The Coronavirus pandemic will come to an end at some point (… hopefully). However, the trucking industry will never go back to its pre-COVID state. So what will truck driver recruiting in a post COVID world look like?
Here is how driver recruiting will look like moving forward:
- An Increased Driver Shortage
- Less in Person Recruiting
- Remote Driver Learning
- Recruiting From Home
- Tech Savviness Will Continue to Win
An Increased Driver Shortage
Thought the driver shortage was bad during the previous years?
Just wait until you see the numbers for the years that follow 2020/2021.
I am not sharing this message to simply scare you, but instead to warn you. I want you to have enough time to prepare for what is to come.
Before the Coronavirus Pandemic, when CDL schools were at full attendance, the industry was still short 60,000 truck drivers.
CDL school attendance dropped 50% in 2020.
For the start of the pandemic, CDL schools were not capable of admitting any new students. Once the schools figured how they could admit students again safely, they could not find any people that wanted to become drivers. People were not willing to drive across the country during a pandemic.
If we were short 60,000 pre-pandemic, think about how short we are going to be post-pandemic.
You need to be gearing up your efforts.
Less in Person Recruiting
COVID-19 forced the entire country to recruit truck drivers online for some time. During this time many trucking companies realized how impactful digital recruiting can be.
The companies that realized how impactful recruiting truck drivers online is are going to keep investing heavily into this strategy. That means less money will be spent on recruiting drivers at in-person events.
In addition to companies spending less on in-person recruiting, drivers are now accustomed to being recruited online.
They are not going to want to travel long distances to attend recruiting events. Job hunting online is easier for truck drivers, and now that there are a lot of companies online, truckers have zero incentive to go to in-person events.
Remote Driver Learning
If you hired drivers at any point in 2020 you probably were not able to bring the driver into your facility to conduct orientation. You had to find a way to get your drivers through orientation virtually.
This was a huge benefit for drivers. If a driver was in Nashville, they could accept a job and go through orientation in St. Louis. Orientation has become much less of a burden for truck drivers.
Moving forward post-pandemic you need to keep driver learning remote. Not only will it help with orientation, but you can also train drivers new skills while they are out on the road. You do not need to keep your drivers at your headquarters to train them.
Companies like Tenstreet and TruckRight offer trucking companies excellent remote learning management software.
Recruiting From Home
Do you love recruiting from home or do you hate it?
Either way, you can expect to continue to work from home going forward.
According to a survey conducted by Gartner, over 80% of company leaders plan to permit remote work after the pandemic.
Businesses have realized that employees are just as or more effective working at home compared to going into the office every day. Employees spend less time commuting to work, are more comfortable in their homes, and employees work more when they are at home.
If you are recruiting from home you need to make sure that you are getting the most out of your video interviews and effectively recruiting drivers on social media.
Tech Savviness Will Continue to Win
Before 2020 trucking companies could be successful despite not utilizing technology to its full capability.
Once COVID became a reality that was no longer the case. The trucking companies that best utilized their technology last year thrived. Trucking companies that were not able to adapt struggled.
This trend is going to continue in the post COVID world.
Prioritizing technology will allow your company to be more efficient, keep your trucks on the road, make everyone’s lives easier, and boost all-around performance.
It is rare that an event comes along and completely changes everything. COVID-19 is one of those events. Truck driver recruiting pre-pandemic will look entirely different than driver recruiting post-pandemic. Follow this guide and get prepared for success at truck driver recruiting in a post COVID world.