5 Things Wrong With Your Truck Driver Advertising (And How to Fix Them)

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truck driver advertising

Nine times out of ten, the recruitment process starts with advertising your jobs to truck driver candidates. With a tight labor market and high turnover across the trucking industry, carriers are starting to put an increased emphasis on this first part of the process. 

This issue is that many carriers either don’t advertise their jobs aside or have a dated advertisement process that isn’t bringing in the quality drivers they’d like. Here are 5 things wrong with your truck driver advertising and how to fix them.  

1. Not Including Driver Testimonials

You’ve boasted about your carrier’s benefits and perks on every possible advertising channel, but still aren’t getting many leads. Meanwhile, a competitor spends less on advertising but has stronger recruiting. What’s going on here? Most likely, they’re using driver testimonials are you’re not.  

A driver testimonial is a short video or quote from a driver where they talk about what they enjoy about working for your carrier. What makes these so important? Think about it from a driver’s perspective. Who are they more likely to believe: a fellow driver or a company? 

Peer recommendation is one of the strongest factors that can influence human behavior. That’s why your truck driver advertising should consistently include driver testimonials. These could be as simple as gathering quotes from your current drivers about why they like working for your carrier, or it can be as ambitious as compiling a short video of your drivers speaking freely on what they enjoy about the job.  

Here’s an example of a testimonial that shows some of the reviews that drivers left after using Drive My Way 

Aside from increasing the effectiveness of your job ads, driver testimonials can be used to build trust with drivers and leave you with a positive reputation. 

2. Using Only Print Media for Advertising

It’s not breaking news that print media is on the decline. While ads in newspapers and magazines may have been the primary advertising channel decades ago, readership has gone down significantly.  

While print media isn’t entirely dead, digital is definitely king now. If your carrier is still using print media as your main channel for job advertising, your first priority should be adjusting your advertising budget and resources accordingly.

3. Heavy Information Dumping

You’ve seen these ads everywhere: Ones with 20-30 bullets listing out every facet and minute detail of a job. But the more information available for prospective hires, the better, right? Think again. In that very early stage of the job search, driver candidates are usually just looking for a few pieces of key information so they can decide if they want to learn more about the position.  

While it’s important to make sure you’re including the most important information in your advertising, don’t make the mistake of clogging the ad with everything you can think of. Keep the most important information like CDL / endorsement requirements, pay, and route at the top of the ad and include details on benefits and equipment below.  

Take a look at our Truck Driver Job Description Template for more details on how to optimize the copy of your job ads.  

4. Not Utilizing Social Media

To simply call social media popular anymore is a gross understatement. It’s become so entwined with people’s lives that we almost can’t imagine life without it. This is why it’s important for carriers who are looking to reach more drivers through their job ads to build up a presence on these social media sites.  

But what does posting memes and pictures of your company events have to do with reaching more driver candidates? Think of it this way. A carrier that has built up a following of 3,000 drivers through their social channels can post a job ad and have it reach 3,000 drivers without spending a dime. For a carrier with no social media presence to get that kind of reach would cost serious money.   

For more information on how to build up your carrier’s social media presence, you can visit our blog on the subject.  

5. Not Partnering with a Job Distributor

Where the ad is placed is just as important as how it’s written. With hundreds of job boards and social media channels out there, it can be a pain to know where your time and resources are best spent to reach the drivers you’re looking for.  

Partnering with a recruiting platform like Drive My Way is the perfect way to get your jobs in front of qualified driver candidates.  We create customized advertising campaigns that reach drivers in the right place and the right time. Just like we did with Button Transportation, a family-owned and operated trucking company in California, that hired 10 new drivers within the span of just two months.   

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3 Ways to Increase Your Trucking Company’s Social Media Presence

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social mediaLike most everyone, truck drivers are all over social media. It’s where they connect with other drivers, share tips for being on the road, and discuss current happenings. It’s also where they look for jobs and research carriers.  

As a recruiting team, how can you use that to your advantage? You want to make sure that drivers looking at your company come away with a positive impression, but that’s easier said than done. Here are 3 ways to strengthen your trucking company’s social media presence.  

Be on the Right Channels  

The first step is to make sure you’re in the right places to find drivers. While there isn’t much new data on what social media platforms truckers are on the most, you can find a lot of drivers using Instagram, Facebook, and now TikTok. 

The newest social platform, TikTok can be difficult for carriers to get on, as the majority of content is user-generated videos, and creating that on a regular basis takes a lot of resources. Facebook and Instagram on the other hand are easier social channels to manage and post on. You probably already have a Facebook, and maybe an Instagram account, but whether you’re leveraging them for their recruiting value is a different question.  

We were able to talk with April Smith, Driver Recruiter with Drive My Way client, Lansing Building Products. April told us about what Lansing posts on their social channels and how that helps attract drivers. 

April Smith,
Driver Recruiter,
Lansing Building Products

What kind of content does your company post on social media?

“We post company news and events, job postings, associate highlights and achievements, product, and customer accomplishments.”

What social media platforms is your company present on?

“We’re currently active on Indeed, LinkedIn, and Twitter.”

How does the content you post support your company’s recruiting efforts?

“Our social media presence promotes our company culture, engages job seekers, and helps attract top talent.”

Lansing BP’s recent Instagram post, celebrating Mother’s Day

Is there a certain kind of content that does particularly well?

“Photos and videos of our people do very well. A great example of this was our recent Mother’s Day post that shared pics of Lansing Mom’s and their kids.”  

What is the overall goal for your company’s social media presence?

“We want to build brand awareness and boost brand engagement through social media. We want people to have a genuine feel for our people, our culture and what makes Lansing Building Products a great place to work.”

3 Ways to Engage with Truck Drivers Using Social Media 

Driver Testimonials

Maybe the most powerful tool when it comes to social media recruiting, driver testimonials are great at showing potential candidates why your company is a great place to work. What makes this content so powerful is that it comes from a source that drivers trust.  

Many drivers have been misled in the past by recruiters. So, when a recruiter tells them all the great things about driving for a company, there’s a good (and reasonable) chance that they’ll be skeptical. They’ll be more receptive of that same message if it comes from a fellow driver. 

There’s a few different ways to driver testimonials. The most common is to ask drivers to send in a short video about why they enjoy working for your carrier. The other is to film drivers on site. Both are great, but asking drivers to send in a short video is usually more cost-effective, as you won’t have to pay for or rent video equipment. These videos also have an amateur feel that comes across as more authentic.

Mission Statement Video

One minute to show what your company is, what they do, and why they do it. That’s what a mission statement video is. These videos are used to give visitors to your social media pages (including prospective driver candidates) a bird’s eye view of your company. 

Mission statement videos should be short and to the point. B-roll footage of company trucks, drivers, and your building over a narration of your mission statement is a great way to go. If you’re unable to do video, you can do the same thing with still images. 

Consider pinning this video to the top of your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn page. Many visitors to your page may want to get a quick overview of your business, and this is a great way to do it. 

Company Culture Posts

It’s always better to show than it is to tell. Sure, you can tell a driver that your carrier has a great company culture, but that probably won’t stick in their head. Using social media to show your company culture is a great way to send a message that will resonate with them throughout the recruiting process. 

Do you have any after work events? Parties during workdays? Do you celebrate work anniversaries for drivers? Documenting these events on social media is a great way to get engagement and showcase to drivers what it’s like to work for your company.  

The best thing about social media is that there’s very little (if any) cost to it. You can experiment with different post types to see what gets the best engagement with drivers and go from there.

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Ultimate Guide to Truck Driver Recruiting

Current ways of recruiting truck drivers just don’t work anymore. That’s because recruiting isn’t a transaction. This ultimate guide helps carriers recruit for retention.
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Why Exit Interviews are a Must for Trucking Companies

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exit interviewAt this point, the trucking shortage has become the normal state of things. It’s widely understood that the demand for truck drivers is much higher than the supply of drivers looking for jobs. Because of this, trucking companies are doing whatever they can to keep current drivers happy and bring new ones onboard. This includes pay increases, newer trucks and equipment, increased home time, and more. 

As great as these advances have been, drivers are still leaving jobs at a high rate. This can be frustrating for carriers, especially when they don’t know why drivers are leaving their company. It’s also why exit interviews can be a very useful tool when recruiting and retaining drivers.  

What is an Exit Interview?

An exit interview is an interview with an employee who is planning on leaving your company. The exit interview is usually done on the employee’s last day or last week but can also happen shortly after the driver leaves the company. 

Why Exit Interviews are Important

Exit interviews are used to understand the reasons that drivers are leaving your company. These reasons may be related to compensation, benefits, home time, schedule, equipment, route, type of haul, company culture, or leadership.  

Exit interviews are also one of the best ways to uncover problems that are going unnoticed in your company. While many times, a driver is simply leaving for better pay, it could be for reasons related to how your company runs or even a problem with a specific co-worker.  

For instance, your drivers could be having issues with a certain dispatcher or supervisor that management or HR isn’t aware of. It’s possible for things to get so bad that drivers start looking for other opportunities because of it. For a company that conducts exit interviews, this problem could be solved after an exit interview with the first driver who left. For a company who doesn’t, they may lose 4 or 5 drivers before they get wind of the real reason they’re leaving.  

How to Conduct an Exit Interview

There are a few different ways companies can conduct exit interviews, some do it on site while the driver is still with their company. Others can be done at a public place shortly after they’ve left, but this is less common.  

As for who should conduct an exit interview, it’s a good idea for it to be someone in HR or another neutral party. Drivers may be more honest with them as opposed to interviewing with someone they directly reported to or higher management. 

Be sure to affirm with the driver that anything they say will remain anonymous. While some drivers may not care whether it is or not, some might, so it’s a good practice to let them know that before the interview starts.  

Also, make sure to keep track of what drivers say in exit interviews. This way, you can start to look for trends across departments and your company as a whole.  

It’s also possible for a driver to say no to doing an exit interview in the first place. But, unless they’re leaving on very bad terms, most times they’ll agree.  

What Next?

After the exit interview is arguably the most important part of the process. Now, you must act on what you’ve learned. Look through your findings to pin down possible trends in why drivers are leaving, especially if you’ve recently had a mass exodus. 

While it’s not always possible to immediately fix every issue mentioned in these interviews, it’s important to do what you can quickly to avoid losing any other drivers. Plan to meet with key decision makers in your company to present what you’ve learned and plan from there. 

While it’s never good news to hear that you’ve has lost a driver, conducting exit interviews is a vital part of the process. It gives your company the valuable information you need so that you won’t have to do as many in the future.  

10 Questions to Ask Drivers During an Exit Interview

Exit interviews can be a very useful tool when recruiting and retaining drivers. Download this free template to learn what questions you should be asking during your next one.

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Why Trucking Companies Offer Paid CDL Training

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CDL Training
Paid CDL training is a program offered by carriers where they pay for a driver’s CDL training in exchange for the driver working for the carrier for a designated amount of time after they finish the program. This can be anywhere from a few months to a few years. These programs are very popular with carriers who need a large workforce of drivers. 

What Do Trucking Companies Include in CDL Training?

A traditional training will usually be anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months. It offers students behind the wheel experience along with classroom instruction as well. Some companies also offer payment to students while they’re enrolled in the program.  

While very large carriers may be able to hire a training department and fund a CDL training program themselves onsite, this may not be a reality for every carrier. That’s why some carriers choose to partner with already-established public trucking schools. The carrier will pay the driver’s way through the offsite CDL school and then work for the carrier after they’re finished. 

We spoke with the Recruiting Team for Drive My Way client, Sysco Asian Foods. They told us about the paid CDL training program they have in place and how it has positively impacted their recruiting efforts. 

“We started offering paid CDL training to create a career path for employees to become long-term CDL A delivery drives with us. New hires will work with us for 30-60 days to learn the unloading/delivery skills, the products, equipment, etc. If they prove to be successful, we will send them to school to get their CDL. There is a 1-year commitment on their end after completing the program. We feel that offering this type of program for our employees gives our benefits package a competitive edge compared to other carriers,” shared Sysco’s Recruiting Team.

What Drivers Does Paid CDL Training Attract?

In general, it will attract newcomers to the trucking industry, and specifically your company. While they don’t have experience, these drivers are eager to start their career in trucking. Private trucking schools can be expensive, so having the option of getting their CDL for free is a great investment that many new drivers won’t be able to pass up.  

Aside from new drivers, it can also attract former drivers who have been away from the industry for a while. These drivers will need to get their CDL again, and many will find it advantageous to attend another training before they take the test. Instead of paying a private institute like they might have done the first time; they may want to go to companies proving CDL training. 

What are the Benefits to Offering Paid CDL Training?

Drivers in seats is the biggest benefit to offering paid CDL training. If you’re a driver recruiter working with a large carrier, you understand the effects of high turnover and how important it is to have trucks filled at all times. Offering to jumpstart someone’s career with next to no financial putdown is a great tradeoff for new drivers, especially when you consider the high price of public trucking schools.  

Retention is another obvious benefit when considering paid CDL training. Aside from the driver staying with your carrier for the agreed upon time after training, studies show that employees in all industries tend to stay at companies where training and education are priorities. A LinkedIn study found that 94% of employees said they would stay at a company that invested in their career development. 

While every recruiter loves experienced drivers, they can sometimes come with bad habits from previous carriers. In most circumstances, this won’t matter much, but if it’s a bad habit related to safety and compliance, it could end up costing your carrier big down the road. With paid CDL training, you’re not only training new drivers on the basics to get their CDL, but on your carrier’s specific rules and guidelines as well.  

Offering paid CDL training is a win for both the carrier and the driver. They’re getting a jumpstart on their career without student loans hanging over their heads while the carrier is getting a reliable driver to join their ranks. 

ultimate guide to retaining truck drivers

Ultimate Guide to Retaining Truck Drivers

You work so hard to recruit the best truck drivers for your fleet. The trick is retaining them. This guide is packed with tips for retaining your fleet.

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How to Keep Driver Candidates Engaged

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Whether you believe in the “driver shortage” or not, one thing is certain. Drivers have more leverage than ever before when it comes to job searching. As a recruiter, this can put you in the difficult situation of trying not to lose quality candidates. This can be especially hard if your organization’s hiring process takes a bit longer than others. Luckily, as a driver recruiter, there are things you can do to keep drivers engaged throughout the hiring process. 

Follow-Up Quickly

This has been stressed many times before, but the impact responding quickly has on recruiting can’t be overstated. Besides saving your company time and money, following up quickly with quality drivers is the first and most important way to keep drivers engaged throughout the hiring process. For a candidate who’s talking with multiple recruiters and trying to narrow down who they want to drive for, taking hours or days to respond will put your company at the bottom of that list.  

Also, make sure you’re using multiple channels when communicating with drivers. You never know which could be best for them, whether that’s via phone call, text, or email, so it’s recommended you try each. When you do connect with the driver, ask him or her which channel works best for them!  

Responding quickly is important even when a candidate isn’t what you’re looking for. Besides being unprofessional, not responding could spur them towards letting others know about their experience, which could snowball into an overall poor reputation for your company. 

Be in Constant Communication

If you’re talking to a qualified driver, chances are you’re not the only recruiter doing so. Instead of calling once or sending one text, then giving up if you don’t get a response, set a reminder to contact the driver multiple times. It’s possible that they just lost you in the shuffle with the other recruiters they’re talking to. Remember, you have nothing to lose by reaching out one more time. Worst case scenario, the driver doesn’t respond. Best case scenario, you now have a strong candidate for an open position. 

Schedule Next Steps Quickly

Instead of going back and forth with a candidate to figure out a time, check your calendar first. Then give the driver a list of two or three dates and times for the interview. Or you can use a calendar app to allow the driver to quickly schedule a time that’s best for them. Note: be prepared for a call or interview outside of standard business hours, as that may be the best time for drivers!  

The key here is to do what you can to make it easier for the driver. It may seem like a small change, but for a candidate who’s interviewing with multiple companies, it can be the difference between being ghosted and setting up an interview with a quality driver. 

Give a Realistic Job Preview

Once a driver is firmly along in the interview process, it’s a great time to share with them a realistic preview of what driving for your company looks like. We spoke to Jason Crowell, Director of Recruiting for Drive My Way’s client, Custom Commodities Transport about this realistic job preview.

“We never want a Recruiter to oversell the job to bring a Driver in under false pretenses. As a matter of fact, we share our “realistic job preview” to tell Driver candidates about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the job. “

Every candidate can’t fit into our jobs, and it’s the Recruiters’ job to help with that all-important selection. The Recruiter should really be listening to what the Driver wants and needs to identify if there is a mutual fit,” shared Jason.

This job preview could testimonials from current drivers or an article or video that showcases your company culture. The important thing here is to do what you can to make sure the driver knows what they’re walking into on day one. 

Eliminate Interview Disorganization

Have you ever done multiple rounds of interviews with a company and been asked the same thing by three different people? This probably didn’t give you a great impression of the company you were interviewing with. The same goes for drivers interviewing with your company. Make sure that all team members taking part in the interview process are on the same page about what questions have been asked or should be asked. This shows that your carrier is organized and has a cohesive hiring process. 

While keeping driver candidates engaged can be a difficult task, it’s not a complex one. Being prompt, professional and using common sense where needed will greatly increase your chances of bringing quality drivers into your fleet. 

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Avoid Truck Drivers Ghosting Your CDL Jobs

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truck driver ghosting
Have you ever been talking with a driver, where everything seems to be going well? You’re emailing back and forth, going over the details of the position, and then seemingly out of nowhere, they stop responding. You send a follow up email, thinking your previous one slipped through the cracks, but once again, you get nothing back. It looks like this is a classic case of Truck Driver Ghosting.  

What is Truck Driver Ghosting

Ghosting is when a person stops responding and disappears altogether, like a ghost. The term is most often used in the dating world, but the same thing happens in recruiting daily.  

Jason Kent Crowell

Jason Kent Crowell Custom Commodities Transport

Truck Driver Ghosting has been on the rise over the past few years across the U.S. But, in the trucking industry where demand for drivers is at an all-time high, it’s even worse. We spoke with Jason Crowell, Director of Recruiting for Drive My Way’s client Custom Commodities Transport, and he shared his perspective on driver ghosting. 

“A Truck Driver is likely talking to 4 or 5 driver recruiters at once in their job search, saying yes to one of them, and leaving the other recruiters hanging.  We call it “ghosting” and it’s on the rise, contributing to the recruiter’s stress,” shared Jason. 

Why Do Drivers Ghost Recruiters?

There are two big reasons that drivers are ghosting recruiters more than ever. The first is that it’s much easier to do so than it was in the past. Social media and digital communication in general have laxed our sense of professional courtesy when it comes to replying. It’s much easier to simply not respond to someone than it is for a driver to spend a few minutes writing out an email explaining that he or she is no longer interested in the position.  

The second reason is that drivers can be much more selective about their jobs than they could in the past. A qualified and experienced driver looking for a job is likely talking to multiple recruiters at the same time. When the driver finally select the job that’s right for them, they’ll simply stop responding to the other recruiters.  

How to Stop Being Ghosted?

truck driver ghosting

So, as a recruiter how do you avoid being ghosted? 

Focus on the Right Drivers

The first step here is to be able to discern active and passive drivers. The simple explanation is that active drivers are ready and looking for employment right now. Passive drivers may be looking at opportunities but aren’t ready to make the jump into a new role.  

Asking a few simple questions during your first contact with a driver will usually help you discern whether they’re active or passive. While it’s important to nurture passive leads, knowing the difference and pursuing active drivers will often be the difference between getting ghosted or not.  

Move Quickly

In the current state of driver recruiting, speed is everything. You can bet that any driver looking for a job right now is talking to more than one recruiter. The best way to keep yourself from getting ghosted is to be quick when you reach out initially and be quick when you respond. Aside from not missing out on top drivers, moving quickly through the recruitment process has also been shown to decrease costs for businesses.  

Being timely is not only beneficial during the recruitment process. It’s the perfect way to set the tone of professionalism from your organization right off the bat. Just like drivers can impress by showing up to interviews early and sending a proactive “thank you” email, you can do the same with prompt responses. 

Avoid the Back and Forth

Avoiding needless back and forth emails is another way to avoid ghosting. If you and a driver have been sending emails for a week and a half about small details of the position, that can lead to frustration on their end and eventually ghosting. Try and set up one or two calls where you and the driver go over all the info either of you need regarding the position.  

Talk to Your Current Drivers

Your current drivers are definitely your biggest resource in avoiding ghosting. As people who have gone through your recruiting process and joined your company, they have a unique perspective. They can tell you what they enjoyed about the experience, what would have made it better, and what they disliked about other recruiting processes where they didn’t take the job.  

Truck Driver Ghosting is a symptom of the much larger problem of driver shortages across the country. While there’s nothing you can individually do about that, following these tips gives your company the best chance to bring on qualified and experienced drivers and avoid being ghosted.   

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4 Ways to Engage Drivers as a Small Trucking Business

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4 Ways to Engage Drivers as a Small Trucking BusinessAccording to Drive My Way’s Truck Driver Happiness and Retention Survey, only 54% of surveyed drivers say they are happy with their job. Younger and newer drivers expressed higher levels of happiness than older, more experienced drivers. In addition, females expressed higher satisfaction levels as did those working for larger companies.
Beth Potratz

Beth Potratz, CEO of Drive My Way shares: “Too many CDL drivers are not happy with their job. A truck driver’s life and job are inextricably connected, therefore it’s critical their job fits their needs and preferences so they can live the life they want doing the job they love.”

Taking that research into account, you might also wonder how the size of the employer might affect happiness and retention. What might make a smaller company an attractive place for a driver to work? What gives small carriers an advantage over larger carriers? In this case, there’s plenty of things that a smaller company can use to its advantage when working to recruit and retain great truck drivers. Here we’ll take a look at 4 little ways to engage drivers at a small trucking business.

1. Show Drivers You Care

Showing signs of appreciation for your drivers should be part of any company’s overall culture. Though grand gestures of appreciation are usually well-received, it’s the smaller things that standout. The things that make life easier on a daily basis that can make the most difference. A simple thank you goes a long way to keep employees feeling appreciated and engaged. Investments in continuing driver education help driver know you value them. Being respectful of scheduling requests makes your drivers feel respected. These are the little things that a small trucking business can do well to compete for driver loyalty. Take a look at the list below, which of these things do you use to your advantage?

Small trucking companies have the following advantages:

  1. Know your drivers by name
  2. Family-first culture
  3. Flexibility
  4. Close-knit teams
  5. Less layers and bureaucracy
  6. More meaningful interactions
  7. Plenty of opportunity to grow

2. Open Lines of Communication

Communicate with drivers effectively and ask to hear their opinion on crucial topics such as compensation, equipment, and home time. Showing that you care about your drivers is important. If you give your drivers ways to supply their feedback, this can encourage further driver engagement as well.

As a small trucking business, you can really highlight the intangibles that make working for you attractive. If you’ve got a great home time policy, be sure to include and communicate that. Tell prospective employees about the things you provide that larger carriers cannot. These indirect forms of compensation are something to communicate when recruiting new drivers.

Whenever someone is asked for their opinion on something that’s important, it makes them more connected to the decision-making. And ultimately connected and invested in the way the company performs. All of these things add to the value perceived by your drivers, and should be communicated as a part of their total compensation when they join your team.

3. Prioritize What Makes Drivers Happy

Does it matter if drivers are happy? Drive My Way’s Truck Driver Happiness and Retention Survey indicates that driver job satisfaction, retention, and recruiting are strongly interconnected. Not only are happy drivers more likely to stay with your company, but they are also more likely to recommend and help recruit your next driver hire.

Asking your employees about happiness is a great indicator of turnover risk. Investing in the satisfaction of your drivers can have a big payoff in both retention and recruiting.

Driver Happiness Factors

What makes a driver happy?

This graphic from the Truck Driver Happiness and Retention Survey shows what makes truck drivers happy, and which factors impact their retention more than others.

Are you making these things a priority in your current driver strategy? What changes should you make?

4. Advancement Opportunities

There are a few great ways to help a new driver know that if they join your carrier, they can have long and fulfilling career with you. Implementing mentorship programs and having a driver career path established will help a driver picture how they will fit in and grow with your company over the long-haul.

Mentorship programs are great tools for your small trucking business. They help engage new drivers by having a designated person to show the the rope. And it also gives your current drivers an opportunity to share what they know to help a new driver get established. These relationships can be very mutually beneficial for the drivers, and certainly valuable for company culture and employee retention.

Having a mentor, and also having an established career path to follow can help a driver become connected early and know that they’ve made a great decision to be with you for many years and many, many miles.

If you’re just getting started, or if you’re a well-established small trucking business, you most certainly have advantages to use in your favor while building your team of drivers. Lean into the strengths and advantages that are unique to a trucking company of your size and do the things that larger carriers simply cannot. Word of mouth is a great tactic to help you attract and retain drivers when you’re small or just getting started.

driver happiness and retention survey

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Are You Making the Most of Training CDL Drivers?

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Are You Making the Most of Training CDL Drivers?

Ongoing training is essential in any workplace. The trucking industry is no exception. You work hard to recruit and hire the best team of professional truck drivers you can find. So it’s very important to keep their skills sharp and keep them up-to-date on training requirements. You can offer many types of training, and various methods to conduct the training sessions. The key is to make sure the training sticks and is sustainable. So here are a few ways to be sure you’re making the most of training CDL drivers.

Purpose of the Training

Workplace training isn’t always every employee’s favorite thing to do on the job. Some employees see it as a chore, and some see it as an important benefit of the job. So you want to ensure that you’re providing training for the right reasons. And at the right time. What is the purpose of the training? Why are you offering it now? You need these answers before you start any planning. If you go into planning before you have your needs and goals clearly defined, you might wind up creating confusion in the workplace. If you’ve got these things well thought out, your training will be much more impactful and more well-received.

Types of Training

The Quick Guide to Remote OnboardingThere are several diverse ways you can execute training. You can bring in a trainer and conduct training live and in-person with a large group. In addition, you can offer opportunities for group training online or individualized online training. You want to make sure the delivery matches up well with your driver’s needs and workplace conditions. Find ways to best leverage your current resources to offer training. Training CDL drivers in a group setting might not be very feasible at this time, but online options might be a better fit right now.

Stay Ahead of Needs

Anticipating your long-term training needs and planning accordingly can go a long way to stretch your training budgets and positively impact your business. Pricing for training planned well in advance is usually at a cost savings vs. needing to get a trainer lined-up at the last minute for an emergency session. Your best strategy is to document upcoming needs and plan training out at least a few months in advance. This will help ensure best pricing and no schedule surprises to your team.

Training For the Long Term

When investing in training, it’s important to make sure that you’re setting up a plan for the long term. If you need to bring in resources from the outside to train your team, ensure that you’re appointing team members to become leads for the new training to keep the new learnings alive and well. Be prepared to have these team leads help with training new employees on these topics or reinforcing the training to keep the learning fresh and evergreen within your team.

When you’re working to plan your training for your employees, think about how this will help your overall recruitment and retention plans. Find ways to include topics in training that you can use to clearly showcase why working for your company is a good choice for any candidate to come onboard.

ultimate guide to retaining truck drivers

Ultimate Guide to Retaining Truck Drivers

You work so hard to recruit the best truck drivers for your fleet. The trick is retaining them. This guide is packed with tips for retaining your fleet.

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4 Tips for a Successful Driver Safety Program

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4 Tips for a Successful Driver Safety Program

Truck driver safety is of the utmost importance in the trucking industry. Keeping your drivers safe, and your fleets moving are the keys to any successful trucking company. Every trucking company should have a documented driver safety program as a best practice. So whether you’re a company with a great safety history, or a newer carrier just getting things started, here are 4 tips for putting together a successful driver safety program.

1. Make Safety Everyone’s Responsibility

The best way for any carrier to operate is with a comprehensive approach to safety. It’s not the job of the owner or the individual drivers to make sure that safety is a priority. It’s everyone’s responsibility. Safety should be baked into the foundation of the company, and communicated both internally and externally. If not, it’s always going to fall to someone else to take care of it.

Having safety as part of your carrier’s culture is a terrific way to show drivers that you care about them. It can help you attract good drivers, and keep your drivers with you for the long haul.

2. Seat Belt Programs

Wearing seat belts is important. Some might say that seat belt wearing is the most important thing all drivers should do to be safe over the road. So making sure that every driver, and passenger in the cab, wears their seat belt is a good idea.

There are seat belt detection options that can pay dividends when utilized. Adding these options to your overall driver safety program can reap great benefits over time.

3. Offer Rewards for Safety

Make sure your drivers have some skin in the game, as the saying goes. If drivers have good safety protocols to follow, give them a reward for doing their part. There are a number of ways for carriers to implement rewards that can help your drivers feel recognized for doing a great job. And these rewards can be as simple or grand as your imagination and budget allow.

Simple things like recognition boards for doing things right daily are a great idea. Or for those drivers that achieve big safety milestones, celebrate those more visibly.

4. Document Your Driver Safety Program

If the driver safety program at your company is not formally compiled and readily available for everyone, it’s not worth very much. Like most HR policies, this one should be written out and distributed to everyone, so that there’s no confusion as to what’s in it, or where employees can find it. Add this program to your formal employee review process. Be clear when communicating changes to the program. This way it’s clear for everyone to know they’ve got the most current version.

Writing your program down avoids confusion. And it ensures that everyone who needs to see it, is able to see it.

Your truck driver safety program can be a foundational part of your culture and the way the you run your company. It can help with both your truck driver recruitment and retention over time. Showing drivers that you care about their safety can make drivers feel like a more valued part of the company. To learn more about retaining your good truck drivers, get the guide below.

ultimate guide to retaining truck drivers

Ultimate Guide to Retaining Truck Drivers

You work so hard to recruit the best truck drivers for your fleet. The trick is retaining them. This guide is packed with tips for retaining your fleet.

Get the Ebook

3 Tips for Writing a Strong Truck Driver Job Description

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truck driver job description

Two things quickly rise to the surface as the most important features of a good truck driver job description: transparency and specificity. While your post may be engaging and well written, if it’s not transparent and specific, you will struggle to fill the position. Most drivers have been in the industry for years and have worked for multiple employers. They will quickly detect if there is information you are trying to hide or embellish. Once you’ve perfected the content, optimize the non-content aspects of your post and publish it. 

Based on our most successful companies and feedback from our drivers, here are the most important tips for writing a strong truck driver job description.

1. Be transparent

This is essential. When drivers look at your job description, they want to know exactly what you are offering. No surprises later on. As an employer, it can be intimidating to clearly note every critical part of your job offering, but transparency and specificity are key. Whether you’re a big or small company, know your strengths and talk about them. Do you offer great benefits? Above average pay? Are you particularly mindful of getting your drivers home on time? Talk about it. Don’t sugar coat hard truths or try to hide things (they’ll know), but do focus on the positive.

If you’re having a hard time retaining drivers, odds are high that a lack of transparency is contributing. Consider this: if your post does not perform well, you need to know that data more than ever. A transparent post allows you to properly A/B test to understand how to connect with drivers. Perhaps you need to increase pay to recruit drivers. Not an option? What other benefits can you offer to entice them? 

2. Be specific

Drivers want to know exactly what your job entails and offers. Being specific in your truck driver job description increases understanding of your job and trust in your company. If you’re more specific, drivers feel more confident that nothing is being intentionally hidden.

lead to hire process

Specificity goes beyond including the line items that are listed below. Drivers want to know not only that you pay $0.55/mile or $25 per hour, but also what that means for their average weekly pay or annual pay. In a competitive hiring landscape, simply listing an hourly rate or CPM isn’t enough to bring in new drivers—they want to know the total compensation details.

Similarly, if you offer some weekends home, consider sharing that drivers will work the first weekend of the month and be home for the rest. This may be more information than your company can realistically provide (again, stay transparent!), but companies who are more specific have the advantage. 

3. Putting it all Together

Every truck driver job description should include:

Compensation

– CPM or hourly rate, per diem, and overtime (if applicable)
– Average weekly miles (if applicable)
– Average weekly pay or average yearly pay
– Sign-on, referral, safety, or performance bonus

Tip: Pay, miles, and home time are typically the most important things to a driver. Leading with this information and providing as much detail as possible will make driver applicants happy.

Benefits Package

– Health, dental, and vision insurance details. Include start date for benefits
– Life and disability insurance
– Paid onboarding and/or paid training
-401(k) plan and employer contribution

Equipment: Type & Amenities

– Make, model, and year of the truck
– Manual or automatic
– Features and/or amenities

Tip: Some drivers only prefer jobs with specific equipment, so the details here are important.

Schedule & Home Time

– Schedule (if applicable)
– Home time: daily, 2 days per week, weekends, once a week, etc.
– Take home truck program (if applicable)

Other Job Details

– Perks including fuel card, EZpass, Sirius XM Radio, lodging, showers, etc.
– Truck with pet/spouse

Minimum Qualifications and Requirements

– License type (and endorsements) needed with minimum years of experience
– Record needed to apply, including if you hire felons
– Hiring radius requirements

Tip: Reiterating some details like endorsements, location, etc. is helpful to attract the right drivers.


These are the criteria that are most likely to make a driver decide to join your team, so don’t hide anything. Add these details near the top of your posting and make sure they are very visible. Crowding this information in a long paragraph will cause drivers to skip your posting all together. 

truck driver job description template

FREE RESOURCE

Truck Driver Job Description Template

Your job description can either convert or lose applicants. Follow this template to make sure you’re on the right track.

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