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Everything You Need to Know About Multi-Carrier Applications

Posted on by Jake Peters

Have you ever felt like a truck driver recruiting agency took advantage of you? You were promised hundreds of qualified applicants flooding your ATS, making hiring a breeze. Instead, you spent most of your time calling truck drivers who have no interest in speaking to you. Chances are that you purchased a list of multi-carrier applications.

Multi-carrier applications can serve a purpose but are very difficult to convert into hires.

Here is everything you need to know about multi-carrier driver applicants:

  • What are Multi-Carrier Applications? 
  • How can I Tell if I am Purchasing Multi-Carrier Applications?
  • Pros and Cons to Multi-Carrier Applications

driver recruited frustrated from poor results because of multi-carrier applications

What are Multi-Carrier Applications?

Truck driver applications that have been sold to multiple different trucking companies are multi-carrier applications.

Typically these occur when a driver submits an application to a job board site and has no clue which carriers receive their application. Oftentimes the driver’s application is continuously sold to companies even after they have accepted a position.

Agencies that sell these applications make their money by selling the same applications over and over again. They sell quantity, not quality.

Multi-carrier leads are cold leads. Calling a list of multi-carrier applicants is cold calling and can lead to frustrating results.

How Can I Tell if I am Purchasing Multi-Carrier Applications? 

Any company that uses language like “driver database”, “driver pool”, or “driver list” is trying to sell you multi-carrier leads.

Recruiting agencies will tell you that they have a database of driver applicants and will match your company with drivers that meet your requirements. These are multi-carrier applicants.

Every carrier who has the same requirements as you are sold the same leads you were sold.

A good way to tell if you are being sold multi-carrier applicants is asking the sales rep what their process is for finding applicants.

If they do not find fresh applicants specifically for your company then you are talking to a company that sells multi-carrier leads.

Pros and Cons to Multi-Carrier Applications

Pros and cons to multi-carrier applications

When you unknowingly purchase multi-carrier leads it can feel like they are useless. However, there are some positives to multi-carrier applications.

Pros:

  • The applications are not expensive
  • Guaranteed high level of volume
  • All applicants meet your hiring criteria

Cons:

  • The applications are cold leads
  • Drivers may not be looking for work
  • Lower conversion rate compared to direct applications
  • Take longer to hire the driver
  • Can be frustrating to contact

If you are intentional with how you plan to use multi-carrier applicants then they can be a useful tool. For example, carriers will use multi-carrier leads mixed in with direct and referral applicants. This allows their campaign to have high quality leads and high quantity.

Multi-carrier applications are very common in the industry. These leads are popular because you can buy a lot for cheap. However, you may feel ripped off after buying these applications because of the low conversion rate.

Having a plan and mixing in these applications with your direct applications can make for an effective hiring strategy. Make sure you know when you are purchasing multi-carrier leads and have a plan for recruiting these drivers.

7 Questions Trucking Companies Must Ask About an Applicant Tracking System

Posted on by Jake Peters

Small carriers may be able to operate and recruit truck drivers without an ATS. However, as companies grow to be mid-sized and beyond they need to purchase an ATS to manage their driver applications. Here are the 7 questions trucking companies must ask about an applicant tracking system.

7 questions to ask:

  1. What is the Price of This System?
  2. Can You Use it to Contact Potential Truck Drivers?
  3. Will you be Able to Speed up Your Process? 
  4. How Easy is it to Use?
  5. Does the ATS Provide any other Tools?
  6. Can You Easily Visualize Past Data?
  7. Can Your Driver Recruiting Agency Send Leads to the ATS?

What is the Price of This System?

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This question may be the most obvious of all seven questions. Of course, you are going to try and figure out the price of any new system you need to purchase.

However,

There are many different pricing models used by companies. Pricing models include:

  • Cost per user
  • Cost per number of employees
  • Cost per hire
  • Cost per feature
  • A flat fee charged either monthly, quarterly, or yearly

Before you sign any contract, make sure to read the fine print. Some companies are going to try and charge you for things like support and employee training.

Can You Use it to Contact Potential Truck Drivers?

If the answer to this question is “no”, then you need to find another ATS.

Being able to communicate with truck driver applicants via the ATS makes the process significantly easier. Things like unread emails and missed phone calls will be reduced significantly if you can communicate through your ATS

Also, being able to contact drivers through the ATS is going to allow you to reduce the time from application to first contact. The moment the application hits your ATS you will be able to call the truck driver.

The faster you can call driver applicants, the higher your conversion rate will be.

Will you be Able to Speed up Your Process?

In addition to speeding up your time to contact new applicants, your ATS needs to speed up the other steps of your process.

The ATS needs to allow you to collect and file paperwork, collaborate with fellow recruiters, keep the driver informed, and facilitate background checks.

How Easy is it to Use?

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An applicant tracking system is not good if none of the employees in the company know how to use it.

Also, keep in mind that some companies may charge you for company training sessions. So if you purchase an ATS that is too complicated and you need multiple training sessions, it can become quite expensive.

On the flip side of that, an ATS that is too simple may not provide all of the features you need. Think of yourself as Goldilocks looking for the “just right” amount of complexity.

Does the ATS Provide any Other Tools? 

Many applicant tracking systems are great at helping you keep track of new applicants and getting people hired. However, some ATSs offer features that go above and beyond.

If you have a large budget and can afford these extra features, they can come in handy.

Tenstreet, for example, offers applications that allow carriers to market to drivers, track their applications, hire them, and make sure the driver is following safety guidelines.

Can you Easily Visualize Past Data?

Looking back at past data is essential to any effective recruitment campaign. Your ATS should enable you to look at past results and see what works.

The truck driver recruiting strategy your company uses needs to be constantly evolving. Strategy evolves by analyzing the data of past campaigns and responding to the market.

If your ATS does not allow you to easily create visuals that depict past campaigns it may be tough to figure out what is working and what is not.

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Can Your Driver Recruiting Agency Send Leads to the ATS?

What good is your applicant tracking system if your driver recruiting agency can not submit applicants to it? If you have to submit the applications by hand after they are sent to you by the agency, you are losing valuable time.

Having a truck driver recruiting agency run your digital advertising and sending the leads they generate to your ATS is the most efficient way to get applicants.

A process where your digital driver recruiting agency feeds leads into your ATS for your recruiters to contact is best. This allows recruiters to focus on recruiting and not worry about anything else.

If you are a small carrier looking to expand into a mid-sized carrier, you will undoubtedly need an ATS. Use the 7 questions trucking companies must ask about an applicant tracking system to ensure you get the right ATS for your growth.