How To Become A Driver/Guide: What It Is and Career Path

What is a driver/guide 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 driver/guide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.53 an hour? That's $32,310 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 90,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDriver/GuideUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,310

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.3

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 10.01%

Black or African American 5.86%

Hispanic or Latino 10.63%

Unknown 5.36%

White 67.47%

Gender

female 22.66%

male 77.34%

Age - 28

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 - 28

Stress Level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.1

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.3

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a driver/guide

Explore driver/guide education requirements

Most common driver/guide degrees

Bachelor's

60.0 %

Associate

15.0 %

High School Diploma

14.3 %

Start to develop specific driver/guide skills

Skills	Percentages
CDL	50.04%
DOT	38.16%
Quality Customer Service	3.26%
Natural History	3.22%
Post-Trip Inspections	1.45%

Complete relevant driver/guide training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New driver/guides 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 driver/guide based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real driver/guide resumes.

Research driver/guide duties and responsibilities

Manage the canoe landing including guests, workers, and canoe traffic in a way that all run smoothly and safely.
Respond to medical emergencies include administering first-aid and relay requests for services and transportation of patients to medical emergencies or appointments.
Deliver customers to their destination/homes/doorsteps with luggage/baggage groceries

Prepare your driver/guide resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your driver/guide 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 driver/guide resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Driver/Guide Resume templates

Build a professional Driver/Guide 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 Driver/Guide resume.

Apply for driver/guide jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a driver/guide 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 driver/guides rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Driver/Guide reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

The ability to gain the trust of a customer to know satisfied and happy with the assignments set all personal belongings and artifacts have not been touched or moved and deliver to him one time it is a sure note for return business which Fields customer service and repetitive returns safety orientated and knowledgeable have a special detail and driving skills safety assured first and foremost

Cons

The sitting gets blow drug out sometimes I pretty much get all the ins and outs out of the way before I start the detail or accept the assignment so there's really no Lykes to say about I love my job

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019