Peak season can put pressure on every part of a fleet’s operation, but staffing problems become especially difficult when freight volume increases faster than the driver workforce can support it.
Whether your busiest months are driven by holiday freight, retail demand, produce season, construction, or another industry cycle, waiting until volume starts climbing to recruit additional drivers can leave your team competing for candidates at the same time as other carriers. By then, recruiters may be trying to fill urgent openings while operations teams are already dealing with scheduling gaps, overtime, and capacity concerns.
A stronger approach is to prepare for seasonal demand before it becomes an immediate staffing problem. Fleets that understand where their recruiting challenges are likely to occur and begin building candidate pipelines early have more flexibility when freight picks up. Keep reading for five ways fleets can get ahead of peak season driver shortages.
Recruiting usually becomes more difficult when a hiring need turns urgent. If freight volume increases in November, for example, beginning a major recruiting push in November leaves little room for sourcing candidates, reviewing applications, completing background checks, scheduling orientation, and getting new drivers ready to work. Other fleets may also be increasing their hiring efforts at the same time, creating more competition for qualified CDL drivers.
Starting earlier gives recruiters time to build relationships with potential candidates before every opening needs to be filled immediately. It also gives fleets more freedom to evaluate candidates carefully instead of rushing the process because an empty truck needs a driver.
Consider working backward from your expected peak period and estimating how long your typical hiring and onboarding process takes. From there, recruiters can establish a timeline for increasing job advertising, outreach, referrals, and candidate follow-up.
Even when a fleet does not need every driver immediately, developing a pipeline of interested and qualified candidates can make it easier to respond when openings become available.
Identify Your Hardest-to-Fill Positions
Not every driving position is going to create the same recruiting challenge during peak season.
Some routes may already attract applicants consistently, while others remain difficult to staff because of location, home time, schedule, freight type, compensation, or job requirements. Looking at previous recruiting results can help fleets determine where shortages are most likely to occur.
Review your hiring data and talk with recruiters and operations teams about positions that repeatedly take longer to fill. You should pay particular attention to factors such as:
- Geographic areas with limited applicant pools
- Night, weekend, or irregular schedules
- Routes with less frequent home time
- Specialized endorsements or experience requirements
- Positions with higher physical demands
- Compensation packages that regularly lose candidates to competitors
Once those jobs have been identified, you can direct more recruiting resources toward them before they become urgent openings.
That might mean increasing advertising spend in a specific market, adjusting compensation, expanding the recruiting radius, creating a referral incentive for a particular location, or developing campaigns specifically around difficult routes.
During competitive hiring periods, drivers may review multiple opportunities within a short period of time. A job posting that leaves important details unclear can quickly lose their attention.
Drivers generally want to know what the position will mean for their paycheck and daily life. Make sure that information is easy to find.
A strong CDL job posting should clearly explain:
- Pay structure and realistic earnings
- Home time and typical schedule
- Route type and operating area
- Benefits and eligibility
- Equipment
- Freight type
- Touch or no-touch requirements
- Required endorsements and experience
- Sign-on, referral, or seasonal incentives when applicable
Try to avoid relying on phrases such as “competitive pay,” “great home time,” or “excellent benefits” when more specific information is available. Candidates should not have to speak with a recruiter before learning the basic conditions of the job.
Peak season also provides a good reason to review existing job postings and make sure the information is still accurate. If compensation, routes, benefits, equipment, or schedules have changed since the posting was created, update the description before increasing advertising spend.
A single source of applicants may work during slower hiring periods, but it can become a major limitation when a fleet suddenly needs to increase hiring.
Recruiting across several channels gives fleets more opportunities to reach drivers with different job-search habits. Some drivers regularly use trucking job boards, while others may respond to social media advertising, recruiter outreach, employee referrals, or targeted digital campaigns.
Depending on the positions you need to fill, your recruiting mix could include:
- CDL-specific job boards
- General employment websites
- Social media
- Direct recruiter outreach
- Driver referral programs
- Email or text campaigns
- Targeted digital advertising
- Previous applicants who may now be open to a new opportunity
Fleets should also track which sources generate qualified applicants rather than focusing only on application volume. One channel might produce a large number of leads but very few drivers who meet the job requirements. Another may deliver fewer applications but significantly stronger candidates. Reviewing that information before peak season can help recruiters make better decisions about where to invest additional time and budget.
From Applicant to Hire
Getting more applicants will not solve a staffing problem if qualified drivers are then just getting stuck in the hiring process.
During peak season, speed matters because strong candidates may be speaking with several carriers at once. Long applications, repeated requests for the same information, delayed recruiter responses, or unclear next steps can give another employer time to make an offer first.
It helps to review your application and hiring process from the driver’s perspective. Look for unnecessary steps that can be removed or combined, especially at the beginning of the process.
Drivers should also have a simple way to connect with a recruiter when they have questions. A candidate who is interested in the position should not have to submit multiple forms or wait several days before speaking with someone.
Recruiting teams can prepare for increased seasonal volume by establishing clear expectations for applicant follow-up, identifying which screening steps can happen earlier, and making sure recruiters have the information they need to answer common questions about each position.
Peak season driver shortages are much easier to manage when recruiting begins before freight volume reaches its highest point.
Starting early gives fleets time to build a stronger candidate pipeline, identify difficult positions, improve job advertising, test different recruiting channels, and remove unnecessary delays from the hiring process. Those preparations can give recruiters more options when demand increases instead of forcing them to solve every staffing problem at the last minute.
Drive My Way helps carriers connect with qualified CDL drivers based on the details that matter to both the fleet and the candidate. Talk to Drive My Way about building a driver recruiting strategy that can help your fleet prepare for peak season.
For more ways to stay ahead of the curve in the transportation industry, be sure to check out the rest of our Employer Blog posts and connect with us on social media.
