How to Create a Better Trucking Recruitment Plan

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The most well informed recruitment plans have drivers at their core. In a finely tuned trucking recruitment plan, the needs and preferences of your drivers sit side by side with company logistics and priorities. First, listen closely to the questions, concerns, and priorities expressed by drivers. These are valuable insights that will help close leads. Similarly, marketing, budgeting, and technology are the infrastructure that supports the relationship between recruiters and drivers.

Start With Drivers

Developing trust with drivers requires a significant investment of time. Building a relationship with drivers takes multiple touchpoints, ideally on their schedule. That may mean making time during evenings or weekends to speak with drivers. In conversations with prospective drivers, be clear early on about pay, hours, home time, and other key details. Your total number of driver leads may decrease as a result, but it’s worth it. As a result, you will retain quality leads who are more likely to become hires.

Ask drivers what attracted them to your job post and, when relevant, why they are no longer interested. Then, use this data to refine your job descriptions. If there is one aspect of the job that is consistently cited as a problem, consider creative solutions. Is there an opportunity to increase driver pay? If not, what non-financial incentives can you offer that will attract drivers?

Connect Recruiting and Marketing

Once you have identified which job aspects most appeal to drivers, align marketing and recruiting efforts. Platforms targeted toward recruiting drivers like social media pages and your company website should present a cohesive story that highlights the most compelling parts of your company.

If you’re unsure how to refine your media presence, start with feedback loops. Create visible channels through which drivers can give feedback.

Thoughtfully review driver comments and reactions. Then, assess comments for actionable steps and implement any changes that make sense. Throughout this process, track driver lead attribution to identify which channels most effectively engage drivers. Identify marketing channels with a low cost per hire (CPH), and increase spend there. 

One of the most powerful lead generators is word of mouth. Consider implementing a referral program for current drivers to help recruit new employees. To start, designate specific time and resources for the internal marketing of referral initiatives. Similarly, include marketing efforts for retention as a key element of recruitment. Retaining drivers is one of the most cost-effective and time-efficient ways to keep a fleet running smoothly. 

Account for Large and Small Expenses

When creating a budget for a trucking recruitment plan, it’s easy to overlook variations in cost per hire. Often, these are recurring costs, and those numbers add up quickly. Increasing budget precision in your trucking recruitment plan may increase your intended spend. 

When reporting up for budget approval, revenue is the bottom line.

Assess the revenue totals for an incomplete fleet. Next, compare that to the revenue that could be generated with a fleet at full capacity. A well-defined recruitment budget clearly demonstrates the increased revenue potential of a fleet operating at full capacity. Here are a few places to make sure you have accurately assessed your costs.

Turnover

Driver churn is a huge part of the recruitment process. Realistically, failing to account for the extra drivers you will need to hire to compensate for turnover will set your budget back substantially. 

If Company A has a 100 driver fleet and a 50% turnover rate, they will still need to recruit more than 50 new drivers annually. You have to account for turnover within your new hires. That’s an additional 25 drivers! Company A should plan a recruitment budget for a total of 75 new hires to maintain their fleet size.

Referrals & Rehires

Not all hires have the same cost. Referrals and rehires are typically a lower cost per hire than a cold lead because they already have a warm introduction to your company. As a result, these hires should be assigned a lower cost in a trucking recruitment plan. With that in mind, if rehires are not currently a part of your recruitment budget, add them! Allocating resources to retaining drivers will save capital in the long run if you can reduce turnover.

Hiring Across Divisions

Just as referrals and rehires have a different cost per hire than other leads, large fleets may also see a significant difference in CPH across divisions. For example, local no-touch freight jobs are likely to require less time and expense than an OTR livestock position. Analyze historical CPH data and use that information to create a more precise budget.

Use Technology as Infrastructure

Successful recruiting is personal, but the technical aspects cannot be ignored. Essentially, technology is the infrastructure that supports human relationships in recruiting. Everything from your company website to specific job applications must be mobile friendly to optimize driver engagement. 

Technology is the infrastructure that supports interpersonal relationships in recruiting.

Technology can remove inefficiencies in your recruitment process. First, conduct a systematic review to identify areas of lost, misallocated, or delayed information. Randall Reilly has compiled a list of common recruitment inefficiencies in the trucking industry. Then, evaluate your ATS and ensure that no leads are being lost or incorrectly attributed. Next, encourage recruiters to get qualifying information early. After, immediately eliminate any unqualified leads. Finally, carefully nurture your qualified leads. 

Calendars and standardized note taking practices can safeguard against lost leads. In addition, when leads are disqualified, track the reason. If a pattern emerges, you may be able to streamline your recruitment process. It pays to eliminate disqualified leads earlier in the pipeline because it saves time in the long run.

ultimate guide to truck driver recruiting

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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Are You Making the Most of Your Valuable Driver Leads?

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Recruiters work hard to bring in valuable driver leads. Are you making the most of them? From the first point of engagement to the job offer, your drivers offer valuable insight. Use this data to inform your recruitment process and optimization areas. The recruitment funnel should be realistic and efficient. Focus on hiring rather than strictly lead generation. Use these tips to optimize your recruitment strategy and ensure you’re making the most of your valuable driver leads.

1. Lead Attribution

There are two main models of lead attribution—single-touch models and multi-touch models. Single-touch models clarify pain points at particular stages in the recruitment process. Multi-touch models provide a holistic view of your recruitment process. Single and multi-touch models are also divided into smaller subsets. Each of the models has benefits and drawbacks. You may implement different models at different times as you continuously analyze your lead to hire process. Randall Reilly’s comprehensive video covers each lead attribution model in detail. Here are the highlights.

Single-Touch Lead Attribution

First Touch Model: As the name implies, this type of lead attribution is analyzed based on the point where a consumer makes first contact with your company. Drivers still have a long journey through your sales or recruitment pipeline. This model is most helpful in determining how drivers are being introduced to your company, particularly within a single campaign. 

Last Touch Model: This model similarly analyzes a single point of contact for a driver, but this time at the end of the recruiting funnel. The last touch model rests on the idea that it is most helpful to understand the point where the sales/recruiting effort is successfully closed. As a result, credit is given to the final point of contact in the recruiting pipeline. This model is a good fit for companies who are bringing in leads and want to analyze the success of a single closing campaign or compare results between campaigns. 

Multi-Touch Lead Attribution

Linear Attribution Model: The linear attribution model is the simplest way to track leads at multiple stages or across multiple campaigns in your recruitment pipeline. Each stage is weighted equally in importance. While multi-touch models are inherently more complex than single-touch models, linear attribution is a good place to start a broad analysis of your recruitment funnel. 

Time Decay Model: This model also examines leads at each point of contact or across campaigns, but it weights the stages of your funnel differently. The first points of contact are weighted less heavily, and more significance is given to points of contact that are closest to the point of conversion. This model can be particularly helpful with long recruitment funnels with time between each of the touch-points.

Position-Based Model: Like the Time Decay model, the Position-Based model unevenly weights lead attribution. Credit is more heavily attributed to the first and last points in your funnel that a driver encountered. This model implies that the first and last points of contact are the most important to successful recruiting. This model may be a good fit for companies that rely on long-tail lead nurturing because it weights your most important interactions more heavily. 

2. Allocating Paid Marketing

Once the research is done and you have a better understanding of your lead-to-hire process, paid marketing can amplify your impact. Assess your lead attribution model and determine which channels are driving your success. 

As you decide which marketing campaigns and platforms to elevate, keep the number of quality hires, and not the number of leads, as your north star. 

Ultimately, regardless of how many valuable driver leads you acquire, success is a hire. It’s important to understand your cost per lead (CPL), but the cost per hire should be the final decision-maker. In the end, a channel that has a low CPL but high cost per hire is less valuable than a channel with a lower cost per hire. Allocate your paid marketing to the channels with the lowest cost per hire.

3. Know Your Target Driver

The leads you are generating are more than potential hires. They are also reflections of your recruiting message. Make a point to understand the basic profile of your applicants. Then, examine which drivers are moving furthest through your recruitment funnel. Do they fit the persona of a driver who is a good fit for your company? If so, that’s confirmation that your messaging is resonating with the right people. If not, it may be a good opportunity to refine your content. 

Lead tracking is another valuable tool to understand the people behind your leads. Determine where your strongest applicants are coming from. That data, combined with carefully targeted messaging, can help you align your recruitment strategy to be attractive to the drivers you really want. A clear understanding of the people who make up your valuable driver leads will help you create an employee value proposition and write successful job descriptions. 

Free Template: Truck Driver Job Description

Follow this template to make sure your job descriptions are converting.

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4. Create a Realistic and Efficient Recruitment Funnel

To make the most of your valuable driver leads, set appropriate hiring targets. If possible, use historic data from the past 1-2 years on the hiring trends for your company.

Like many industries, trucking has seasonal peaks and troughs. These may correspond to your type of freight. Also consider that drivers who change jobs at different points of the year may be attracted by slightly different messages. Aligning your marketing strategy with natural seasonal flux will help you maximize your budget and your recruiting efforts. 

5. Improve the Quality of Your Leads

Inbound marketing is the gold standard because it brings valuable driver leads to you. Optimize your inbound digital marketing efforts with a few quick updates to your intake process. Review your site for appropriate and mobile-friendly calls to action as you share company information with drivers. Then, consider how drivers are sharing their information with you. Collecting qualifying information early on is key. Even though it may deter some drivers, it will ensure that the drivers you do get are qualified for your position.  

For example, when recruiting HazMat drivers with 2+ years of experience, ask for that information on an intake form. Then, sort your leads by that information and only pursue candidates who meet your criteria.

Similarly, cultivate your brand image and company reputation so they can be used as assets. In-person or virtual Word of Mouth and Referrals are some of the most effective marketing channels. When drivers learn about your company and turn to Glassdoor, Facebook, or Google for insight from other drivers, what will they see? Develop an online presence that will make drivers excited to learn more about your company and available positions.

ultimate guide to truck driver recruiting

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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Employee Value Proposition: 5 Tips to Make You Stand Out

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employee value proposition

It’s time to go back to your roots. Every company needs to identify their business value proposition. An employee value proposition is exactly the same. Identify your employee value proposition, and consider it your north star. 

As you grow as a carrier, it’s easy for your core hiring offerings to get lost. Avoid the trap. A strong employee value proposition is about more than improved marketing. It should drive everything from your recruiting to your business model. Can you answer in 1-3 sentences:

1. Why is my company different (and better) than the competition?
2. What about my company is attractive to truck drivers?

This is your Employee Value Proposition. 

hours of service proposed ruleWhy is an Employee Value Proposition Critical?

The way we recruit employees has changed. Over the past decade, candidates have been steadily becoming more and more powerful in the job search. As a result, attracting the best talent has become harder than ever. As an employer, consistent and efficient communication of your employee value proposition has become extremely important.

Tips to Make Your Employee Value Proposition Stand Out

Now that you have identified your employee value proposition, make sure you package it in a way that is attractive to candidates. Here are a few tips to help you stand out from the crowd.

1. Move Beyond the Pay Rate

Your future drivers need more than a paycheck to be happy. It’s true, pay is often one of the first things cited by drivers as either a huge benefit of or drawback of a company, but you need to go deeper.

Start by thinking about what you have to offer as other forms of compensation: benefits, bonuses programs, loyalty incentives, other perks. Then, go beyond the finances.

Do you excel at creating a positive work culture or work environment with fair treatment or great home/family time? How about a focus on career? Career development opportunities and strong training or orientation programs can be very attractive to drivers. Make sure you can clearly identify what makes your company a great place to work. Then, talk about it! 

2. Make it Compelling

truck driver job description templateAn Employee Value Proposition should provide the foundation for your recruiting and retention strategy. It must be unique, compelling, and relevant if it is to act as a key driver of talent attraction, engagement, and retention. Be clear in what you offer, and make sure to cover all the core reasons that people are proud and motivated to work at your company. 

If you have a great company culture, try to capture your distinct company experience. Are your drivers offered good home time? Build on the emotional aspects of why your company considers that important. Those reasons will resonate with your drivers and tell them you care about their well being as an individual, both on and off the job. Make sure to incorporate your value proposition into your job descriptions.

Free Template: Truck Driver Job Description

Follow this template to make sure your job descriptions are converting.

Get the Template

 

3. Talk About it In the Interview

Crucial Conversations with Driver Candidates: 3 Ways to Prepare

When interviewing a truck driver, focus on why your company is better than the competition. You are considering these drivers as potential employees. But, they also need to be sold on your company. Why is your company so special? How are you different? Why do drivers want to join your company and stay with you? Don’t let a good candidate leave the interview without sharing your employee value proposition. They need to view your company as a strong personal and professional fit.

4. Focus on What Matters

An effective value proposition rests on the foundation of driver personas. When you know what kind of drivers you want, you can align your value proposition with their interests.

To Determine Your Driver Personas: 

  1. Define the most important characteristics of your ideal driver. Do you need someone who is:
    • Reliable/timely?
    • Confidence/perseverance?
    • Courteous/willing to help others?
    • A good mechanic?
    • Prioritizing healthy habits?
  2. Set your goals
    • How many drivers do you need?
    • What’s your typical recruiting conversion rate?
    • Based on that, how many leads do you need?
    • Do you currently have empty trucks?
    • How are you planning for future growth?  

Use your ideal driver persona and your company goals to steer your employee value proposition. When they are well aligned, you are more likely to attract the drivers you want to hire. 

5. Consider Your Candidates Against Your Employee Value Proposition

With a little training and practice, probably most people can manage to drive a tractor-trailer. However, professional truck driving is more than just getting a vehicle from Point A to Point B. 

Great truck drivers are much more than mere steering-wheel holders. Driving a heavy vehicle with its cargo of costly supplies and equipment and keeping to a demanding schedule isn’t a job for an ordinary driver.

Use your ideal driver persona to evaluate applicants. Then, consider whether those applicants are attracted by your Employee Value Proposition. If so, you’ve likely found a good fit. If not, you may want to consider what types of benefits would be most attractive to the types of drivers you want to recruit. Doing so will make it easier to recruit those drivers AND retain them for longer.

The Quick Guide to Employee Value Proposition

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Employee Value Proposition

This free guide helps you create your employee value proposition and also effectively communicate it to drivers.

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CDL Employment Verification: 3 Ways to Streamline Your Recruiting

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CDL employment verification

To have an edge on your competition and hire the best drivers, a fast and efficient application and screening process is important. However, many teams struggle with various pieces of the hiring puzzle. Sometimes finding the perfect candidate is the hardest part. Other hiring teams find interviewing candidates is their biggest challenge. For others, working through the numerous verifications required by the Federal Motor Carries Safety Association (FMCSA) is the toughest task. For those teams struggling with the CDL employment verification process, here’s 3 ways to streamline your recruiting.

1. Know Exactly What You Need to Do

FMCSA requires every candidate to go through a comprehensive screening process before they’re fully hired. This includes the need for a verification of employment (VOE). Additionally, each candidate needs their driving and safety history checked. In addition, there are also necessary checks for drug, substance abuse, and alcohol test records as well as refusals to test and other specific driving information. Check to be certain you know exactly what you need to do.

Once you’ve got the comprehensive list of required verifications needed, be sure to do it for EVERY hire.

As part of your CDL employment verification process, ensure that your team is clear on what needs to be done and by when. Also make sure that your team has access to the most current information, as periodic changes to the regulations take place.

2. Stop Using Manual Processes

If you’re still doing VOEs on paper forms and faxing documents to verify a driver’s work history, this entire process can be automated. Let technology help increase your efficiency. If you keep doing things the same way that you always have, you will get those same old results.

There are so many tools available to help you do this process electronically. You can get verifications in a matter of minutes or hours, not days and weeks. If you do this, you’ll have less chance of drivers walking away from you to your competition because they can move faster.

3. Need an ATS to Help You?

For those carriers still struggling with CDL employment verification, we’ve got an opportunity for you.

As a partner with Drive My Way, we are extending a discount to our customers in need of an ATS.

DriverReach will help you get engaged quality candidates, streamline the employment verification process, and ensure compliance with the new Clearinghouse requirements, all while providing KPI metrics to improve your overall hiring process. If you’re not already using an ATS, or looking for a new one, take advantage of this offer!

Improve Your Recruiting with DriverReach

DriverReach provides a modern recruiting management system for truck drivers. We are extending a discount on the DriverReach ATS when a company signs up for Drive My Way.

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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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How to Recruit Truck Drivers for a Small Company

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How to Recruit Truck Drivers for a Small Company

Truck drivers are being recruited constantly for open jobs. Large carriers (with potentially equally large recruiting budgets) can be out there closing the best drivers quickly. Lots of advertising, flashy recruiting tactics, and rooms full of people working could make it seem hard to compete. But what seems like an advantage to the bigger carriers could be a bigger advantage to a smaller trucking company. Being a small company doesn’t mean you can’t compete for the best drivers out there, but it does mean you need to develop a solid recruitment strategy to compete well. Let’s look at how to recruit truck drivers for a small company.

Use Your Strengths to Recruit Truck Drivers

Determine what differentiates your fleet and lean into it. Take the time to think about your strengths and get to the core of why a driver would want to work for you. Consider the key things like pay, benefits, and routes. But also think about your close-knit environment, the value placed on work-life balance, and the genuinely great non-tangibles that only you can provide.

What’s your company’s unique value proposition? What sets your company and culture apart from the rest? Why do your drivers want to work for you? Why do they stay?

Herein lies the answers to how to position your company, and drive that point across all your messaging to recruit truck drivers. Once you can highlight the ways you stand out from other carriers, it’s easier to connect with the best-fit drivers. Work through these questions and develop the key messages that you want to hone in on in all of your postings.

Implement a Referral System

There are not enough hands to follow several job board postings and keep up with everything else. You can start by creating a referral program. Use your current employees to generate quality leads for you. Include your extended personal and professional networks as well. Let these people know you’re looking for new drivers and see who they know who fit your open jobs. Consider including an incentive program for referrals as a tactic when working to generate referrals. That puts some skin-in-the-game for your network too.

Candidates who come in through these referrals usually have a more accurate picture of the company than those who come in through ads, and in most cases employees recommend people they think will be a good match. —The Wall Street Journal

Connect Personally with Each Lead

Put the quality of your efforts into whatever quantity of leads you generate. Each lead is a real person who is looking for a job. They found your company to be a good fit for them based on what they read. Be sure you take the time to connect personally with each lead. And do it quickly.

Be personal in your interactions and don’t make them feel like a number. That personal connection is another best practice to recruit truck drivers.

Any small company needs to think a little bit differently than a larger company. There’s less hands to do the work, and often the small staff must wear many hats within the team. That can be a good thing when developing a company culture. It leads to closer relationships, and better communication. And this small team can be mighty if using the right tools to recruit truck drivers.

ultimate guide to truck driver recruiting

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.

Get the Ebook

3 Tips for Choosing the Right Applicant Tracking System

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truck driver applicant tracking system

Choosing an applicant tracking system is a little like hiring personnel. One good hire can move your company forward by leaps and bounds. A bad choice sets you back significantly. Look for an applicant tracking system that will fit your company well and leave you wondering how you ever lived without it. Here are a few tips for making sure you find the applicant tracking system that meets your needs.

1. Know Your Goals and Bottlenecks

Your applicant tracking system (ATS) should be able to help you efficiently identify candidates that are good leads and follow-up with them. If you’re looking into an ATS, it’s likely because your current process isn’t working well.

Carefully consider your goals for an applicant tracking system and use these as your north stars in the decision process.

Are you looking for better efficiency? Better lead source tracking? A more cohesive outreach or communication mechanism? While you may be looking for several different features, limit your goals to your one or two top priorities. Answering these questions and identifying your top priorities at the start will help you quickly find your top options. 

Similarly, determine what isn’t working or is too slow about your current process. Where does your process become cumbersome? What is the slowest part of the way you currently track applicants? Use these bottlenecks to clarify what features are essential as you peruse tracking systems. Then, make sure you choose a solution that can reduce or resolve your bottlenecks.

2. Evaluate Whether the ATS Meets Your Organizational Needs

While it may seem like there is a different applicant tracking system out there for every niche market, there are several features you should be able to expect from an ATS in the trucking industry. At a minimum, look for:

email campaign on whiteboard

      • – Searchable Document Tracking
      • – Email or Communication Templates
      • – The ability to create custom workflows

While these common features serve as a strong baseline, we know that your company is anything but common. Beyond these basic features, consider any unique needs for your company, and choose and ATS that meets those needs. A few other valuable features to consider are:

hand shake

  • – Driver referral infrastructure
  • – Lead Source Tracking
  • – DOT Compliance

Some of these features may simply be “nice to haves” while others may be critical “need to haves.” Know your company’s goals and make your decision accordingly. 

3. Don’t Underestimate User Interface

Once you’ve decided on the main goal of your applicant tracking system and the features you can’t live without, take a good hard look at the user interface. Consider every aspect of how you will interact with the system and how potential drivers will interact with your system. 

We spoke with our partner DriverReach about features to pay attention to when searching for an Applicant Tracking System for your organization.

“As you’re looking for a new ATS to help manage the applicant process, first you have to look at the applicant process from the drivers’ point of view,” explained Jeremy Reymer, Founder and CEO of DriverReach. “Today’s CDL drivers are constantly on their smartphones, and an ideal application experience should follow suit. Look for an ATS that is completely mobile-responsive and optimized for smartphones, as well as one that makes it easy for drivers to complete applications via their mobile devices with a clean, modern interface.”

For your drivers, a good applicant tracking system is absolutely vital. Establish whether the ATS you’re considering integrates with any driver facing platforms. Are they platforms you already work with or would consider implementing? Put yourself in a driver’s shoes and walk through their interactions with the ATS from start to finish. If adding the applicant tracking system will make their experience better or improve their opinion of your company, you’ve found the right one! If not (or if it makes the driver interaction worse!), consider other options.

As an employer, you’re responsible both for the infrastructure setup and frequent future interactions with your ATS. Don’t underestimate the amount of time you’ll spend with the applicant tracking system you choose! Select a system that is reliable and easy to work with. Otherwise, in a few short months you’re in danger of being in the same position and looking for a new ATS.

Bonus Tip:

Take advantage of a 30 day free trial whenever possible! You wouldn’t hire a driver without an interview, don’t choose an ATS without testing it first. Use what you’ve identified as your goals, bottlenecks, and need-to-have features to make the most of a trial and find the applicant tracking system for you!

Improve Your Recruiting with DriverReach

DriverReach provides a modern recruiting management system for truck drivers. As our partner, we are extending a discount on the DriverReach ATS when a company signs up for Drive My Way.

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Driver Seat Belt Detection: 3 Ways It Pays Off

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driver seat belt protection

Requiring driver seat belt detection isn’t just a matter of good business, it’s personal. The safety of your fleet affects so much more than the individual employees. Keep your drivers safe with a seat belt and get them home to their families. Everyone will sleep easier at night. 

While driver safety should always lead the conversation, driver seat belt detection is also good business. Whether it’s by preventing lawsuits or lost revenue, one small action can have huge benefits. Here are three reasons driver seat belt detection pays off. 

1. Increase Driver Safety

The drivers in your fleet are your company’s most valuable resource. Without a doubt, keeping those same drivers safe on the road should be a top priority. Seat belts are the single best way to increase truck driver safety. Study after study demonstrates this, and most truckers do buckle up. According to a 2015 CDC report on trucker driving habits, 5 in out of 6 drivers regularly click in before driving, but what about the last 16.6% percent? That’s approximately 583,000 drivers who aren’t protected by a seat belt on the road. 

We know you can’t be on the road with your drivers at all times, so consider a form of driver seat belt detection to motivate your drivers. As an employer, there are tools you can use to increase seat belt use in your fleet. Consider investing automatic safety procedures that alert your drivers by SMS if they are driving without being buckled up or prevent engine starts without seat belt usage. Looking for a lower tech option? Incentivize your employees to wear their belts. Remember, small rewards and perks or small financial bonuses can go a long way. Even something as simple as recognition or internal company awards can go along way toward encouraging safer driver behavior.

Driver safety is a top recruiting tool for bringing in quality drivers and retaining the good drivers you have.

Once you prioritize these efforts, don’t be shy in letting your drivers know!  Whether it comes through in your well-maintained fleet rigs or in the rewards you offer for good driving, you’re showing drivers you care. That goes a long way toward building a company culture where drivers want to be.

2. Reduce Company Liability

Everyone has heard accident horror stories. As you know, even if your drivers have met all their safety requirements and are driving cautiously, accidents happen. Unfortunately, some people may try to take advantage of a bad situation. An accident participant or lawyer may try to build a case for reckless driving based on evidence that your driver wasn’t wearing their seat belt. 

drive my way primary seat belt map

For more evidence, consider that as of June 2019, 34 states have primary seat belt laws for front seat occupants. Even if there are no other infractions, drivers can be pulled over by a law enforcement officer for not wearing a seat belt. If your company offers a ridealong program, make sure safety isn’t limited to drivers. Primary seat belt laws include passengers as well, and CMV drivers are held responsible for any other vehicle occupants. 

3. Safety Affects Your Bottom Line

While keeping your drivers safe should top the reasons to implement driver seat belt detection, there is also revenue at stake. Consider, a single truck accident costs an average of $148,279. That number skyrockets to $7,633,600 if there is a fatality. Keeping your drivers safe on the road is a good return on your investment.

In 2012, 700 truck drivers or their passengers died in accidents. 40% of the unbelted drivers could have been saved with a seat belt. Three seconds of clicking in could have saved lives and millions of dollars.

Perhaps not surprisingly, not wearing a seat belt is often just one of several unsafe practices that drivers engage in. There is a strong correlation that the drivers who do not wear a seat belt also are more likely to be found speeding and have received multiple moving violation tickets. As an employer, the best thing you can do is to build a culture of safety.

Become a Leader

Driver safety programs often start at the managerial level. The National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence conducted a year long study with 9 carriers to improve their safety records. Top successful strategies included:

  • Develop a strong safety culture
  • Comprehensive Ongoing Driver Training programs
  • Collision Mitigation Technology such as Automatic Emergency Braking, lane departure warnings, and video-based onboard safety monitoring systems
  • Strict driver hiring criteria

For each of the companies studied, there was no single practice that brought improved safety metrics. Instead, a combination of the above practices led each fleet to experience decreases in the severity and number of crashes. This also improved their overall scores in FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

 

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3 Trucking Industry Trends to Watch in 2020

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3 Trucking Trends to Watch in 2020

The truck driver shortage and how to improve recruiting continue to be hot topics in the trucking industry. Finding and retaining good drivers is still a struggle for many trucking companies. If your recruiting strategy from last year didn’t generate the expected results, maybe now is a good time to try something new for this year. Whether you need to start from scratch or just make a few changes, we’ve got some ideas to help. Here we’ll explore 3 trucking industry trends to watch in 2020.

1. Focus on the Driver’s Experience

When thinking about recruiting in today’s world, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Each candidate is a unique person, looking for the perfect fit job for them. You can’t take an approach of simply doing things the same way again this year. There are countless opportunities to engage with your future drivers. And each one of those opportunities can be won or lost based on their experience at each step. Think of things in terms of being driver-centric in all that you’re doing.

Can drivers easily find your website? Is your application process easy? Does it work well on a mobile phone? When they call your 800 number can they get to someone quickly to help them?

Take a step back and look at every interaction opportunity with potential drivers. Be on trend with putting the driver first in your recruiting process.

2. Video Testimonials

Video assets are great to have as a tool in your recruiting toolbox. One great video opportunity is to leverage your current drivers to share their experiences. Keep it short. Make sure it’s authentic, conversational and not forced. This means don’t give someone a script to read and put a camera in their face. Let them speak naturally from their own experience and talk about what they like about working for you. You don’t need to be the next Martin Scorsese either. A decent smart phone and some basic editing software can get you a great result!

Here’s a quick example of a driver video testimonial

This gives you an opportunity to let your current drivers spread the word for you. And for your potential drivers hear from their peers about why it’s fulfilling to work for your company.

3. Social Channels

Now that you’ve developed some great videos, it’s time to get them out into your social channels. Social media is one of the biggest trucking industry trends for 2020. And continues to prove to be one of the lowest cost tactics you can employ in your recruiting process.

Statistics from Social Hire show that:

  • 80% of employers say social recruiting helps them find passive candidates
  • 67% of recruiters expect competition for candidates to increase
  • 70% of hiring managers say they’ve successfully hired with social media
  • 91% of employers are using social media to hire talent, today

One note about social media, is that there’s several avenues to potentially leverage. If you’re just getting started, pick one or two, and start small. If you don’t have a good Facebook page setup, it’s probably not imperative to get your TikTok account going. It’s best to keep your social presence manageable when you’re getting started. The key thing with social is to keep a steady stream of fresh content coming to keep your followers engaged.

Working through some of these trends can get your recruiting year off to a great start. Mixing in some new tactics while still fully embracing things like responding to candidates quickly, and measuring your results, will help your recruitment plans flourish.

ultimate guide to truck driver recruiting

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.

Get the Ebook

Is Your Driver Recruiting Strategy Fool-Proof?

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Is Your Driver Recruiting Strategy Fool-Proof?
Honing your driver recruiting strategy should be a priority for any trucking company. Having good processes and tools in place to get the best candidates for your open jobs is must. Everyone involved in the hiring process should know your strategy and understand their role in the process. Take a minute to think about your current strategy. Is your driver recruiting strategy fool-proof?

Make the Best Use of Your Marketing Tools

Everything a driver sees from your company should reinforce why it’s a great decision to work for your company.

Use your marketing tools to maximize your reach. If your driver recruiting strategy doesn’t include your website and your social channels, you need to change that. Using all of your channels to create a personalized experience for your candidates, helps them see why working for you would be a good fit for them. Having your website easy to navigate and interact with your potential drivers is the best way to make a good first impression. With recruiting it’s important to be sure your candidates want to work for you. Be sure that each touch point you have with candidates reinforces that working for your will be good for them.

Consider Feedback a Gift

From a simple “suggestion box” to more formalized surveys, give your drivers the opportunity to let you know what’s important to them.

Be proactive in fixing problems quickly. If you have feedback loops in place, doing something with the information collected is mandatory. Give potential, current and former drivers an opportunity to provide feedback about their experience with the company. No matter what stage they are as an employee. Use the data collected to help you figure out what’s working well and what needs to change. Keeping up with drivers concerns and proactively changing when things aren’t going so well is a great way stay ahead of problems that might make drivers want to leave. Or worse, not want to work for you in the first place.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Data is power. You may have an idea on where you are headed, but you’ll never know if you are getting there without data.

Invest in recruiting tools and resources that help ensure good decision making when it matters most. Determine your high-level key metrics and track them weekly. Are the dollars you’re spending on leads giving you the right candidates? Leverage tools that help you understand past results and plan your strategy for the future.

Let the team at Drive My Way show you how to recruit for today, and for the future. Request a demo now, and someone from our Business Development Department will be happy to schedule a demo.

ultimate guide to truck driver recruiting

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.

Get the Ebook