Home/Glossary
Driver recruiting glossary
The vocabulary
behind the hire.
Every term a trucking fleet meets between posting a job and seating a driver — licenses, route types, compliance checks and funnel metrics — defined in plain English.
01 — What a driver has to hold, and the records a fleet checks before the hire.
License, records & compliance checks
CDL-A
The commercial driver's license class required for tractor-trailers.
Read the definition →CDL-B
The license class for straight trucks and large single vehicles.
Read the definition →CDL endorsements
Add-ons to a CDL — Hazmat, Tanker, Doubles/Triples — required for specific freight.
Read the definition →Non-domiciled CDL
A CDL issued to a driver who is not a permanent US resident of that state.
Read the definition →MVR (Motor Vehicle Record)
The driver's state-held driving record: violations, suspensions, accidents.
Read the definition →PSP (Pre-Employment Screening Program)
FMCSA's report of a driver's crash and inspection history.
Read the definition →DOT physical
The federally required medical exam behind a driver's medical certificate.
Read the definition →FMCSA Clearinghouse
The federal database of CDL drivers' drug and alcohol program violations.
Read the definition →02 — The kinds of work a driver signs up for — and why matching them matters more than volume.
Route and freight types
OTR (over-the-road)
Long-haul work: weeks out, irregular routes, the hardest seats to fill.
Read the definition →Regional trucking
Multi-state work within a region, usually home weekly.
Read the definition →Dedicated routes
Fixed lanes for a specific customer — predictable freight, predictable schedule.
Read the definition →Local driving
Home-daily work within a metro area or short radius.
Read the definition →Flatbed
Open-deck freight requiring securement work and extra skill.
Read the definition →Step deck
A two-level open trailer for freight too tall for a standard flatbed.
Read the definition →Reefer
Refrigerated freight — temperature-controlled, time-critical, appointment-heavy.
Read the definition →Dry van
The standard enclosed trailer — the biggest segment of trucking freight.
Read the definition →Drop and hook
Swapping trailers instead of waiting at docks — a selling point in postings.
Read the definition →Live load / live unload
Waiting at the dock while freight is loaded or unloaded.
Read the definition →03 — The paperwork, statuses and steps between an application and a driver in the seat.
Hiring & employment
DQ file (driver qualification file)
The federally required file proving each driver is qualified to drive.
Read the definition →Employment verification
Confirming a driver's prior carrier history — required, slow, and often the bottleneck.
Read the definition →Orientation
The onboarding event where hires become drivers — or don't show up.
Read the definition →1099 vs. W-2 drivers
Contractor vs. employee — two legal statuses that change the whole funnel.
Read the definition →Lease purchase
Driving under a lease-to-own truck agreement with the carrier.
Read the definition →Owner-operator vs. company driver
Driving your own truck for a carrier, versus driving theirs.
Read the definition →04 — The numbers that describe whether a driver recruiting funnel is working.
Recruiting metrics
Cost per hire
Total recruiting spend divided by drivers actually seated.
Read the definition →Cost per lead (CPL)
Ad spend divided by applications — the number that flatters bad funnels.
Read the definition →Contact rate
The share of leads a recruiter actually reaches.
Read the definition →Speed to lead
How fast the first real contact happens after an application.
Read the definition →No-show rate
Hires who accept — and never appear at orientation.
Read the definition →Time to hire
Days from application to a driver ready to dispatch.
Read the definition →Seated driver
The real unit of recruiting output: a driver in a truck, running freight.
Read the definition →Driver turnover rate
The churn of drivers a fleet must out-recruit just to stand still.
Read the definition →