Important
It prevents mistakes, keeps routes flowing, and elevates service quality.
How to Improve Communication Skills
Practice active listening: Confirm what you heard before acting; echo key details.
Be direct and specific: Short, clear instructions beat vague chatter.
Use feedback loops: Ask for confirmation; repeat critical steps to avoid missed handoffs.
Watch the nonverbal: Tone and posture matter—especially under pressure.
Use the right tools: Keep radios, messaging apps, or dispatch tools ready and charged; choose one channel per team to avoid confusion.
How to Display Communication Skills on Your Resume
9. Teamwork
Teamwork means moving as one unit—spotting, lifting, scanning, and routing together—to keep the day smooth and safe.
Why It's Important
It boosts efficiency, trims errors, and reduces the risk of injuries when loads get awkward or spaces get tight.
How to Improve Teamwork Skills
Open communication: Keep instructions and feedback flowing in both directions.
Define roles: Know who lifts, who spots, who scans—switch deliberately, not randomly.
Align on goals: Agree on time windows, quality standards, and safety non-negotiables before departure.
Respect each other’s work: Courtesy under pressure keeps morale—and performance—high.
Coach and cross-train: Share tips, practice hand signals, and run quick refreshers to tighten teamwork.
How to Display Teamwork Skills on Your Resume
10. Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is handling the unexpected—blocked docks, missing items, route closures—fast and calmly, without derailing the day.
Why It's Important
It protects delivery times, keeps customers informed, and prevents small snags from turning into big delays.
How to Improve Problem-Solving Skills
Strengthen communication: Share changes quickly with your driver and dispatch to sync decisions.
Debrief often: Review tricky stops and what worked; build a playbook from real situations.
Know the common failures: Access restrictions, fragile items, incorrect addresses—plan alternates in advance.
Use simple tools: Checklists, notes, and task boards keep priorities visible when stress spikes.
Stay calm under pressure: A few steady breaths and a clear next step beat panic every time.
How to Display Problem-Solving Skills on Your Resume
11. Inventory Management
Inventory management is accurate tracking and handling of items from truck to doorstep—scans, counts, staging, and reconciliation.
Why It's Important
It reduces errors, prevents losses, and ensures customers receive exactly what they ordered.
How to Improve Inventory Management Skills
Adopt scanning workflows: Use barcodes or RFID where available for real-time visibility.
Audit regularly: Compare physical counts to system records at handoff points and end of day.
Label clearly: Use consistent, readable labels and keep stop groupings obvious.
Train the team: Standardize handling, exception logging, and damage reporting; refresh often.
Optimize loading: Stage by route sequence and fragility to cut errors and speed unloads.
Communicate exceptions: Report shortages, overages, and damages immediately with photos and notes.
How to Display Inventory Management Skills on Your Resume
12. Handheld Devices
Handheld devices are the portable tools for scanning, navigation, messaging, signatures, and proof-of-delivery—your compact command center.
Why It's Important
They streamline communication, track packages in real time, and guide efficient routing—fewer errors, faster stops.
How to Improve Handheld Devices Skills
Ergonomics: Choose devices that fit the hand, support one-handed use, and reduce strain across long shifts.
Battery strategy: Carry spares or use swappable batteries; keep chargers in the cab; enable power-saving when idle.
Ruggedness: Favor devices rated to withstand drops, dust, and moisture (MIL-STD-810H-class durability is a good target).
Reliable connectivity: Ensure strong cellular/Wi‑Fi coverage and offline modes for dead zones.
Clean UI: Use simple, large tap targets and clear workflows so scans and signatures are fast and accurate.
Software integration: Tie scanners, routing, and dispatch systems together to avoid double entry.
Security: Require strong authentication, device encryption, and regular updates; lock devices when unattended.
How to Display Handheld Devices Skills on Your Resume
