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Revving Up Your Hiring Process: 3 Expert Tips

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In the fiercely competitive world of trucking, it’s the drivers who hold all the cards. They have the luxury of choosing between various carriers, weighing up pay, benefits, and home time. And when it comes to getting that next paycheck, they want to be hired fast. The carrier that can convert prospects to drivers the quickest holds a distinct advantage. Enter lead velocity – the measure of how swiftly you can turn applicants into new drivers. With so many carriers vying over a limited pool of drivers, you don’t want to lose out to the competition simply because they moved faster than you. Here are three expert tips to help you turbocharge your hiring process.

Tip 1: Prioritize Your Efforts on the Cream of the Crop

As a trucking recruiter, you’re constantly inundated with prospects. However, only a small percentage of them will ultimately convert into drivers for your fleet. It’s crucial to focus your efforts on the cream of the crop and avoid wasting precious time on unqualified candidates. Don’t risk losing the best drivers to other carriers because you’re bogged down with unproductive work. Prioritize your limited time and energy on the top prospects by using automated methods like landing pages and ranking systems to help you identify the most promising candidates.

Maximize your lead-to-hire potential by utilizing landing pages and automated methods to screen top candidates efficiently. Lead ranking is a must-have tool to ensure that you focus on the cream of the crop and avoid losing top talent to competitors. Don’t waste precious time on unproductive leads that won’t convert to drivers – prioritize your energies on the most promising candidates.

Tip 2: Automate the Process

Streamline your hiring process by automating paperwork, including DOT applications, release forms, I-9, W2, and other new-hire forms. Instead of wasting hours filling out paperwork, drivers can complete them in just 20-30 minutes with electronic forms that are easily accessible on the go. Make sure to choose mobile-friendly forms to avoid losing potential hires due to technical difficulties. By automating the less glamorous parts of the hiring process, you can focus on building personal relationships with drivers during orientation. If you automate certain steps, it frees up that time to spend one-on-one with the drivers during orientation. Take advantage of the face-time with drivers to build relationships in-person, instead of asking them to complete forms that take an hour.

Tip 3: Lead Efficient Orientations

One of the reasons the lead to hire process may take too long for drivers is because of long or delayed orientations. Of course, it’s risky to just breeze through orientation. That time is crucial for onboarding as drivers need to be welcomed to the organization, learn about the culture, meet their dispatchers, and learn more about the company. One trick to getting around this is to offer more frequent orientations so that the soonest one beats out other carriers.

Make sure to offer orientation a few times a week to meet the schedule needs of your new hires

Offer flexibility with orientation schedules to accommodate the needs of your incoming drivers. To save time, consider moving some training items to an online learning system, allowing drivers to complete some learning materials from the comfort of their own homes. By automating these less exciting parts of orientations, you can maximize the value of in-person interactions and make the orientation process shorter. This approach ensures that drivers receive the necessary onboarding while minimizing the time they spend on paperwork.

 

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

Not Hiring Truck Drivers? Don’t Let It Stop Your Recruiting

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hiring truck drivers

Recruiting is all about building, maintaining, and nurturing personal relationships. In this uncertain time, there’s one counterintuitive rule to remember. Even if you’re not hiring truck drivers, keep recruiting. Doing so will help you smoothly transition back to hiring drivers when your fleet is back to normal. 

Maintaining your recruitment efforts may seem like the last thing you’d want to do when you’re downsizing. Don’t be lulled into complacency. If you only focus on your plans for the next few weeks, you will be too late. Continuing to nurture your pipeline is critical to your company’s long-term health, but your strategy may have to change as a result of the global health crisis. Uncertain times require improvising, adapting, and overcoming obstacles. When you’re not actively hiring truck drivers, focus on building relationships in your recruitment pipeline. Here are a few best practices.

1. Don’t Lose Interested Applicants

As HR professionals know all too well, recruiting isn’t a faucet that you can turn on and off. Leads that are not consistently nurtured will turn cold and disengage. Even when you’re not hiring truck drivers, it’s important to develop your relationships for future employment.

Consider that consumers typically take three to nine months to make a decision. In this case, your jobs are a product, and applicants are your consumers. Most people spend the majority of our waking hours at work, and making a job change is a really big decision.

It’s too early to predict when freight demands will increase and hiring will resume, but you need to be ready. Continue to build a relationship with interested drivers. Found out what is important to them and whether you are a good fit. Then, when the time comes to bring in drivers, you’ll be prepared to quickly fill your open positions.

2. Stay Visible

Dee Sova from Prime Trucking

Example Campaign from Drive My Way

It’s important to stay top of mind for drivers even if you’re not hiring right now. While more drivers are in the market for a new job now, the competition remains very high for experienced, high performing drivers with exceptional safety records. A lull in recruiting is a good time to promote marketing campaigns. Highlight your current drivers with tasteful video campaigns.

There is no better endorsement for being a great place to work than one from current drivers who are happy that they joined and chose to stay. You can also take advantage of social media trends like #thankatrucker. Provide resources for current and prospective drivers to increase brand awareness and strengthen ties to your company. 

As a recruiter, it’s important to keep your energy high even when working from home. Continue making calls to drivers. Cultivating relationships in a hiring slowdown will make you an obvious choice when drivers are changing jobs in the future. Drivers are not shy about sharing their experiences with others. Employers will be remembered for the actions they took and how they treated drivers during this difficult time. 

3. Fine-Tune Your Message

With uncertainty rippling through the trucking industry, clear, positive communication is more important than ever. As a fleet, the best strategy is to be transparent about your position.

If you are not hiring new drivers, be honest with applicants. Even if you are not able to offer jobs right now, be a resource to drivers.

In recruitment conversations and all other company messaging, strive to acknowledge the current hardships, be authentic, and offer valuable, curated information that drivers can use. This is also an opportunity to optimize your outreach with video campaigns and a mobile-friendly interface. Setting the appropriate tone helps drivers respect and relate to your brand and will foster relationships with potential hires. 

4. Seek Out Opportunities That May Be Available in a Few Months

A hiring lull is the perfect time to look toward the future. The strategic recruiting plan that you laid out in early 2022 may or may not be the right fit for your company going forward. As you approach hiring for 2023 and beyond, do you anticipate your hiring needs changing? What is different about the drivers you need to recruit and how will your company meet those demands? Use the Drive My Way Ultimate Guide for Truck Driver Recruiting to create a comprehensive recruitment plan for the months ahead.

It is more important than ever to understand what drivers prioritize in a job.

Previously, drivers may have been asking for local jobs or flexible rider policies. Now, their focus may be on PTO policies for sickness or your truck cleaning standards. Listen carefully to what drivers are looking for and shape your marketing and recruiting efforts accordingly. This recruitment slowdown is also a great time to offer operations experience to recruiters to help your whole team align with current drivers’ experiences. Pairing a recruiter with a dispatcher or terminal manager may give them a perspective on drivers’ needs.

5. Prepare for Continued Remote Processes

Slowly but surely, companies are re-opening and finding a new normal. The widespread shutdowns due to COVID-19 will continue to ease, but the effects of the pandemic are likely to linger for far longer. With millions of Americans becoming remote workers overnight, virtual recruiting and onboarding have become the norm for many companies. Even as restrictions on in-person work environments are relaxed, prepare to manage your candidate lifecycle virtually.

While the circumstances have caused us to adapt and be distant, that does not mean that we have to lose the personal connection. In recent years, several companies, including Luma Brighter Learning, have started offering online Learning Management Systems (LMS) for onboarding truck drivers. It’s a strategy that is effective for both companies and drivers. We spoke with Luma Brighter Learning CEO, Gina Anderson, and she shared her perspective on why synchronous online learning is a great option for trucking fleets.

“The carriers are saving time, they’re saving money, they’re becoming more efficient, and they’re making their drivers happy.” Gina continued, “There’s not one way to train people. That’s why it’s so valuable to be able to provide mixed methods of training [using platforms like Luma]. You don’t have to get rid of synchronous (same-time) training — you can do it online. Drivers can learn any time, any place.”

Gina Anderson went on to add that it’s no longer a question of whether or not to implement online learning systems for drivers. Drivers still value real-time connections with peers, mentors, and trainers, so companies should be asking themselves how to make virtual onboarding possible. Asking drivers to complete the basics in a synchronous online environment is a cost-effective strategy to streamline your onboarding process while still complying with social distancing restrictions and engaging your driver community.  

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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How to Reduce Driver Application Abandonment

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truck driver application

Trucking recruiters are tasked with finding top candidates, matching them to the right jobs, and converting them into drivers for the fleet. That’s why it can become so frustrating when you notice that the number of drivers who apply for your jobs starts to drop. 

There could be many reasons why this is happening, but if you’ve got a solid reputation, great pay, and nice benefits and home time, the real reason could be right under your nose; application abandonment.  

Your carrier could have the best reputation, pay, benefits, and perks in the industry, but it amounts to little if you have an application process that is so frustrating for a driver to get through that they don’t even bother finishing it.  

A recent survey found that 92% of jobseekers who hit “apply”, never actually get through the entire job application. Just think about the great drivers your carrier could be missing out on because of a bad application process. Here are three things that could be causing truck driver application abandonment and what you can do to fix them.

1. Cut Down on the Length

If you’re dealing with high application abandonment, try putting yourself in a driver’s shoes. Most drivers don’t want to spend their limited free time filling out lengthy and complex applications. In fact, this is usually the top reason job seekers quit in the middle of applications. 

If your applications require drivers to answer multiple long form answers, input the same information multiple times, or they’re being asked tedious questions related to small details of the job, most will decide it’s not worth it and move on. Worst case, you may be losing these candidates to rival carriers who have optimized and shortened their applications. 

Ideally, your carrier’s application should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Instead of requiring drivers to provide every bit of information up-front during the application, focus on the basics and stick to questions that require simple answers. You can ask more detailed questions later, during the follow-up or in-person phone call.

2. Make Applications Mobile-Friendly

Since drivers spend most of their time on the road, they mainly search for and apply to jobs using their smartphones. In this mobile-first world, recruiters and fleet managers need to make sure they’re able to communicate and interface with drivers this way. Otherwise, you risk a large number of drivers abandoning your application. 

Optimize your applications for a mobile-first experience by using mobile rendering, saved login information, and other useful features. A lot of web providers will give you the ability to look at what a page will look like on a mobile device before you publish, so you can see if there are any issues.  

3. Collect Feedback

driver recruiterWhile you, as a recruiter can create what you think is the most efficient, painless, and all-around great application experience, you won’t really know how it is until drivers start applying. Even when they do start, it can be hard to gauge what’s working and what’s not since gathering data around job application abandonment can prove to be difficult. 

The solution lies in collecting driver feedback. Reach out to drivers who have completed your application process and see how they felt about it. You could offer an incentive to do so or tack it on as the last question during your initial phone screens with drivers. 

This information is invaluable in helping you and your recruiting team understand what’s working and what’s not in relation to your application.  

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 Become a Better Driver Recruiter

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How to Become a Better Driver Recruiter

Being a recruiter in any industry is challenging, but recruiting in the trucking industry is an especially difficult task. The jobs that you’re filling are tough, drivers are scarce, and the old ways of recruiting don’t work like they used to. All of this can make being a driver recruiter seem like too big of an uphill challenge, but it’s very possible to find success in this position.  

If you’re a recruiter who’s overwhelmed, and looking for a new approach to driver recruiting, here are 3 tips to becoming a better driver recruiter. 

1. Know the Answers

When speaking with driver candidates, be sure you’re an expert on your company and the particulars of the job. Know what the day-to-day will look like and give honest answers. Don’t sugarcoat things if you know that your company might not have the world’s best benefits or if the pay might not be at the top of the scale.  

If a driver ends up asking you a technical question that you don’t know the answer to, never guess or say something you think might be right. Always tell them something along the lines of, “I’m not sure, but I can get back to you ASAP with an answer.” Drivers understand that not every recruiter will know all the details about a job as complicated as truck driving. especially if they relate to equipment or maintenance. Consulting your team then reaching back out to the driver with the answer that’s 100% correct is always the best policy. 

As the first one to communicate with a driver candidate, you’re in a position to be the best advocate for your carrier. Be knowledgeable, truthful, and you’ll find that drivers who choose your company will stay longer.

2. Have a Plan

This may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many recruiting departments lack a cohesive plan for how to bring drivers into their organization. While each hiring plan will vary from carrier to carrier, all of them should have two things in common. They should be measurable and repeatable. 

If you’re just getting started, map out all the actionable steps in the hiring process from start to finish. This should include posting jobs, interviewing candidates, doing background checks and everything else associated with the hiring process.  

Next, decide on a timeframe for each of these steps. Should the interview process take at most two weeks, three weeks, or a month? Each carrier is different, so it’s up for you to decide.  

Throughout the process, you should be measuring key performance Indicators, or KPIs related to your hiring performance. A few common ones in HR and recruiting are Cost Per Hire and Time to Hire. Measuring these KPIs is the only way that you can track your performance as a recruiter and get better. 

3. Leverage Automation

driver recruiterIf one of your biggest issues as a recruiter is that drivers are slipping through the cracks, or you don’t have the time to reach out to all the qualified drivers you can, then automation is the answer.  

Automation tools like applicant tracking systems will help you eliminate time-consuming manual processes like reaching out to a large number of drivers at once, collecting VOEs and performing background checks. This will free up time so you can do what you do best; make connections with driver candidates. Do some research on automation partners that fit your budget and who are devoted to making the life of a driver recruiter easier. 

Bonus Tip – Utilize a Recruiting Partner

Aside from finding a partner for automation, consider working with a company that can help you find the best matches for your open jobs. Drive My Way is a next generation recruiting marketplace that matches truck drivers with jobs based on their qualifications and personal preferences.  

We’re making truck driver recruiting personal again by creating meaningful connections for employers to turn into lasting relationships; just like we did with Argos USA. We’re ready to help you put together a plan that best fits your needs, and help you recruit drivers that are the best fit for your open positions.  

Comprehensive CDL Recruitment Solutions

Ready to start recruiting the right drivers? Our solutions experts are happy to answer any questions and show you how Drive My Way uniquely approaches CDL driver recruitment.

Request a Demo

5 Ways to Increase Retention of New Truck Drivers

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truck driver retentionTruck driver retention is a well-documented problem in the trucking industry. Carriers are finding it harder and harder to retain qualified drivers after they’ve joined their fleet. The problem is even worse in the first few months, as that’s when drivers are the most likely to leave. Here are 5 ways that carriers can increase the retention of drivers during the first year.  

1. Perform Exit and Stay Interviews

stay interviewIf you’re experiencing a high turnover of new drivers, the most important thing to do is figure out why. And the best people to ask? The drivers who are leaving. 

If you’re not already, consider conducting exit interviews. An exit interview is a conversation with a driver who is planning on leaving your carrier. The exit interview is usually done on the driver’s last day or week but can also happen shortly after they leave the company.  

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

After you’ve conducted a few exit interviews, you can begin to look for patterns and then make an action plan for how to address the situation. But conducting exit interviews is not always possible. A driver may choose not to participate, or they may have ghosted your carrier altogether so you’re not able to arrange one.  

That’s why it’s important to conduct stay interviews as well. These are interviews you do with drivers who have been with your carrier for a long time, usually at least a year. These interviews are very similar to exit interviews, but instead of asking “Why are you leaving?”, you’ll be asking drivers what it is about your carrier that makes them want to stay. 

Exit and stay interviews are just two ways to collect driver feedback, which is arguably the most important thing that a carrier needs if it’s serious about increasing their truck driver retention.

2. Have a Rewards/Incentive Program

Everybody wants to feel appreciated at their job, and everybody likes to have tangible goals that they can work towards and achieve. This is the guiding principle behind having awards and incentive programs in the workplace.  

For new drivers, having a robust awards/incentive program can be a great way to make them feel like a welcomed and important player in your organization, and not just another number. 

There are a few different types of rewards and incentive programs that you can implement if you haven’t done so yet. Visit our blogs on the topic for more information.  

3 Truck Driver Incentive Program Ideas 

How to Have a Great Truck Driver Award Program

3. Improve Fleet Amenities

semi truck amenitiesUpgrading the amenities for your fleet of trucks can be a costly venture for organizations. However, carriers should consider that the increased truck driver retention that comes from offering amenities might be worth the initial investment, especially if you have a lot of OTR/Regional drivers.  

Fleet amenities are anything that makes your drivers’ lives easier and more comfortable on the road. This can include anything from better seating to premium radio subscriptions and appliances.  

If you already have amenities in your trucks, consider taking a poll of your current drivers to see what other amenities they’d most like to see next. In addition to giving them more comfort, you’ll be showing that your carrier is actively listening to their feedback.

4. Give Drivers the Whole Picture Before They Start

Turnover isn’t always a product of a driver simply getting a better pay package somewhere else. Sometimes, drivers leave because they feel they’ve been misled about what the position was before they came onboard.  

The vast majority of driver recruiters aren’t actively looking to mislead drivers. The problem comes when a driver recruiter is either misinformed themselves or doesn’t have the whole picture of the job they’re recruiting for.  

If you’re ever in doubt about a question a driver asks you, just tell them you can’t answer that right now and get back to them ASAP with the correct answer. That’s a much better alternative than having them come onboard and leave within the first three months because they feel they’ve been misled.  

5. Recruit the Right Drivers

Not every driver is a fit for every carrier, and that’s ok. Recruiting isn’t about finding any driver for the position. It’s about finding the right driver for the position.  

During the interview process, make sure you’re not just asking questions about qualifications and experience. Ask questions around what the driver is looking for in their next position and let them know what your carrier is looking for, so you can find out if the position is the right fit for both sides.  

If you’re interested in learning more about what kinds of questions you should be asking during interviews, you can view our blog on the topic.  

Also, consider partnering with a recruiting partner like Drive My Way. Instead of focusing on quantity and how many “leads” you’re getting, we put an emphasis on matching your carrier only with the drivers who have expressed interest in your position. This way, you’re not wasting your time sifting through hundreds of unqualified and disinterested driver candidates that will only add to your turnover numbers. 

Comprehensive CDL Recruitment Solutions

Ready to start recruiting the right drivers? Our solutions experts are happy to answer any questions and show you how Drive My Way uniquely approaches CDL driver recruitment.

Request a Demo

What’s the True Cost of Hiring a Truck Driver?

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What's the True Cost of Hiring a Truck Driver?

There are many metrics that a carrier can use to measure its hiring success. Some metrics are more well defined and simple like time to hire, while others are more subjective and harder to wrangle, like driver happiness.  

But no matter what metrics you look at, the dollars spent to hire a candidate is traditionally thought of as the most important. That’s why carriers need to know what these costs are and how to measure them effectively. Let’s take a look at the true cost of hiring a truck driver. 

How to Calculate Your Cost Per Hire

Before you can reduce your CPH, you need to know how to calculate it. Luckily, calculating CPH is pretty simple math.   

You add up your total costs for recruiting new drivers, and then divide that by the number of drivers ultimately hired. This gives you the cost per hire for all your recruiting efforts. (Note that this factors in actual hires, not just leads.) You can use this formula to measure CPH over any time period you’d like, including month, quarter, or year. 

So, What’s the Real Cost of Hiring a Truck Driver?

When nailing down the cost of hiring a driver, the actual math is not the tough part. It’s finding all the factors that go into the cost of hiring. This means all the costs, not just the ones associated with finding driver candidates, like job advertising and using recruiting services.  

Your company’s cost per hire will be unique to the way you recruit and hire drivers. And it might take some time and refinement to ensure you’re calculating it correctly. Here’s a list of the most common costs associated with hiring a truck driver. 

Turnover Is Your Enemy

Now that you understand the calculation for cost per hire, there’s another piece of the hiring puzzle that needs to be factored in as well; your turnover rate. 

It’s widely known that the trucking industry faces very high turnover rates. According to some surveys, over 50% of newly hired drivers will leave their carriers within the first six months. In some cases, turnover can be closer to 90-100% over a year. 

Looking at those stats, it’s easy to see that turnover is a huge problem for many carriers. To avoid high turnover, don’t fall into the trap of hiring drivers to fill an empty rig as quickly as possible.  

If you’re hiring quickly and not taking the time to ensure you’re a good match for each other, it’s not likely it’s going to be a relationship that will last and will raise that hiring cost. If you keep repeating that cycle, it’s going to cost your company exponentially more and you’re still going to have empty seats to fill.  

Every time you hire a new trucker, do it with the intention to retain that driver for a long time. The best way to do this is by really taking the time to get to know your candidates during the interview process so you can see if them coming onboard with your carrier is truly a fit for both sides. Doing this is the number one way to lower driver turnover, and in turn, lower the cost of hiring. 

Measure Consistently for Best Results

Once you’ve found all your costs, the most important thing to do is to measure consistently. This is the only way that you’re going to be able to compare things year-over-year or month-over-month to see if the changes you’re making are truly helping to reduce your true cost of hiring a truck driver.  

Don’t add in costs for one timeframe, then remove those costs the next time you calculate. If you do this, then you’re comparing apples and oranges and won’t have an accurate picture of your recruiting process.  

Once you are tracking consistently, you should see some trends that help inform changes to your overall hiring strategies. Overall, you want this number to be as low as possible to deliver you a quality driver who wants to stay with your company. 

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 Ways to Lower Your Cost Per Hire for CDL Drivers

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cost per hire

For driver recruiters, there are few metrics more important than cost per hire (CPH). For many recruiting and HR departments, it’s what defines their success to decision makers in the organization. Because of this, driver recruiters are always looking for ways to lower their CPH without having the candidate experience suffer. Here are 3 ways that recruiters can lower their cost per hire. 

What is Cost Per Hire?

Before you can reduce your CPH, you need to know how to calculate it. Luckily, calculating CPH is pretty simple math.  

cost per hire

You add up your total costs for recruiting new drivers, and then divide that by the number of drivers ultimately hired. This gives you the cost per hire for all your recruiting efforts. (Note that this factors in actual hires, not just leads.) You can use this formula to measure CPH over any time period you’d like, including month, quarter, or year.  

You should keep this number handy and have yearly goals set to manage it as needed or as budgets change. Once you have determined your cost per hire, you can then make more informed decisions on where to spend your recruiting dollars.  

What Costs are Part of Cost Per Hire?

While the formula for calculating cost per hire is pretty simple, knowing what goes into that top “cost section” isn’t as easy.  

The first thing to know is that there are both internal and external recruiting costs which need to be factored in. Here are some common costs that should be included in your CPH.  

Internal Costs 

  • Salaries for HR and Recruiters – Includes managers and freelance recruiters (if applicable) 
  • Referral or Sign on Bonuses for Drivers – Do you give drivers bonuses when they get hired on? Do you give current drivers a bonus when they refer someone who eventually gets hired? 
  • Interview costs – How many hours are recruiters/HR spending interviewing driver candidates? 

External Costs 

  • Recruiting Software – Do you utilize recruiting software or a service to help you find drivers? 
  • Job Fair/Events – Does your carrier participate in any trucking job fairs or career day events? 
  • Advertising – What are your advertising costs? This includes both digital and print. It could also include costs associated with an advertising agency, if you work with one.  

These are just some examples of possible recruiting costs your carrier could be incurring. Every carrier will have different costs that go into their CPH, so take some time to find what yours are.  

3 Ways to Lower Your Cost Per Hire

1. Leverage Past Leads

Every time you need to hire for a new opening, you don’t need a fresh list of candidates to contact. Check in on your existing pool of names and filter or scan for matches to your current job openings.  

Reaching out to these passive candidates, who may not have been a good fit in the past, is often a better bet than reaching out to candidates who you’ve never had an interaction with before.  

The dollars spent to generate and capture these leads are already spent, and no additional budget is needed to go back to those lists. 

You know that they’ve already been partially vetted if they matched up with prior openings, they might just need to be checked-in for these new opportunities. If you put a little bit of effort into keeping these older leads engaged between new job postings, you might have the perfect person sitting in your database already.

2. Reallocate Ineffective Spending

One of the best things about CPH is that once you have it, you can use it to dig deeper into the different costs you’re using to hire. You can find the CPH for specific costs like recruiting software, sign on/referral bonuses, interview costs, or any other cost you may have.  

Use the same formula above, just replace the total recruiting cost with the amount for that specific cost. Drilling down further like this helps you find extremely useful information about whether your recruiting dollars are being spent as efficiently as possible.  

For example, you could find that 25% of your carrier’s recruiting costs go towards job fairs and events, but you’ve only hired two drivers from them. 

With this information, you can start to make decisions to reallocate funds from higher CPH channels to lower CPH channels to increase efficiency. This should result in faster hires, at a lower cost.

3. Try Something New

If you’re struggling to attract and retain the best drivers, that’s probably a good indication to switch things up. Keep your eyes and ears open for new recruiting ideas, and as your budget allows, give something new a try. You might find something that brings in new drivers faster and saves on your CPH over time. 

Knowing you’ve got a finite budget for recruiting new drivers to your open jobs, it’s important that you have a handle on what you’re spending to hire each new driver. And of that spend, what tactic(s) are producing actual hires most efficiently. Effectively managing cost per hire, and other key recruitment metrics, will lead to the ultimate success of your hiring process. 

These tactics can certainly help decrease your cost per hire and improve your bottom line. However, working to reduce your overall driver retention rate is a huge time and money saver over the long run. If you’re ready to start recruiting and hiring for retention, schedule a demo of our platform today. 

Comprehensive CDL Recruitment Solutions

Ready to start recruiting the right drivers? Our solutions experts are happy to answer any questions and show you how Drive My Way uniquely approaches CDL driver recruitment.

Request a Demo

Is the Truck Driver Shortage Real?

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For the better part of ten years, the trucking industry has been faced with what’s commonly been called a “truck driver shortage”. The thought is that there’s simply not enough drivers to fill the open positions that trucking companies have.  

Only recently have people started to challenge that narrative and ask themselves, “Is the issue a true shortage of truck drivers, or is it an issue of retaining truck drivers?” 

How did the “truck driver shortage” start?

There are differing accounts of when this issue started, but most agree that the deregulation of the trucking industry in the 1980’s kickstarted what we know as the “truck driver shortage”. Among many other things, less government involvement in the industry meant that carriers could pay drivers less and afford them less benefits.  

This helped to create the conditions that the industry finds itself in today. Fast forward to today, and due to a variety of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a huge demand for moving freight and subsequently a huge demand for truck drivers.  

Couple that with fewer drivers on the road due to tight insurance requirements and suspensions from the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, and the drivers who are left have the upper hand in which company they’ll drive for. Many carriers have already found out that truck drivers aren’t in a position where they have to accept poor working conditions, low pay, and subpar benefits anymore.  

This tight labor market isn’t just an issue known by people in the transportation industry anymore. It’s been making headlines for the better part of two years. Time Magazine, CBS News, the NY Times and more have covered the issue. Late night host, John Oliver even did a 24-minute segment on the “truck driver shortage” in early 2022.


Do truck drivers not want to work anymore?

A common misconception is that truck drivers, like a lot of other workers in our country, don’t want to work anymore and are exiting the industry. The fact is that there are many drivers who do want to work. They just have more options for where they can work and won’t hesitate to make a move if they find a carrier that’s offering better pay, a better work environment, and better home time

This leads to the metric we hear about all the time; driver turnover. Many people talk about it, but there’s a common misconception as to what it actually measures. The American Trucking Association, (ATA) who calculates the metric, clarified the issue in a recent blog post. 

“Turnover is not an indicator of people exiting the industry (we know, because ATA created and tabulated the metric). Rather, it more accurately measures drivers moving between carriers. It captures churn within the industry—not attrition from the industry. While retirements and exits account for a small percentage of turnover, by-in-large that is not what this figure is counting.”

In the trucking industry, turnover (as calculated by the ATA) measures drivers leaving one carrier for another, not drivers leaving the industry all together. 

This means that while there are drivers exiting the industry, it’s not happening at the rate that we’re led to believe. Instead, drivers are switching from one carrier to another for better pay, benefits, and routes. It’s not that there’s a shortage of truck drivers, it’s that drivers are in control of where they can sell their labor to.  

How will the “truck driver shortage” be resolved?

Since the problem isn’t a shortage of drivers, but a problem of retaining drivers, the solution is simple; make working conditions better for truck drivers. If you look at any data around truck driver happiness, you’ll see that there’s a laundry list of issues that frustrate drivers.  

Long wait times at shippers/receivers, lack of parking, little home time, and no input on company/driver policies are just a few of the issues that are causing drivers to look elsewhere for employment opportunities. 

It’s not surprising that the carriers that have an answer to these problems are also the ones with the highest driver retention rates.  

What can recruiters do?

Recruiters should focus on what they can control. This includes knowing your positions inside and out, making sure the driver’s first impression of your carrier is a positive one, and being communicative with candidates from start to finish. 

Another great practice for recruiters and HR professionals is to conduct exit or stay interviews with your drivers. This will give you extremely useful information as to why drivers are leaving your carrier, or why they’re choosing to stay.

While recruiters and HR professionals aren’t usually the ultimate decision-makers for things like pay, benefits, and work perks, that doesn’t mean they can’t influence those decision-makers.  

Do some research on what competitors in the area offer drivers in terms of pay, benefits, and home time. If your carrier doesn’t match up to them, make it a point to try and talk to management about making some changes.

The Bottom Line

Referring to the problem that the trucking industry is facing as a shortage of truck drivers shifts the blame off of carriers and onto truck drivers. Instead of focusing on improving the conditions that drivers are faced with, (low pay, sparse home time, demanding deadlines) calling it a shortage simply writes off the issue as “truck drivers are too picky and don’t want to work.” 

As more and more carriers begin to see that investing in their drivers’ happiness is the way to increase retention, the industry should begin to see those turnover numbers drop.  

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3 Tips for Hiring Local Truck Drivers

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3 Tips for Hiring a Local Truck Driver

As a truck driver recruiter, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that all driver candidates have the same needs and wants. But, just like candidates in any industry, truck drivers are individually unique in what they want out of a job, what motivates them, and how they like to be communicated with.  

While it’s impossible to have a truly unique approach for every driver candidate you’ll encounter, you should be tailoring your recruitment experience based on whether the driver is looking for local work or OTR/Regional work.  

If you’re hiring for local positions, here are three tips to help you fill your fleet with quality drivers.

1. Talk About What Local Drivers Care About

local truck driver

Home Time

While many OTR drivers are drawn to the call of the open road, local truck drivers highly value home time. In fact, it’s one of, if not the biggest reason these drivers prefer to drive local.  

When hiring local drivers, clearly state up front and early in the job description the amount of home time that this position will afford. If you don’t, you run the risk of losing quality drivers, just because it wasn’t obvious enough that your job is for local drivers.  

Pay

Every driver wants to know about pay, local truck drivers included. As a baseline, your carrier should be offering compensation near or above the average for your area. If you’re not sure what that average is, look at some of your competitor’s job postings and go from there.  

Just like home time, share pay information clearly in your job description and in early conversations with prospective drivers. If your company pays hourly, include the average hours that drivers typically work weekly. If they receive overtime pay after 40 hours, share the rate.  

Similarly, if your company pays CPM, share the average miles drivers work per week. Then, drivers can decide whether the job is a good mutual fit before either side invests any more time.

CDL drivers are aware that driving local routes generally means less pay than driving OTR, but they still want to know what they can expect.  

2. Don’t Leave Out the Details

Schedule

Local truck drivers expect to be home every day. That’s the bare minimum. But it’s a good idea to include additional information about their schedule in the job description as well. 

Will they have weekends off? What time does the shift start? How long is the typical workday? Will the days off be consecutive? All these questions should be answered by your job description or during the first point of contact with the driver.  

Route

There can be a lot of variation in job type and responsibilities for a local truck driver. As a result, including more specific information can be a helpful recruiting tool. Will drivers be primarily on highways or surface roads? Will there be frequent stops on a typical route? Is there one dedicated customer or is it always changing? 

Customer Service

Another important thing to discuss with local drivers is the level of customer service. If there is a customer service component to the job, don’t just assume that the driver will be ok with that. While a lot of drivers may be, some chose this profession to avoid customer service, so it could be a deal breaker. 

Have a conversation about it early on in the recruitment process and consider offering specific customer service training to your drivers if you feel it’s necessary.  

Level of Touch

Regardless of the level of touch required for your local truck driver position, include details about it in your job description. Loading and unloading isn’t usually a dealbreaker for local drivers, but be upfront about it just in case it is.

3. Articulate Your Value

Employee Value Proposition

Your value proposition is what sets you apart from other similar companies. In short, why should drivers choose to work for your company over competitors? It is critical that you are able to identify and stick to this value.  

It’s what will help you attract new drivers and prevent losing current ones to competitors. Your value proposition can be anything from an above average pay rate, to weekends off, or a great company culture. It’s whatever makes your carrier different from carrier B, C and D.  

Health Benefits

Many local drivers are very family-oriented, so offering immediate medical insurance might be particularly valuable. Having a full benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, and prescription is a huge incentive in getting these drivers to come onboard.  

Company Culture

Since local truck drivers see their supervisors and colleagues more regularly, a good work environment and company culture can be particularly strong assets. 

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Slip Seating in the Trucking Industry: Why It Matters

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slip seating

The philosophy in the trucking industry for regional and OTR was always “one driver, one truck.” As with many things in the industry, recent regulatory and economic changes have made that norm less practical for many companies.  

Equipment efficiencies and financial incentives are pushing some companies to implement slip seating. There is, understandably, some driver resistance to this new way of doing things. This is why it’s important to understand the pros and cons so you can evaluate whether it’s right for your company.  

What Is Slip Seating?

Slip seating is when multiple drivers share a truck. Drivers don’t have a single cab that they are solely responsible for or that is reserved for their use. 

In the trucking industry, slip seating has not historically been the norm, especially for regional and OTR drivers. While there are good financial reasons for employers to use it, slip seating often comes at the expense of employee satisfaction.  

Pros

Better Equipment Utilization 

As a recruiter or fleet manager, you have a responsibility for the overall financial health of your company. From that perspective, slip seating often makes good economic sense.  

First and foremost, it allows for greater equipment utilization because you can drastically reduce the amount of time that a truck will sit empty in the yard while its designated driver is not on shift. Slip seating allows a company to make more runs in the same amount of time without buying more equipment.  

Tax Incentives 

In addition to time efficiencies, there are tax incentives to using slip seating as well. You can take advantage of these incentives if you account for the depreciation of trucks as an asset. According to Duff Swain, president of the consulting firm Trincon Group LLC in a FleetOwner article, trucks can be depreciated over a 3 year period.

The best way to maximize profits while minimizing expenses and taxes is to drive at least 700,000 miles per truck in three years. Realistically, 700,000 miles over three years is not feasible for a single driver. So, to reach optimal mileage, slip seating is a must. 

Cons

Driver Dissatisfaction 

Perhaps the biggest downside is that many drivers don’t like it. It might be easy to dismiss driver concerns under the pretense that they will soon adapt to new policies. However, think twice before making your decision. 

Driver complaints are legitimate and could affect not only company morale and reputation, but also, the company’s bottom line. Driver happiness is a huge driver of retention. 

Why are drivers so against it? Drivers who are a part of a company that utilizes slip seating cite messy cabs, the inefficient use of time required to move belongings to and from different cabs, and less well-maintained equipment as their top concerns. In these cases, since no driver views the truck as their own, they may be less likely to treat it with the care and cleanliness they would if a truck was their own.

Maintenance & Health 

In addition to driver concerns, employers should consider that slip seating increases the number of miles driven on each truck. As a result, routine maintenance or repairs may come up more frequently.  

Health concerns should also be a top consideration, especially in light of Covid-19. Multiple drivers using the same enclosed space in rapid succession means that disinfecting and other health safety protocols should be a high priority before each driver change.  

The Bottom Line

There are clear benefits and drawbacks to implementing slip seating in your fleet. Ultimately, it’s a company decision. Also keep in mind that this decision doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Some companies may find it advantageous to use slip seating for some trucks, but not for their entire fleet.  

Just keep in mind that it’s very likely that if you implement slip seating, any increased financial gains will be offset by increased driver dissatisfaction. If you still find it viable to go with slip seating, the next question you should ask is “Where can I make that satisfaction up?” 

Providing monetary bonuses, implementing recognition/incentive programs, and providing career-building opportunities are just a few ways that companies who use slip seating are still able to have high driver satisfaction. Ultimately, most people are willing to put up with working arrangements that aren’t ideal if they like their job and the people they work for. 

Comprehensive CDL Recruitment Solutions

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