Posts

How Employee Insights Can Strengthen Your Recruiting Strategy

, /by

One of the best ways to improve your recruiting strategy is by gathering feedback from your current employees. 

 

Drivers can provide valuable insight into why they applied, why they accepted the job, and what has kept them with your company. Their feedback can help employers identify recruiting strengths, uncover opportunities for improvement, and better communicate what sets your organization apart. 

 

By incorporating employee insights into your recruiting strategy, you can create a hiring process that more accurately reflects the driver experience, strengthens your employer brand, and attracts candidates who are more likely to succeed over the long term. 

 

Why Current Employees Are Your Best Recruiting Resource 

Recruiting is ultimately about matching expectations with reality. The better your recruiting process reflects the actual driver experience, the more likely you are to attract candidates who will stay long term. 

 

Your current employees have firsthand knowledge of: 

  • Why they accepted your offer 
  • What concerns they had before joining 
  • Which parts of the job exceeded expectations 
  • Which aspects of the role could be communicated more clearly 
  • What motivates them to stay 

 

These conversations often reveal strengths that recruiters may overlook, while also highlighting parts of the hiring process that could be improved. They provide employers with a clearer understanding of what candidates actually experience, rather than what recruiters might assume they experience. 

 

Ask Questions That Go Beyond Compensation 

Compensation is always important, but it is rarely the only reason drivers choose an employer. 

 

Consider asking experienced drivers questions such as: 

  • What made you apply here? 
  • What almost prevented you from accepting the job? 
  • What has been better than you expected? 
  • What advice would you give someone considering this position? 
  • Why have you stayed? 

 

The answers often reveal unique perspectives that can strengthen your recruiting strategy. 

 

The answers often reveal themes that employers can incorporate into their recruiting strategy. Drivers may consistently point to supportive leadership, flexible scheduling, reliable equipment, or a strong safety culture as reasons they chose to join and continue working for the company. Highlighting those strengths throughout the hiring process helps candidates develop a more complete picture of what it’s like to work for your fleet. 

 

Turn Feedback Into Better Job Descriptions 

Many job postings focus heavily on qualifications and responsibilities while overlooking the details candidates actually want to understand. 

 

Employee feedback can help recruiters answer questions like: 

  • Which benefits matter most? 
  • What concerns do candidates typically have? 
  • What should be explained more clearly? 
  • Which parts of the job should be highlighted? 

 

Instead of generic statements, your job postings become more specific and credible. For example, rather than simply advertising “competitive home time,” employee feedback may reveal that drivers especially appreciate knowing their schedules several weeks in advance. That level of detail helps candidates understand exactly what they can expect. 

 

Use Driver Testimonials Throughout Recruitment 

Employee testimonials can add credibility to your recruiting efforts. Short testimonials, videos, website profiles, or social media posts allow prospective candidates to hear directly from drivers rather than only from recruiters. 

 

Authentic employee stories can highlight topics such as: 

  • Training and onboarding experiences 
  • Career advancement opportunities 
  • Equipment quality 
  • Company culture 

 

Because these messages come from people doing the job every day, they often carry more credibility with candidates than traditional marketing language. 

 

Identify and Address Recruiting Gaps 

Employee feedback can be equally valuable when it reveals weaknesses. If multiple drivers mention issues such as confusion during onboarding, inconsistent communication, or unrealistic expectations during hiring, those deserve attention before they begin affecting retention. 

 

Some common questions to evaluate could include: 

  • Are candidates receiving enough information before orientation? 
  • Do job advertisements accurately reflect daily responsibilities? 
  • Is communication consistent throughout the hiring process? 
  • Are recruiters answering the questions drivers actually ask? 

 

Addressing these issues improves both the candidate experience and long-term retention. Employees are far more likely to stay when the job matches what they were promised during recruitment.  

 

Keep Gathering Feedback 

Employee feedback should also not be limited to a single survey or conversation. As your company grows and the industry changes, the factors that matter most to drivers may change as well. 

 

Regular stay interviews, onboarding check-ins, employee surveys, and informal conversations can help employers identify new recruiting opportunities, address concerns before they become larger issues, and ensure recruiting messages continue to reflect the actual employee experience. 

 

By making employee feedback an ongoing part of your recruiting strategy, employers can continue refining their hiring process while strengthening both recruitment and long-term retention. 

 

 

 

For more ways to stay ahead of the curve in the transportation industry in 2026, be sure to check out the rest of our Employer Blog posts and connect with us on social media.  

Strategies to Reduce Cost Per Hire for CDL Drivers

, /by

For carriers and recruiters in the trucking industry, keeping a close eye on recruitment costs is more important than ever.  

 

The metric you’ll need at the center of your hiring strategy is Cost Per Hire (CPH). By understanding exactly what goes into this number, and the ways you can strategically lower it, you can improve hiring efficiency, reduce wasteful spending, and ultimately hire more qualified CDL drivers for less. 

 

What Is Cost Per Hire (And How to Calculate It) 

At its core, Cost Per Hire is a simple but powerful recruiting metric. It reflects the average investment your company makes to bring one new driver on board.  

 

The formula is straightforward: 

 

Cost Per Hire = (Total Internal Recruiting Costs + Total External Recruiting Costs) ÷ Number of Hires 

 

What belongs in “Internal” vs “External” Costs 

Internal costs include the time and labor of your in-house recruiting team or hiring managers (salary, benefits, overhead, administrative support, interview-related time, etc.), internal HR or compliance resources, training for recruitment staff, and any internal referral bonuses you pay.  

 

External costs cover job-board or job-ad fees, third-party recruiter or agency fees (if used), background screening and drug testing expenses, recruiting software or applicant tracking system (ATS) costs, costs of job fairs or recruiting events, sign-on or signing bonuses, relocation incentives, and any marketing or ad spend tied to attracting driver candidates.  

 

To compute your CPH for a given period (such as a quarter, or year), you should gather all these expenses for that period, sum them up, then divide by the number of drivers you actually hired (not just leads or applicants).  

 

For example: if over a year your total recruiting expenses (internal + external) are $120,000 and you hired 40 new drivers, your CPH would be $3,000 per hire. 

 

Why Tracking CPH Matters 

Having a clear understanding of your company’s cost per hire is important for many reasons, including:  

 

  • Budgeting & forecasting: Having a clear CPH baseline helps you forecast the cost of upcoming hiring needs (such as annual driver growth or seasonal spikes). It also enables more accurate budgeting for recruitment.  
  • Efficiency & process optimization: If CPH climbs without a corresponding rise in hire quality or retention, that signals inefficiency, or possibly wasted spend on channels that aren’t producing value or staff that are not effectively converting applicants.  
  • Comparing hiring methods: With CPH, you can benchmark different recruiting strategies (referrals, ads, job fairs, agencies, internal sourcing) side by side and invest in the most cost-effective ones.  
  • Accountability & ROI on recruiting spend: Understanding CPH helps HR and recruiting teams justify recruitment budgets to company leadership, or to highlight where adjustments might be needed. 

 

Strategies to Lower Cost Per Hire  

1. Maintain and Nurture a “Ready-to-Hire” Candidate Pool 

Rather than starting from scratch every time you post a new job, consider maintaining a warm database of former applicants, previous leads, referrals, or drivers who showed interest but didn’t accept a prior offer. Re-engaging these passive candidates can dramatically reduce sourcing and advertising costs, because you’ve already spent capital to attract them once.  

 

It’s important to take time to stay in touch through occasional outreach, newsletters about company updates, or check-ins when new routes become available. This keeps your pipeline alive and can yield hires with minimal extra spend. 

 

2. Use Data to Reallocate Recruiting Spend  

When you calculate CPH, don’t stop with just the overall number. Break down costs by channel (job boards, referrals, job fairs, agencies, etc.). For example: if 25% of your recruitment budget is going toward job-fairs, but they account for only 5% of hires, that might be a signal to shift funds. On the other hand, channels with a low CPH and strong hire rates deserve more attention. It’s important to make sure you are comparing apples to apples and evaluate results on both sides. In the example above, it’s important when considering the percentage of hires based on the spend, you also consider the number of positions you are recruiting for. If only 5% of hires come from a particular channel or partner that may be a positive result if you are only listing 5% or less of your total openings toward that channel or partner.    

 

Leverage your ATS or recruiting analytics platform to track source-of-hire, time-to-hire, and conversion-to-hire metrics. This data-driven approach helps you allocate resources more intelligently. 

 

3. Automate and Streamline by Leveraging Tech  

Modern recruiting tools (such as ATS platforms, automated screening, digital onboarding, candidate-self-serve scheduling) can reduce administrative burden, cut down on recruiter time, and accelerate the process.  

 

Streamline your application and screening workflow to reduce drop-off and avoid unnecessary steps. The faster and smoother the process, the less time internal teams spend per candidate, which reduces your per-hire labor costs. 

 

4. Strengthen Employee Referrals and Retention-Based Hiring 

Referral programs remain one of the most cost-effective recruiting channels. Encourage current drivers and employees to refer former colleagues or acquaintances and then reward successful referrals. Since referred candidates often onboard faster, perform better, and stay longer, they can shorten time-to-hire and reduce turnover, which, in turn, lowers your long-term CPH when factoring in retention cost. 

 

5. Reevaluate Sign-On Bonuses, Incentives 

While sign-on bonuses can attract drivers quickly, they also inflate upfront costs. Instead of large lump-sum bonuses, consider tiered incentives tied to performance or tenure.  

 

For example, a smaller bonus upon hire, with additional incentive after 6 or 12 months of safe driving or meeting performance benchmarks. This reduces risk and ensures you’re not overpaying for short-term turnover. 

 

Also consider a transition bonus that will help a driver financially be able to transition from one employer to another, especially when they are being paid CPM. It may take a few weeks to build up mileage after orientation and training.  

 

For more ways to stay ahead of the curve in the transportation industry in 2025, be sure to check out the rest of our Employer Blog posts and connect with us on social media.