School Bus Driver Resume—Template, Examples, and Sample

Few jobs come with more responsibility than operating a 25,000-pound vehicle carrying seventy otherwise unsupervised kids on board. 

To prove you have what it takes—and to land the jobs with better hours, pay, and benefits—you need a school bus driver resume that overtakes the competition in one swift (yet 100% safe) maneuver.

In this guide:

• A school bus driver resume sample better than most.
• How to make the perfect school bus driver job description for resumes.
• How to write a resume for school bus driver jobs that stands out.
• Expert tips and examples to boost your chances of landing a school bus driver job.

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School Bus Driver Resume Example

School bus drivers operate medium to large buses to transport children to and from school. A successful school bus driver resume should prove you’re a responsible, safety-conscious person with appropriate driving experience. 

Here’s how to write a school bus driver resume that’s always on time: 

1. Format Your School Bus Driver Resume Correctly

First impressions are essential. Your resume should appear as trustworthy and professional as you at first glance. Here’s how to make that happen: 

School Bus Driver Resume Format

• Apply the standard resume format to your document (AKA the reverse chronological resume format). This means listing your most recent experience first and splitting your resume into these sections, in this order: profile, work experience, education, skills, and additional information. 
• Give each section a clear heading. 
• Use a resume font that’s easy to read, like Arial or Georgia, set to 10–12 points in size. 
• Set your resume margins to one inch on all sides to give your document a professional look and facilitate navigation. 
• Make a resume header that stands out from the page and includes your contact details. You can also use a sidebar or pick a free resume template with this formatting already in place. 
• Submit your resume as a PDF unless the job advertisement specifies a different format. 

Aim to cover everything on one page—that’s the ideal resume length for school bus driver roles. 

2. Start Your School Bus Driver Resume With a Profile Paragraph

Your resume profile paragraph should provide the reader with a summary of the best, most relevant parts of your job application. The idea is to condense your offer to the employer into 2–4 impactful sentences that convince the recruiter to read your resume. 

Here’s how to write a resume summary that ticks all the boxes: 

1. Start with an adjective (reliable, friendly, detail-oriented, safety-conscious)
2. Add your job title (school bus driver)
3. Mention your years of experience (2+, 5+)
4. State how you can help the employer if hired (seeking to apply skills towards ensuring safe and efficient transportation for the XYZ School District / Agency / Company)
5. Outline a couple of your most relevant accomplishments from previous jobs (drove a passenger bus for 5 years with zero incidents and no delays over 10 minutes)

If you don’t have the experience to write a summary like this just yet, don’t worry—You can start your resume with an objective instead. A resume objective statement is similar to a summary, except it relies on experience from unrelated jobs, education, projects, volunteering, and other sources to show your skills. As an entry-level candidate, you could highlight your driving record and transferable skills from different jobs, such as customer service, communication, and reliability. 

Whichever type of profile you go for, write it last. It’s hard to think of your best accomplishments off the top of your head—it’ll be much easier to start with your other resume sections and circle back to this one towards the end. 

3. Highlight Your Suitability for the Job in Your School Bus Driver Job Descriptions and Skills

You can’t take the recruiter on a bus trip to show off your driving techniques. So, how can you prove to them that you have the skills and qualities they need? 

The next best thing is writing a resume work experience section that justifies your abilities. 

Most people write one resume and send it repeatedly to various employers and even different types of jobs. You’ll take a more effective route by targeting your resume to the job advertisement. A custom-made job application may seem more work, but you’ll land a job this way after sending one or two resumes instead of 150+, so…

Here’s how to write a school bus driver job description for resumes: 

1. Reread the job ad. What skills does it mention? 
2. Make a list of those skills or highlight them in the ad. 
3. Think back to each of your previous jobs. When have you used those skills to complete a task or achieve a specific result? For example, if they want someone with good communication skills, can you say that you communicated effectively with parents, school officials, and passengers in a previous school bus driver role? 
4. Turn those examples into short bullet points—3 to 6 per job. Start each bullet with a strong verb (achieved, completed, maintained) and include numbers wherever possible. 

By taking this approach, you’ll 1. show the recruiter you have the exact skills they need, and 2. fill your resume with achievement statements rather than tedious ‘duties and responsibilities.’ 

Use the same strategy for your resume skills section—In selecting up to 10 skills, include at least some of the ones mentioned in the job ad. This is particularly important if you’re applying to a large organization—they’re likely to use computer software to scan resumes. 

ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) software will look for resume keywords or words from the job ad on your application. Adding those keywords to your resume sections will ensure your resume is ATS-friendly and more likely to reach the recruiter. 

Anyway, back to skills—here’s a list of common school bus driver resume skills to get you started: 

School Bus Driver Resume Skills

• Driving commercial vehicles
• Hand-eye coordination
• Communication skills
• Vehicle maintenance
• Customer service
• Defensive driving
• First aid knowledge
• Vehicle safety inspection
• Implementing safety rules
• Record maintenance
• Ability to stay calm under pressure
• Interpersonal skills
• Time management skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Crowd control
• Route planning
• Problem-solving skills
• Monitoring fuel consumption
• Conflict resolution skills
• Reliability
• Patience

Expert hint: Got lots of experience and wondering how far back to go on your resume? Around 10–15 years of most recent work experience will suffice. You can include older jobs if you want to, but don’t describe them at length—employers will be more interested in recent roles. 

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4. Mention Your Education

Before you start driving kids to school, you’ll have spent some time in the classroom yourself. Provide an overview of your education on your resume to give the recruiter a better idea of your background—

If you graduated from school or college more than three years ago, you need only list your highest level of education, the name of the school you attended, and your graduation date. 

Recent grads can add more detail—if you don’t have much work experience, listing activities under your education can help you fill your resume with relevant skills. Extracurriculars, projects, and academic achievements are all fair game. 

Expert hint: If you’re a recent high school graduate, keep in mind that while you can get a CDL at 18 (for driving intrastate), many employers require their school bus drivers to be of a certain age (typically 21 or 25) or to have a set number of years of driving experience (usually 3 years). 

5. Add Your Licenses and Other Information in Additional Resume Sections

Time for the final leg of the journey—Create additional resume sections for any other information you feel is worth sharing with the recruiter. 

An obvious (and, in your case, obligatory) addition is a resume section for your certifications and licenses. List your driving licenses and other certs in reverse-chronological order, starting with the most recent one. Include the name of the awarding body issuing institution (e.g., Arizona Department of Transportation) and the year. 

As for other sections you could include, consider mentioning: 

• Foreign languages you can speak at any level
• Memberships in professional associations
• Volunteering experience
• Your hobbies and interests, provided they’re in some way related to your job.

Give your resume a thorough post-trip inspection for typos—submitting a perfect resume shows your attention to detail. And, of course, write a cover letter as well—it should highlight your most relevant experience and motivation for wanting this particular job. It’s worth going the extra mile, even if the employer doesn’t specifically require a cover letter. 

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Key Points

Let’s go through a quick recap of how to write a successful school bus driver resume: 

• Format your resume for clarity and readability. The impression it makes will affect your entire job application, so make sure it looks and reads professionally. 
• Include a profile paragraph at the top of the page, giving the reader a shortcut to your most relevant strengths. 
• Write your work experience section based on the job advertisement, tailoring your accomplishments and tasks to suit the new employer's requirements. 
• Remember to mention your critical skills, education, licenses, and other relevant information. 
• Write a cover letter to accompany your resume—it’s an opportunity to show how much you care about getting this job. 

Thanks for reading! Hopefully, this guide has provided a direct route to a job-winning school bus resume. But if you have any unanswered questions, don’t hesitate to let us know—write us a comment, and I’ll be sure to get back to you!

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