How To Become A Dock Hand: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dock hand and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a dock hand. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.31 an hour? That's $31,840 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 358,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDock HandUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,840

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.4

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.19%

Asian 5.49%

Black or African American 12.41%

Hispanic or Latino 16.80%

Unknown 5.40%

White 58.72%

Gender

female 14.21%

male 85.79%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress Level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

4.7

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.4

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a dock hand

Explore dock hand education requirements

Most common dock hand degrees

Bachelor's

38.4 %

High School Diploma

37.5 %

Associate

14.6 %

Start to develop specific dock hand skills

Skills	Percentages
Boats	39.97%
Customer Service	21.53%
Unload Trailers	11.30%
Load Trucks	5.41%
RAN	3.42%

Complete relevant dock hand training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New dock hands learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a dock hand based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real dock hand resumes.

Research dock hand duties and responsibilities

Used an RF to scan merchandise.
Operate forklift to cross load LTL trucks.
Perform soldering and de-soldering of through hole and SMT components.
Track and place individual pieces of LTL freight in a warehouse setting.

Prepare your dock hand resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your dock hand resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a dock hand resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Dock Hand Resume templates

Build a professional Dock Hand resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Dock Hand resume.

Apply for dock hand jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a dock hand job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do dock hands rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Dock Hand reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2023

Cons

Long hours, weird hours. Physically demanding.