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How to Increase Your Driver Recruitment Efficiency on a Budget

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How to Increase your Recruitment Efficiency on a Budget

The process of recruiting truck drivers can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. Now more than ever, the name of the game is efficiency. Getting fast results with as little impact to the budget as possible is key. But how do you improve your overall recruitment efficiency, especially during these uncertain times? Here are 5 ideas to get you started.

1. Work Smarter, Not Harder

One of the best pieces of advice for anyone in business is to always find ways to work smarter, not harder. Look at your overall processes and find the trouble spots and the jams. Once you have those identified, think about what you might be able to change. What pieces of your recruitment process can you streamline, or better yet, eliminate? If there’s a certain process that’s always taking more time than you can afford or using up more resources than planned, create a better plan.

2. Don’t Lose Any Driver Leads

One great way to increase recruitment efficiency is to make the most of the leads you already have. Going back to your hiring funnel, when potential drivers fall out, what is your process to re-engage them when new openings arise? Drivers who were found to be good matches but didn’t sign-on might be the best place to start. Recruitment efficiency is the combination of process improvement and leveraging all of the assets at your disposal.

3. Look to Rehire Former Drivers

If drivers left for another job, it’s worth keeping track of details that let you know why. If they left to chase a higher paycheck that’s one thing, but if they left due to a poor culture or other internal issues you have since improved, it might be time to reintroduce yourself to former drivers.

Bringing back former drivers can be the fastest way to fill an empty truck. Having a pool of qualified and experienced employees to call on for rehire can be a valuable resource. Make sure the people you want to come back to work for you know they are welcome back in the future.

4. Maximize Your Existing Technology

Ensure all of your technology is working for you. From your chosen applicant tracking system (ATS) to your website, make sure that you know how to measure success.

If there are features and functions available that you’re not using, find out what it takes to implement those to your advantage. There may be steps in the process that you can automate. Do it! Using your technology to its fullest advantage is a clear advantage in hiring.

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5. Lower Your Cost Per Hire

Lastly improve recruitment efficiency by focusing on saving money for each new driver onboarded. Finding ways to save money or otherwise stretch your recruiting budget is one way to positively impact your company’s bottom line. In addition, working to reduce your cost per hire is a critical step. And freeing up funds that can be then reinvested or reallocated to drive other improvements. Take a look at all of the tactics you’re using for driver recruitment and then remove the least effective pieces. The goal is to have faster hires, at a lower cost overall.

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

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.

Get the Ebook

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.

Get the Ebook

Rethinking Your Driver Recruitment Budget

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driver recruitment

Budget planning is one of the most important jobs at any company. A limited amount of funds is available for each team, and they need to be spent wisely. When working through your plans for hiring drivers, your recruitment budget is a critical piece of that puzzle. But when you step back and look at the process and what you’re actually spending, maybe it’s a good time to also rethink your driver recruitment budget.

First Things First

do you have a good handle on your actual budget needs? It could be as simple as knowing your turnover rate, your anticipated need for additional drivers above turnover, and then multiply that by your current cost per hire. Simple, right? Could be that easy, but it’s probably a little bit more complex than that if you’re working through this for the first time. Especially when turnover rates keep climbing, and the driver shortage continues to grow. These things impact revenue because trucks are sitting idle, and once revenue decreases, assigned budgets can unexpectedly change at any time.

Cut Out What’s Not Working

The best thing to do when looking at your driver recruitment process is to figure out where to cut out waste. Let’s start with the type of drivers your looking to hire. Here you want to be highly strategic in your approach, to attract the perfect candidates. You don’t want to simply generate hundreds of leads only to find out that they don’t meet even half of your qualifications. If that’s what you’re doing, you probably also know the amount of time it’s taking for your team to work that massive pile of ice-cold leads. It might be a good idea to try and find a better place to spend that money. And a better way to use all of those wasted hours.

Using your historical data of what’s worked best, where have you found the best matches? The best retention? Those are the places you want to ensure your recruitment budget is maximized.

Part of any good budgeting strategy is tracking everything related to that budget. You should have at least a simple tracker of costs vs. return on each tactic, best case on a monthly basis (if not weekly). Once you’re sure the low performing tactics are no longer part of your plan, you can work to reallocate those funds to tactics that produce the best matches. Who knows, saving those hours and dollars might allow for improvements in employee benefits or salaries that will make you more competitive down the road.

Stop Making the Same Driver Recruitment Mistakes

At the end of the day, a recruitment budget shouldn’t be focused strictly on volume. Producing thousands of unqualified leads for your fleet, just bogs you down and creates capacity challenges throughout your day.

Instead, a driver recruitment budget should be focused on making meaningful connections with drivers that you are able to sustain in the long run.

It should be about focusing on spending in areas that will actually produce qualified matches for your fleet, instead of just trying to get warm bodies in your trucks.

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