Whatever your motivation to find work is, welcome to a labor market seemingly tilted against senior employment seekers.

But take heart! Golden opportunities now abound for senior job seekers and the ball is in their court. There’s great news for you and dire warnings for all the critics.

Newspapers trumpet headlines about seniors unable to get even minimum pay jobs. Employment fairs advertise work for anyone breathing, but they’re generally low paying $10-$12 openings.

The young people staffing the application desks at these fairs seem to be mentally jotting down your age when you ask for a sign up sheet.

Why is this good news? Because contrary to appearances, The United States is on the brink of an incredible labor shortage. Well respected economists predict a huge labor shortage that is making itself felt even at this moment in time.

How big a labor shortfall is looming on the horizon? Some estimates run as high as 10 million unfilled positions by the year 2010.

Millions of senior employees are rapidly nearing retirement. At the same time fewer and fewer younger people are coming of age to fill the vacuum.

Many astute business executives of today are growing keenly aware of the worker shortfall on the horizon.

Even Congress is now taking notice of the coming labor shortage. Legislation is being discussed now to provide tax credits to companies opening up flexible senior employment work schedules.

All for senior employees 62 years of age or older. The icing on the cake is that health and pension benefits will be included. Be optimistic if you’re an individual seeking senior employment!

With a little homework, preparation and a small dash of creativity, you can get excellent work for yourself right now.

Don’t be surprised at all the opportunities out there. You’ll discover that there are a lot of options for you to choose from, more than you ever dreamed of. You won’t have to settle for just any old job that’s offered.

Take out a piece of paper right now and begin jotting down a list of jobs you’d like to have. And please underline the word like. Along with it, write out your work experience and what you want to do.

If you’re a senior employment seeker, then you’ve earned a lot of experience in many different areas over the years.

Don’t forget to put in your hobbies too! You’d be surprised at what things like fishing and bowling can add to your job description. And this is a campaign just as important as any battle waged by the general of an army.

Do you like reading about sports and politics? Add those to the mix too!

Now, when you’ve finished the list decide what type of jobs you’d like to have. No matter how far afield from what you’ve worked at in the past.

Meditate about it until you come up with several possibilities. And remember, the sky’s the limit.

When you’ve decided on a few jobs you’d be happy doing, research the businesses that offer senior employment. Then call them and get the names of the managers that do the hiring.

Finally, make out a brief resume of your work history. Now is where creativity comes into the picture. Compose a short, single page cover letter. Make it brief, and don’t just rehash the things you listed in your resume.

On the cover letter, itemize what you’ve done to warrant hiring you for the position you want.

Be truthful, but tell them what you can do to fulfill the job’s bottom line. You’ll be surprised, because the cover letter is often the deciding factor in hiring.

When you’ve finished, make a personal visit to the business and ask to see the hiring manager. It’s a good idea to call first and make an appointment if possible.

But don’t hesitate to make an unannounced visit if needed though. Whatever the outcome of the meeting, leave a copy of your resume and cover letter.

Within the next three days, if you haven’t heard back from the hiring manager, call on the phone and ask for him/her. The follow up phone call will demonstrate your desire for the job.

Most personnel specialists agree that this course of action is one of the most effective methods to acquire senior employment.

Even if the company isn’t advertising an opening, it can often lead to a job in an anticipated opening in the future.

So, don’t figure the only job you can get is flipping burgers or packing groceries. You have talents and experience that companies are hungry for now, and you’re valuable.

As a person seeking senior employment, you also come equipped with an old fashioned work ethic not in over abundance in today’s workplace.

Pick out the type of work you want to do…and go for it!

Be assured, the national and local labor markets now realize that being a senior employment applicant carries with it added experience, talent and knowledge.

Raymond Angus is a widely read author of articles and books. He writes about fellow seniors and their world. To read more of his writing visit: http://www.theseniorslife.com

In this article, we will share a limited number priceless job search secrets and strategies. If implemented correctly, you will put yourself in a position to land your dream truck driving job and negotiate the best possible compensation plan for you and your family at the same time.

Before we begin, keep in mind that the probability of these priceless job search techniques ever being uttered from the mouths of trucking company hiring managers or truck driver job recruiters are slim at best. Why? The primary function of a trucking company hiring manager is to staff its local truck driving jobs at the lowest possible cost to it’s bottom line and to maximize its profits.,/P>

The primary goal of a truck driver job recruiter is to collect commissions for getting you hired on to one of his clients. Their concern for your compensation package is not on the top of their priority list.

All too often a trucker will leave behind a good CDL truck driving job at a company with a solid business model and a good record of taking care of their drivers. Only to realize that they could have avoided making an incredibly bad career move, had they only thought it through more carefully. If there is one common mistake that I have seen dedicated, hard working truck drivers make through the years, it is poor career decisions.

Hopefully our top 5 secrets to a successful truck driving job search will help you avoid a poor career move in the near future. They include:

1. The key to a successful truck driving job search is to plan your work and work your plan. The first step in any considerable life changing move is to be realistic with your expectations and create a list of objectives and strategies to achieve your short and long term goals.

Many professionals in search of the best truck driving jobs fail to set realistic job search career goals. If you were an olympic archery expert would you not agree with me that you would be highly focused on your target during your event. Of course you would. Setting career goal strategy has two major benefits. First, it helps you develop laser focus in establishing career priorities. Second, it will dramatically improve your self esteem for this highly stressful process.

2. Prepare a list of short and long term career goals. Before you start your career search process, spend some serious time laying out on paper 1,3 and 5 year goals. Is you long term goal to become and independent owner operator, or are you more likely to work for a trucking company? There are positives and negatives with each opportunity. Most employers consider an employment package to include approximately 70% salary and 30% benefits. This may be more suited for someone with a young family with a wife who has decided stay at home with the children. Whereas and owner operator may make more money, they usually have to acquire benefits on their own which can be an enormous expense

Bottom line: As an employee of a trucking company, you’re more likely to be offered a compensation package that includes salary and a benefits package.

3. Inadequate pre-employment research is the primary reason why professional truck drivers is unhappy 1-2 years following a job change from one company to another. The last thing you or your family wants to do is to accept a new truck driver job position by hastily jumping to a company that offers you $.50 more per hour or $.05 more a mile. Far too many times good truck drivers make a quick move from an established company that has treated you well to a company that offered you the sky for a small, short term economic gain. This can ruin your mine emotionally and inflict real havoc on your family.

Bottom Line: It is imperative that you take this process seriously and spend the necessary time researching all truck driver job opportunities.

4. Evaluate your current job satisfaction. Keep a written journal of your daily reactions to your job situation for at least 30 days. Along the way look for recurring themes or events that bring pleasure to your mind and soul. This will help you focus in on which aspects of your current truck driving job deliver the most positive and negative job satisfaction.

Bottom Line: You must determine whether or not your primary positive and negative responses related to the duties related to your job, the company culture or the individuals with whom you work everyday. This will go along way in helping you pinpoint key job satisfaction areas for your next truck driving job career move.

5. Contract with a professional trucking jobs recruiter. Listen carefully. A successful truck driving job search is a full time job and unless you can be in two places at one time, this is the best investment you can make. In most cases, with an 80,000 job shortfall, a successful recruiter would gladly take a phone call from an educated, professional owner operator looking ot make a career move. A reputable recruiter will have established relationships with the key decision makers you are looking to connect with and in most cases their fees are paid for by the trucking companies. They will make sure your resume is professionally prepared and provide you with a customized cover letter. The additional services of resume/cover writing and interview preparation are skills you should definitely consider investing in.

Key Point: Contact at least 2 or 3 professional trucking industry recruiters and meet with them to discuss your results from the previous step.

Always remember this, trucking company human resource personnel do not have your best interests in mind. All companies have one primary objective. Obtain the best talent available for the least amount of money. In today’s economic climate, as long as that industry’s job market is tight, the hiring managers have the upper hand. However, with the trucking industry’s current truck driver shortage, a professional OTR independent owner operator has more room to negotiate the best compensation package available.

The author has spent 20 plus years in the automotive industry, is an internet publisher and internet marketing consultant. You can find part 2 of this two part series series of articles titled truck driver jobs - job interview tips in the article section of http://www.truck-driver-jobs-online.com.

Step One: What can you do?

You wouldn’t use a search engine and sign up for the first thing that sounded good in a traditional job search; yet, so many people take this approach to finding a work-at-home job. One of the most important ideas you need to understand is that work-at-home job searches are just like traditional job searches. Employers are looking for people with specific skills and experience to fill specific jobs. You won’t simply sign up for a work-at-home job. Instead you’ll need a professional resume or application that sets you apart from the competition. All this starts by listing your skills and experiences. Don’t limit this list just to job skills. Also include volunteer experience, hobbies, and interests. Note the duties and activities your “jobs” involved and the things you’ve learned from your experiences.

Step Two: Look for jobs

Most people get in trouble in their work-at-home job search because they look for the wrong jobs in the wrong places. In Step One you learned that work-at-home jobs are no different from traditional jobs and as a result you’ve made a list of all your experiences. In Step Two you need to begin to search where employers post jobs. You can find work-at-home job announcements on job sites such as Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com by using “telecommute” as your keyword. You still need to watch out for deceptive job ads on general job search sites. The best way to avoid them is to remember two rules: 1) never pay money to get hired and 2) never give or use your personal bank to help a company do business.

If you’re serious about finding a work-at-home job, consider using a work-at-home job database. These services are not free (you’re not paying to get hired, you’re paying for the service of having someone else screen work-at-home jobs and allowing you to access their database), but they make finding jobs fast and easy.

Step Three: Apply, Apply, Apply

A successful job search requires creating a stellar resume or application. Remember, you’re competing against hundreds, maybe even thousands of other applicants. You’re resume or application needs to set you apart from all of them. You do that by tailoring your resume to the specific skills and experiences the employer is looking for. If the ad is for a transcriptionist to help a public speaker, share how fast you type, whether or not you have transcribed for other speakers or in the topic area the speaker specializes in. Indicate specific equipment or software you have experience with. Fit the resume to the job and you’ll be showing the employer you’re the exact person he’s looking for.

Also, do as the application says, no more, no less. A common complaint with employers is that the applicants don’t follow the directions. Don’t try to be cute or creative. Use strong, active verbs to outline your skills instead of crazy font or gimmicks.

Finally be ready to apply to many jobs over time. Work-at-home employers are notorious for not getting back to applicants about their submissions, so you need to keep applying, following-up, finding more jobs and applying some more. Successful home-based employees find their jobs by never giving up the search.

With hundreds of employers looking for qualified home-based workers, the would-be telecommuter has many opportunities to find a job. However, like traditional jobs, work-at-home jobs are earned by showcasing skills and experiences.

Leslie Truex owns Work-At-Home Success and is the author of The Career Woman’s Guide to Work-At-Home Success due out by Adams Media in 2009. Get free jobs and job search resources with a subscription to her ezine! Visit Work At Home Success to sign up.

Job searches

Resume (curriculum vitae) preparation

Interviews

The aspect that the casual applicant will spend the least time and effort on is job searches – yet logic dictates that this should be the area that gets most attention. For every job offer there are typically a higher number of interviews. And not every application receives an offer of an interview.

So it is amazing how many people treat finding jobs so casually. Typically they will have two or three places that they focus 90% of their effort on and the remainder of their time is spent browsing a few more sources once every few weeks.

It is no surprise that these people tend to have the least success in finding a new role. Good job hunting requires effort and nowhere is this more important than finding the vacancies in the first place.

Most job hunters tend to only focus on advertised vacancies – and then they only look for a small percentage of these. Typically they have a favourite paper or magazine and a few internet jobs boards. They will also register with a few agencies and wait to be called if any openings arise.

And their effort usually ends there.

First of all this restricts the volume of advertised vacancies that can be found and it also ensures that they never get to find out about the jobs that never find their way into the papers or onto the internet.

Here are ten very quick tips for increasing the volume of openings that you can apply for:

1. Read every local newspaper in the area you’d like to work. Most of them have an on-line presence too.

2. Find out which trade journals are published in your chosen field.

3. Find out which agencies specialise in your chosen field.

4. Draw up a list of companies you’d like to work for. Find out where they typically advertise.

5. Build up a network of people that work in recruitment.

6. Build up a network period. People know people who hire.

7. Spend some time finding out which companies are growing – and therefore likely to be hiring.

8. Find out which companies are moving to your area – and therefore likely to be hiring.

9. If you register with a recruitment agency, try to meet them face to face. You’re more likely to be remembered by them.

10. If you are serious about getting a new role, factor it into your schedule. Allocate, say, an hour a day and stick to it.

There are two factors that kill recruitment effort. The first is apathy. If someone can’t be bothered to find out which agencies specialize in their chosen field then they are doomed to failure.

The second is distractions. People start out with the best intentions to research some recruitment information on the internet. Oh yes, the internet. And so, just before they check out that new jobs board, they check their email. Then they find out about the score from last night’s game. Then they check a friend’s blog.

Before you know it, they’ve been on the web for forty minutes of their scheduled hour and that only leaves them a small amount of their allotted schedule to do any work.

Worst of all – they kid themselves they’ve spent an hour researching.

Job searching may not be fun – but it’s productive time. Unless being productive is more important than having fun, the aspiring job hunter will still be stuck in the same old job.

Remember the fact that it’s a numbers game. If you only find a fraction of the jobs that are out there, you’ll limit your chances of getting a new job. And if you only look in the obvious places, you’ll be up against all the other lazy job hunters who only looked there too. Meanwhile the hard worker finds the off-the-beaten-track jobs and ends up with the post you were better qualified for. If only you’d known about it!

Mark Walton is the author of 20 20 Easy Ways to Find That Dream Job, a self-help guide for people looking for a new job. If you want to improve your chances of getting a job offer then go to: http://www.jobhuntingresults.com/Job_Searches.htm to see how you can ensure you find that elusive dream job.

Most would-be candidates I speak to will spend 10% of their time looking for jobs, 10% preparing for the interview and 80% making their resume look perfect.

Worst still, once they’ve perfected the resume, they keep it static, regardless of the role they’ve applied for (but that’s another story).

At the risk of sounding like I’m talking to a dog, I’ll spell this out as simply as I can.

A resume won’t get you a job.

Don’t confuse yourself. Nobody got a job just by applying. Ok, I’ll admit maybe one or two have, but for 99.999% of roles, it simply moved them one step along the process.

Recruitment is a numbers game.

Simply put, the more applications you make, the more interviews you will get. The more interviews you get, the more job offers you will receive.

You could strike it lucky and submit one application, get interviewed and offered the job. This is rare and not to be relied upon. The more applications you put out there, the better your chances of being interviewed.

It sounds so obvious, doesn’t it? Yet most job seekers would rather rely on the immaculate resume that does all the work for them. One application, a killer resume and the job is theirs before they even turn up for the interview. Meeting the employer is just a formality.

Despite the numbers aspect, I would like to add that if you have a choice between 100 standard applications for jobs or 50 tailored applications, I would say your chances of getting an interview would be greater with the 50.

Me? I’d go for 100 tailored applications. Cover the numbers and the quality. Unfortunately, we live in an age where we want something for nothing. We all want to be millionaires and work only a few hours per week. In reality, fortune favours the hard worker.

So how would I recommend the division of labour? Well as the recruitment process is a funnel i.e. wider at the top than the bottom, you need to spend most time looking for jobs. You’ll need to find more jobs to apply for than potential interviews. And in turn you’ll need plenty of potential interviews to generate the job offers.

I wouldn’t like to be prescriptive about percentages, but if you spent 50% of your time job-searching and then 30% of your time tailoring your resume, that would leave you 20% to spend preparing for interviews.

This is some way away from my prediction of a typical job seeker at the beginning. Yet the numbers make sense. Armed with this knowledge, the question is, what will you do with it?

My father used to laugh at my shyness with girls. He once told me that if I asked 100 girls out, at least a few were bound to say yes. A simple numbers game.

I agreed with his logic but, do you know what, I never followed his advice. The question is, will you be as stubborn as I was?

Mark Walton is the author of 21 Ways to Build the Perfect Resume, a self-help guide for people looking for a new job. If you want to improve your chances of getting a job offer then go to: http://www.jobhuntingresults.com/Resumes.htm to see how you can ensure you?ll get short-listed for an interview.

So if just five per cent represents the words, why do so many interviewees rely on this single aspect to convey what they mean and understand the interviewer?

This article is all about the major part of communication – body language. Up to 60% of what you communicate is conveyed this way – so why don’t we use it?

I’ve recruited for twenty years and I use every trick in the book. I use Neuro Linguistic Programming like the best of them and yes, I spend a lot of time analyzing body language.

In the hands of a willing amateur, a body language book is a dangerous tool – especially when recruitment decisions could be made on a single interpretation. But used prudently, it can help you understand someone’s mood or even their true intentions.

If you’ve ever watched television without the sound, you’d be amazed how easily to pick up on people’s moods. It’s a subconscious thing and that fact helps the interviewee. You should instinctively know about body language and how to use it to convey a message. I say ‘should’ as some body language is subtle and although we know instinctively what an action means, our conscious brain dominates and ignores the sign.

Further, our body language reveals our true intentions and often in an interview, we want to disguise these aspects.

So what does it all mean? It means sticking to the obvious body language signs if possible.

Here are a few common examples:

If someone’s happy, they tend to smile. Obvious really. They tend to show open palms and will sit in an open manner – nothing is crossed. They will unbutton their jacket for example. So if you want to appear happy, you smile and sit in an open manner. Self-explanatory really.

If someone is confident, they tend to lean forward (leaning towards someone also suggests you like them).

If someone is nervous, they will fidget. They will clear their throat and play with anything in front of them.

If someone is unsure, they tend to pull on an ear lobe.

If someone is lying, they often put their hand in front of their mouth – subconsciously hiding their lie. They will also avoid eye contact.

If someone is being defensive, they will lean away. They will cross arms and legs.

If someone is aggressive, they will clench their fist. They will often grit their teeth. They will typically point with their finger – particularly with jabbing motions. They may chop one hand into the palm of another. If sitting, they often tap a foot or bounce one of their legs (this could also mean they are bored or just irritated).

This isn’t a definitive list but it’s a useful starting point. I’d recommend every interviewee buys a copy of a body language book and spends some time in a public place, observing behavior. Note facial expressions, body positioning and what people do with their hands. Consider how they handle a pen or a spoon. What does it all tell you about their mood?

Go ahead, I give you permission to use the 95% you’ve probably dismissed until now.

Mark Walton is the author of 20 Ways to Deliver the Perfect Interview, a self-help guide for people looking for a new job. If you want to improve your chances of getting a job offer then go to: http://www.jobhuntingresults.com/Interviews.htm to see how you can ensure you?re the one they want.

For those starting out and seeking real work at home jobs, beware of the hyped up claims. You are not going to earn $1,000 in your very first week. Well, you might if you are very lucky, but don’t expect it. It’s simply not realistic. Then there’s usually the bit about having to do no work, or two or three hours a day at most. Don’t believe it. Real work at home jobs do require work!

Among the popular scams you may find are the High-Yield Investment Program (HYIP). It sounds kinda neat, doesn’t it? Don’t be fooled though. Most of the HYIP offers you will find are scams. They will often tell you that your investment, which of course means that you have to give them money, will enjoy a return of 45% - sometimes even higher.

You don’t have to be a mathematician to figure out that $1,000 can soon become $1,450. Then there the compound interest to consider, which will bump it even higher. Most people will flock to get in on a scheme like this. Yes, it’s greed and we all have it whether or not we like to admit it.

These schemes do often pay out for the early movers, but they inevitably collapse as the model can’t be sustained. The very high interest payouts actually come from the new investors paying in to the scheme. If it all collapses before you get your high interest return, you won’t ever get it. Avoid HYIP like the plague!

There are real work at home jobs of course. Not every offer is a scam, so don’t get too suspicious or you might miss the best offers going. Edison once said that people miss the best opportunities because they are disguised as work. He was actually right. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they involve hard grueling work, but work just the same. There are no free lunches, as they say.

Don’t jump in and expect everything to be big shiny and bright instantly. Simplicity usually works best at the beginning. Simple things can grow with your understanding and become something big given time. Have a degree of patience. Real work at home jobs are usually recognizable by their simplicity and maturity. It’s a great combination.

Ignore the hype and look for believable offers when you are seeking real work at home jobs. Can you see yourself making $10,000 in your first month? Or does $800 sound more realistic? Go for the realistic one. You should be able to build on it, and in time it could be a very good income. Real work at home jobs are like that usually.

Get Your FREE 21 Day Home Business eCourse at the Real Work At Home Jobs Blog.

First of all, when you come across a work at home posting that asks for money, in most cases, this is a scam, or at the very least fraudulent. You should never have to pay to get work. Only in certain cases does paying for a service make sense. For example, if you sign up with a job bidding site online, you may have to pay a monthly service fee to gain access to all the job listings. However, even with this type of work from home opportunity, a free trial is usually offered so you can get a feel for the service and what it can do for you.

Legitimate work at home jobs in most cases end up being something you enjoy doing, or have some expertise in. If you’re a writer, search for work from home opportunities for freelance writing. If you’re a graphic designer, look for work from home postings in your field. The more you focus on what you’re good at, and the skills you possess, it will be easier to find real work online.

Most people want to work at home to supplement their income, start their own business, or break away from the boss. Keep in mind, however, that work from home jobs are a lot of work - you won’t be spending time on the couch watching your favorite soap opera during the day - in fact, you’ll probably be spending extra hours in the office, especially when you’re just starting out.

But if your current job is driving you crazy and you want to find something better for yourself, give working at home a fair try. Once you have a good amount of work coming in, you can settle into a schedule and try to achieve a work-life balance.

Again, most job listings for working at home that ask for money are not legitimate, however, sometimes startup costs require that you pay something upfront. An up front payment may apply for small business opportunities that give you some equipment to start with. Of course, always fully research a work at home company or business opportunity before committing and handing over your hard-earned cash. You don’t want to waste your time with companies that aren’t going to help you find work online.

Instead of looking online, it’s often a better idea to contact people you know and network to find work at home jobs. Ask around and research local companies that employ at-home workers. Sometimes the best work at home jobs are the ones that aren’t advertised. There are many companies that use home workers to take care of jobs outside of the office. This saves the company money on equipment and other expenses, while you get to enjoy the unique benefits of working at home.

Search message boards and forums that discuss work at home jobs. Here you can find out which opportunities are actually available, and weed out the bad apples.

To learn more about working at home, check out the Work at Home Web Site.

Travel nurses take on short-term assignments, getting work through agencies that have been set up to deal with the travel nursing demand. The benefits of travel nursing are many. The agency will find and supply you with housing, and cover travel expenses. They help travel nurses with licensing, benefits, and payroll. Because these positions are on a temporary basis, and the travel nurses have to come from out of town, you have the opportunity to make a very good income. Travel nurses get paid above market wages and have a bit of an adventure at the same time.

The length of time traveling nurses work depends on the situation. The amount of time you work varies with the agency and the healthcare institution that employs you. An assignment can last anywhere from 8 weeks to 26 weeks. Often you are given the opportunity to extend an assignment and stay for a longer period of time, but this isn’t always plausible.

Travel nurse jobs are typically 8-13 weeks in length with most contracts. Traveling nurses get to see different parts of the country and earn a good amount of money while doing so. And because travel nurse jobs are cropping up all over the place, there is no shortage of opportunity.

Travel nursing jobs afford nurses the opportunity to travel for a short amount of time, save a good amount of money, and come back home to follow their dreams. The extra money may be perfect for the down payment on a house, or to collect interest in a savings account. Whatever the situation, travel nursing jobs are everywhere, so it’s easy to take advantage of the opportunity if you want to.

Nursing shortages keep getting worse, especially in rural areas of the country. Vacancies can’t always be filled and nurses are in high demand. There has been no better time to be a nurse - it’s a rewarding and fulfilling job that helps others, but it also pays well. Travel nursing is growing, and will continue to grow into the future.

Travel nursing does more than just offer adventure, a change of pace, and higher pay. It’s also a chance to hone and expand your skill base, and learn more about nursing and the healthcare industry in general. As you’re exposed to a wide variety of healthcare situations, you learn more about the field and continue to improve your skills and working knowledge of nursing practices.

The practical side of travel nursing shouldn’t be overlooked. Plus, you can add some great experience to your resume and become even more appealing on future job applications. Your experience as a travel nurse has the potential to set you apart from other candidates looking for a nursing job.

To learn more about travel nursing, check out the Travel Nursing Web Site.

So, if you’re still interested in training as an HGV driver in the UK, here are a few of the things you need to know.

HGV or LGV?

HGV is, strictly speaking, an older term, as the newer and more official term is LGV, or Large Goods Vehicle. The two terms are used interchangeably, although most people in the UK haulage industry (myself included!) still prefer the term HGV. So don’t be confused by HGV and LGV – they mean exactly the same thing.

Requirements for HGV Driver Training

HGV licences for the largest vehicles are divided into two main classes, C and C+E. A class C HGV is any rigid vehicle that weighs over 7.5 tonnes, whereas a C+E license will allow you to drive a larger articulated vehicle with a trailer. You have to hold a class C license before you can train for your class C+E license, and you must have a standard UK driving license before you can train for either of these. There are some age restrictions, as you have to be at least 18 to train for a class C license and over 21 for the class C+E. You also have to undergo a medical examination, which will include an eye test, to make sure that you are in good enough health to become a lorry driver.

HGV Driver Training - Theory Test

The process of training as an HGV driver in the UK is just like learning to drive a car, in that there is both a practical and theory test. In the theory test, you’ll answer a series of multiple choice questions that test your knowledge of the legal and practical aspects of being an HGV driver. This is followed by a hazard perception test, where you will be shown a series of video clips and have to click a button when you spot a hazard. There is a maximum score of 75 for the HGV theory test, with a pass mark of 50.

HGV Driver Training - Practical Test

For the practical test, you will be assessed on your ability to drive an HGV vehicle in a variety of conditions. This will include a variety of turning and reverse manoeuvres in a confined space and a period of road driving. The entire test typically lasts 90 minutes. Once you’ve passed both the practical and the theory test, you’ll have your license and you’ll be ready to start work with a haulage company.

Cost of HGV Driver Training

The cost of training as an HGV driver varies. If you already work for a haulage company, they may be able to train you with their own staff at a reduced cost. Independent training at a number of HGV training centres typically costs around £1000, half-day and full day lessons available. An intensive course of four or five full days is usually enough to get someone ready for the practical test.

Additional HGV Driver Training

From September 2009, you will also have to take the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) in order to train as an HGV driver. This will be a three part test, with two sets of multiple choice questions and a set of case study questions.

If you want to drive an HGV that is transporting hazardous materials, you will need to have an Advisory Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) certificate, which is valid for five years after which you have to take a refresher course. The initial course takes 5 days, and the refresher course 3. This qualification also increases your earning power, as lorry drivers who transport dangerous goods can potentially earn higher wages.

Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director of the Haulage Exchange. The exchange is for the heavy freight and logistics industry and offers haulage groupage for freight companies and owner operators all over the UK.