A career as a personal driver is one that is expected to offer many employment opportunities in the coming years, with excellent opportunities for self-employment. To become a personal driver, there are no specific educational requirements. Personal drivers will need a clean drivers license and some companies may require some work experience.
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Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft) Career Guide
Instead of being tied to a desk and chair all day you can get out and about on the road and enjoy the world around you. Yes, there may be times when you are stuck in traffic or stuck on motorways, but if you are an outdoors person you will enjoy the freedom of driving from one place to another.
Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft) Career Ratings
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Career
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Personal Growth
Contribution
Influence
Job Profiles
Real-Life Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft) Job Profiles
Below is a list of links to anonymous job profiles of REAL PEOPLE who have filled out our survey and offered to share their insights with our users about their job in the Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft) field.
| ID | Job Title | Gender | Age | Earnings | City & State | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33735 | Driver | Male | 30 | $27,000 | Van Nuys, NY | 01/01/2010 |
| 33266 | Taxi Driver | Male | 38 | $30,000 | Welches, OR | 01/01/2010 |
Overview
What a personal driver actually does
A personal driver provides safe and efficient transportation for passengers from one location to another. They work to make sure that the service they provide is comfortable and professional, all whilst keeping track of traffic and timing. A personal driver can work for an agency, corporation (such as Uber) or for an individual, and will use either their own vehicle or one supplied by their employer. Their typical duties will differ slightly depending on their employer but they can expect to be responsible for:
- Navigating their car (and the passengers on board) to the desired destination in the most effective way, all whilst providing professional customer service.
- Maintaining both the inside and outside of the vehicle to a high standard
- Fetching and welcoming clients at the beginning of their trip
- Loading and unloading clients’ possessions
- Complying with road regulations at all times. This means keeping on top of new laws and regulations
- Ensuring that clients’ identities and conversations remain confidential
Why they are needed
Personal drivers play a huge role in many society and in the transportation of all types of people from A to B. They are needed to assist those who can’t drive (e.g., due to a disability, not passing a test or another reason), to keep congestion lower in large cities by moving people around so that they don’t need their own cars and to help people get to airports, meetings or social events. The world is changing dramatically, and the demand for personal drivers is changing with it.
Pros and cons of a career as a personal driver:
Pros:
- There are no specific educational requirements to becoming a personal driver: you just need a clean driver’s license. Sometimes, you might need some relevant work experience
- Personal drivers are in increasing demand, meaning that there is not much competition for jobs
- It is a sociable and exciting job, where you get to see lots of different places and meet lots of different people
- There is the opportunity to be self-employed, which offers good flexibility
Cons:
- The hours can be the long and antisocial hours as personal drivers will be busiest in the evenings, at weekends and over the holiday period
- Personal drivers may face occasional unpredictable situations (e.g., traffic or accidents), which can be very frustrating
- Personal drivers may have to work with difficult clients. This may include ones that are rude, intoxicated or aggressive
- Lots of personal drivers are self-employed, meaning their income can sometimes be unstable
Employability
Job market
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of f taxi drivers, ride-hailing drivers, and chauffeurs is projected to grow 20 percent from 2018 to 2028, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. At the time of writing this, the BLS webpage is unavailable. However, it can be assumed that this employment growth is expected as cities are becoming bigger and more business orientated, meaning more cars are needed to get people around the city and in and out.
Career paths
The career path to become a personal driver is fairly straightforward. There are no specific educational requirements. Personal drivers will need a clean drivers license and some companies may require them to have some relevant work experience. Once you have both of these, you can begin to decide what type of personal driving you would like to do (e.g., Uber, Lyft, chauffeur).
Example Job Titles for Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft)
Below is a list of common job titles in the Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft) field. Click the links below for more information about these job titles, or view the next section for actual real-life job profiles.
Benefits & Conditions
Income and benefits
According to Neuvoo, the median annual salary for a personal driver in the United States is $58,500 or $30 an hour.
Autonomy and Flexibility
Personal drivers can become self-employed, which means they can have high levels of autonomy and flexibility. They can decide what hours they want to work, although they will have to be mindful of when the most money can be made. They can make decisions about the type of work they want to do/type of clients they want to work with and they can make their own decision on who to pick up and what routes to travel.
Locations and commute
Jobs are available for personal drivers worldwide. However, there will be more opportunities in larger cities or in more affluent areas, where people are more likely to rely on personal drivers than public transport. On top of this, as personal drivers often own their vehicle, the drive to work is easy and fuel is often subsidised, reducing costs.
Work environment
Personal drivers tend to work antisocial hours, as they will be in most demand in the early morning or evenings. Personal drivers tend to work solo, but they will often have the company of the clients that they are escorting.
Career Satisfaction
Common Matching Personality Types
Which personalities tend to succeed and thrive in Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft) careers? Based on our research, there is a relatively strong positive correlation between the following personality types and Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft) career satisfaction. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t many exceptions, of course, but if you fit into one of the following personality types then we suggest you give strong consideration to a career in Personal Driver (Uber, Lyft).
16 Types (Myers-Briggs)
- None
Big Five (OCEAN)
- None
DISC
Enneagram
- None
Holland Codes (RIASEC)
Personality types
The exact personality types that make a successful personal driver have not been explored. However, it is reasonable to assume that as personal drivers will need to follow state rules and regulations surrounding driving and adhere to their client schedules, they will most likely score high on conscientiousness.
To be a successful personal driver, you will need t0 be a responsible driver and therefore have minimal road traffic accidents. One study found that excitement seeking and aggression had an impact on the number of road traffic accidents due to the driving behaviours they cause. These results imply that to be a successful personal driver, you should display low excitement seeking and low aggression. On a similar note, drivers without driving violations express a higher need for personal control, show significantly less risk-taking in their behaviour, are more conforming and inclined to avoid novel sensations as well as socially-stimulating situations than those with driving violations. Based on the results of this study, drivers who have less accidents, therefore making them more successful personal drivers, are likely to show personal control, less risk-taking behaviour and will most likely be introverted.
Accomplishment and mastery
To become a personal driver, the educational requirements is minimal. Therefore, personal drivers can feel a high sense of accomplishment when they get a job and can start working and helping people each day.
Meaning and contribution
Personal drivers play a big contributing role in society as they help people get to where they need to be. When personal drivers get people to job interviews on time, to the airport safely so they can catch a flight to see their family or to their best friends wedding, they will see the true meaning of their work to the lives of many.
Life fit
Personal drivers are self-employed, so in theory the job should provide great life fit. However, the hours will choose you. Inevitably, you will be busiest during peak times when people are heading home. Similarly, you may have to travel far with certain clients. This means that you may potentially miss social events or family time. However, the hours can be made as flexible as you like.
Who will thrive in this career?
Those who thrive of social interaction will find great fulfilment and enjoyment from this career and are therefore likely to thrive. Similarly, those who like to travel and see different places will be enthusiastic about the job and are therefore likely to thrive. Those who do not get ‘road rage’ and become angry or frustrated are more likely to thrive as a personal driver too. This is because personal drivers will often find themselves in unforeseen circumstances (e.g., in traffic due to an accident, having a client who is late or cancels last minute).
Who will struggle in this career?
People who prefer more active jobs, such as a personal trainer, construction worker or a physiotherapist, may struggle with the very sedentary lifestyle that a personal driver lives. Similarly, those who don’t like interacting with people they don’t know or making ‘small talk’ may struggle as a personal driver. Finally, those looking for a typical 9 to 5 office job probably won’t thrive off the flexibility but instability that a career as a personal driver offers.
Requirements
Skills
Skills and talents
To be a successful personal driver, you must have excellent customer service and interpersonal skills as you will be transporting people around all day, every day. You will also need to show attention to detail, the ability to navigate and you will need an extensive knowledge of the local neighbourhood.
Education
The career path to become a personal driver is fairly straightforward. There are no specific educational requirements. Personal drivers will need a clean drivers license and some companies may require some work experience
Certifications
To become a personal driver, you will need a clean (e.g., no speeding offences or reckless driving offences) United States drivers license.
How to Become
Summary
A career as a personal driver is one that is thought to offer many employment opportunities in the coming years, with the opportunity for self-employment.
Immediate action
If you want to become a personal driver, then if you haven’t already, you should focus on getting your drivers license. After you have this, you can start thinking about applying for jobs.
Education and learning
The career path to become a personal driver is fairly straightforward. There are no specific educational requirements. Personal drivers will need a clean drivers license and some companies may require some work experience.
Skill development
Drivers may receive some basic training regarding how to use a sat nav, how to behave in unforeseen circumstances and how to interact with customers. However, many of the skills are learnt on the job.
FAQs
Ask a Question
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| ID | Job Title | Gender | Age | Earnings | City & State | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33735 | Driver | Male | 30 | $27,000 | Van Nuys, NY | 01/01/2010 |
| 33266 | Taxi Driver | Male | 38 | $30,000 | Welches, OR | 01/01/2010 |