HGV Driver CV Example and Writing Guide

For most drivers, use a reverse-chronological CV, putting your latest role first. If you are entering HGV driving or changing career, a skills-based format can bring relevant training and transferable experience forward. Aim for one or two pages, use plain headings and give recent roles three or four focused bullets.

Leave out your photo, date of birth, marital status, passport number, full street address and postcode. Add LinkedIn only when the profile is active and consistent with your application.

In the personal statement, name the type of work you have done, its scale and one result. In employment history, concentrate on recent contributions instead of copying a standard list of duties. Match the skills section to the advert while keeping every claim accurate. Present education briefly and make the relevant licence and role-specific qualification easy to find.

If you are changing career, connect delivery driving experience, mechanics, dispatch or route-optimisation experience directly to the vacancy. Keep your actual job titles and make the connection through evidence, such as delivery volumes, inspection work or route changes. This gives the recruiter a clear reason to consider your application without suggesting that adjacent work was HGV experience.

Treat each employment bullet as evidence, not as a copied job description. A useful structure is action + scope + result + defensible measure. Start with what you did, add enough context to show the volume or frequency, then state the outcome. Measures might include drops per shift, routes covered, on-time arrivals, delivery discrepancies, avoidable mileage, inspection frequency, defect-reporting time or paperwork accuracy. A clear count is often more convincing than a percentage whose basis is unclear.

These rewritten bullets identify the action, scale and outcome. They give concrete evidence of timely deliveries, vehicle checks, defect reporting and economical route changes. Other bullets could cover safe and fuel-efficient driving, correct documentation, load restraint, protection against theft or damage, restricted-space manoeuvring, trailer coupling, goods-handling equipment, transport IT systems or the resolution of delivery anomalies with customers and suppliers.

Choose precise verbs: delivered, completed, inspected, reported, secured, coupled, manoeuvred, planned, rerouted, recorded, resolved, protected and reduced. Use "managed" only when you genuinely managed people, schedules or a defined operation. Replace openings such as "helped with" and "involved in" with the action you personally took.

For a first HGV role, translate adjacent experience carefully. A van driver might quantify daily drops and delivery accuracy. A mechanic can record inspection and defect-diagnosis work. A dispatcher can show route volumes, schedule changes or reduced mileage. Keep the original title accurate and never present transferable work as direct HGV experience.

Give each recent, relevant position three or four bullets and put the strongest result first. Shorten older or unrelated roles; work more than 10 to 15 years old can usually be omitted. Tailor the wording to each advert by using relevant terms naturally, but retain the exact facts you can support.

List education and training in reverse-chronological order. Give the exact qualification or course name, provider and completion date. Applicants without direct HGV experience can place relevant logistics, transport or vehicle-maintenance education, courses, workshops, training programmes and earned commercial driving licences near the top.

For UK routes, new HGV professionals need a full car licence. HGV drivers driving lorries need an HGV driving licence, while professional goods-transport drivers are required to hold a vocational driving licence. HGV drivers also need a valid Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC). The initial qualification is the route to the professional driving qualification, which is evidenced by a Driver Qualification Card (DQC). Put applicable credentials where the recruiter can find them quickly and avoid an ambiguous entry such as "driving licence".

Qualified HGV drivers need 35 hours of driver CPC training every five years to stay qualified. They also need to renew their HGV driving licence every five years. Record each credential exactly as awarded and show relevant dates clearly. Do not merge different licence descriptions or claim a broader credential than the one you hold.

The Advisory Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) Certificate applies to HGV work involving hazardous goods. Include it only when you hold it and it is relevant to the vacancy; it is not a general credential for every HGV position.

For an intermediate HGV-driver apprenticeship in England, applicants will usually need some GCSEs, normally including English and maths, or equivalent. State the subjects and grades actually achieved, since the usual entry profile does not establish whether an individual application will succeed.