5 Key Performance Indicators Driver Recruiters Must Know

Recruiting truck drivers without data is like Dave Roberts setting the Dodgers’ batting line up without looking at the players’ batting averages. But what data is the most important to measure? Here are the 5 key performance indicators driver recruiters must know:

  1. Time Taken to Contact Applicants
  2. Average Time to Hire
  3. Average Cost per Hire
  4. Percentage of Offers Accepted
  5. Quality of Applications Being Received by Sources

Time Taken to Contact Applicants

The speed at which it takes you to contact a driver applicant is of the utmost importance.

One study conducted by Dr. James Oldroyd found some eye-opening results:

  • The odds of contacting a lead are 100 times higher if called in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes.
  • The odds of qualifying a lead are 21 times higher if called in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes.

Simply put, the faster you contact drivers after they apply, the more truck drivers you will hire.

Measuring the average time it takes for you to contact driver applications will tell you a lot about why or why not you are having success.

The goal should be for you to get your average time to contact 5 minutes or below.

If you are above 5 minutes to contact an application then there is room for improvement.

One of the easiest ways to boost your contact time is by working with a recruiting agency that sends the applications directly into your ATS. Do not let an agency convince you that sending leads once a day, once a week, etc. is okay.

You need the applications delivered to you in real-time so you can beat out other driver recruiters at contacting that truck driver.

KPI symbol. Wood cubes with acronym 'KPI, key performance indicator' stacking as step stair on orange background, copy space. Male hand. Business and KPI concept.

Average Time to Hire

The sooner you can get a truck driver from applicant, to interview, through orientation, and out on the road, the sooner they can start earning money.

Also, keep in mind that while you are trying to officially hire a driver, they are receiving offers from other companies. If your time to hire takes long then the driver has more time to accept someone else’s offer.

On average, trucking companies take 20-24 days to hire a driver. If you are above the industry average then your competition is beating you. Every day your truck sits idle costs your company thousands of dollars.

It is important to keep track of the entire time from application to hire. However, it is just as important to keep track of the time in between each step of the process.

Knowing the time it takes in between each step will tell you where to focus your efforts. The longest step in the process is the first step you should begin speeding up.

Keep track of your time to hire so you can implement strategies that try to speed up your process. A faster process will make your company more money.

Average Cost Per Hire

Figuring out your average cost per hire is not a complicated process. Simply calculate the sum of money spent on recruiting efforts and divide that number by the sum of drivers hired.

The industry average cost to hire a truck driver is $8,234. Calculating your average cost and comparing it to the industry average is a good measuring stick for your company. Obviously, you should try to have a cost per hire lower than the industry average.

Once you know your average cost per hire you can begin working to lower that number. Implement different recruiting strategies, try different lead sources, etc. and measure which process changes save your company money.

New technologies constantly provide opportunities for your company to optimize hiring processes. Improvements can always be made.

Percentage of Offers Accepted

Convincing truck drivers to apply for your company and convincing them to accept an offer are two different things.

There are agencies you can hire that specialize in getting truck drivers to apply to work for your company. However, you still need to convert those applications into hires.

If a low number of your offers are being accepted by drivers, that is troublesome. It could mean that your offer is not strong enough, the drivers do not like your company culture, your recruiters are underperforming, and many other things.

Losing drivers that you offer the position hurts your company. You are losing out on a driver that you identified as qualified and a good company fit. Those types of drivers are not easy to come by.

Working to increase the percentage of offers accepted is crucial.

hand holding percentage sign over yellow background

Quality of Applications Being Received by Sources

Unless your company only hires 1-2 drivers a month you are more than likely receiving applications from different sources.

It is up to the driver recruiting department to monitor the quality of truck driver applications they receive from different sources. Using an applicant tracking system can help you sort the sources of applications.

If it is clear that one source is sending you poor quality leads stop spending money on that source.

On the other hand, if you notice one source is sending you high-quality applications then you should increase the spending.

There is some variance in the performance of each source. Some months you will see a specific job board send a bunch of quality applications, and the next month you get zero from the board. Measuring the sources over an extended period is necessary to notice trends.

If your company is not keeping track of any key performance indicators then you are below average. These are the 5 key performance indicators driver recruiters must know to optimize their performance.

What other KPIs does your team measure? Comment below!

5 Tips For Driver Recruiters to be More Persuasive

At its core, truck driver recruiting is a sales position. You are selling your company to potential drivers. To effectively sell, you need to be persuasive. Here are the 5 tips for driver recruiters to be more persuasive:

  1. Cater the Value Proposition to the Specific Driver
  2. Start With Small “Yes’s” And Work Your Way Up
  3. Mirroring the Driver’s Body Language
  4. Make the Process as Easy as Possible
  5. Share the Positives and Negatives of the Position

Man writing Persuasive Techniques in a note.

Cater the Value Proposition to the Specific Driver

Your trucking company may offer drivers routes that have them home nightly, competitive pay, and a rent-to-own partnership for drivers.

Each of these offerings is going to attract different people.

A younger driver, one without a family who hasn’t rooted down yet, may e more attracted by your company’s pay. This younger driver is not as concerned with being home nightly

On the other hand, an older driver that has young kids and is married is more than likely going to value the home time over everything else.

A truck driver with aspirations of becoming an owner-operator will want to take advantage of your rent-to-own procedure.

As the driver recruiter, you need to determine what the motivation is of the driver you are recruiting early in communication. Then cater your value proposition to that driver’s preferences.

Catering - words from wooden blocks with letters, making or serving food catering concept, top view gray background

Start With Small “Yes’s” And Work Your Way Up

Asking a truck driver to uproot their lives and start a new career with your company is a big ask. It can be daunting for the driver to say yes to such a proposition.

Instead of starting the conversation with the ‘big ask’, start by asking from small yes’s.

An example of a ‘small yes’ is, “Will you watch this video we made of our company culture?” That question is an easy task for the driver to complete and will get them to say yes.

Studies have proven that building up agreement has a lasting effect. Getting truck drivers to start saying yes in your conversation will increase your likelihood of hiring them.

Mirroring the Driver’s Body Language

The scientific term for mirroring is “limbic synchrony” and it is wired into our brain thanks to mirror neurons.

Using this technique makes the driver subconsciously feel like you are their friend because you are acting just like them.

Mirroring is the act of copying the body language of the person you are conversing with. This technique is highly effective at building trust with a person you are meeting for the first time.

If you are interviewing a potential truck driver, start by observing how they position themselves. Then slowly begin to position yourself with the same body language.

Also, mimic the truck driver’s gestures, tone of voice, and talking pace. Make sure to avoid mirroring any accents, as this can be seen as disrespectful.

Stanford-Northwestern-INSEAD study found that people who used mirroring in a negotiation closed more deals and got better results for all parties involved.

Make the Hiring Process as Easy as Possible

Truck driver recruiters are going to be able to hire more drivers if the hiring process is quick and painless. Truck drivers are more likely to say yes to work for your company if it does not require a huge amount of effort.

This is common sense. When someone asks you to do them a favor, are you not more likely to say yes if it does not take up any of your time?

If the driver you are trying to hire has to jump through hoops, struggles to get a hold of anyone in the company, and has to submit multiple forms by hand then they are going to be less likely to work for your company.

Use online tools to help automate this process. If a driver only has to fill out their information one time that will make the process much easier. Also, make sure to remain in consistent contact with the driver throughout the hiring process.

Illustration of lightbulbs act as metaphor to show that easy gets results

Share the Positives and Negatives of the Position

Truck drivers will call baloney if you try to tell them that working for your company is all sunshine and rainbows.

And they are right to do so.

There is no such thing as a position that is all good. Your position will inevitably have some downsides.

Share the downsides with the truck driver.

Being upfront about the negatives may feel contradictory. However, it actually helps you build trust with the driver. Trust is a key piece to successfully hiring drivers.

The trick to this strategy is to always end on a positive note. Ending on a positive note tells the driver that the positives of the position outweigh the negative.

The best truck driver recruiters are master persuaders. Follow these 5 tips to become more persuasive and start hiring more drivers.

Have your own persuasive technique? Comment below!

How Recruiters Can Solve The Driver Shortage

 

According to the American Trucking Association, the trucking industry was short 60,800 in 2018. This shortage has caused the average turnover rate to rise to nearly 90% for large carriers. Having empty trucks kills your company’s cash flow. Fortunately, recruiters can solve the driver shortage for your company.

Recruit Great Drivers

The most effective way that recruiters can solve the driver shortage for your company is by hiring great drivers. Great drivers will produce at high levels for a long period of time for your company.

Employ all great drivers and your company will not need to worry about the driver shortage. Your turnover rate will be low and your trucks will remain on the road.

However, this is not as simple as it sounds. Before your recruiters can hire great drivers your company needs to provide an offer that is one of the best out there. That means high pay, benefits, and a strong company culture.

Once your company is providing that elite offer, then your recruiters can hire great drivers. A skilled recruiter will know how to filter through bad, average, and great truck driver applications and focus on the great.

Skilled recruiters will also have the sales ability to sell great drivers that your company is the company they want to drive for.

Act as a Mediator Between Management and Drivers

Very few people within your company interact with the truck drivers as much as your truck driver recruiters do.

Obviously, the driver recruiters communicate frequently with CDL drivers they want to bring in to your company. Recruiters also maintain relationships with the drivers after they have been hired.

Recruiters also frequently interact with upper management.

Anytime the drivers grow frustrated with the company, they will approach the recruiter with their issues. Knowing the frustrations of drivers, the recruiters can then report to upper management what is going on.

This process works in reverse as well. Recruiters relay messages from upper management to the drivers.

The reason this mediation is so important is because if it is done properly it keeps everyone on the same page. Drivers will feel like they are listened to and management can smoothly implement new processes.

A company with upper management and drivers on the same page has high retention rates and is not concerned with the costs associated with empty trucks.

Spearhead Retention Efforts 

Truck driver retention efforts are mandatory for your trucking company. You need to make your drives feel valued so that they will stick around for a while.

Your truck driver recruiters are the perfect people to spearhead your company’s retention efforts.

As mentioned earlier, your recruiters already have a connection with your drivers. Retention efforts coming from your recruiters will come across as more authentic.

The key to effective retention efforts is authenticity.

Digital Recruiters Fill Your Applicant Pool

As a disclaimer, it is important to know that there needs to be a difference between traditional driver recruiters and digital driver recruiters. Traditional recruiters hire the drivers while digital recruiters get drivers to see your company online and apply.

Digital recruiters work full time to generate applications from the internet. They use a combination of paid media, social media marketing, content creation, and search engine optimization to get these applications.

Filling your applicant pool makes it much easier for your traditional recruiters to hire a driver when you need one. This significantly shortens your time to hire, saving you money.

Applicant pool filled with CDL driver applications

On a macro level, the driver shortage is not an issue that is going away any time soon. However at a micro level, your company can not have to deal with the driver shortage. Your truck driver recruiters are key pieces to solving the driver shortage for your company.

5 Biggest Mistakes First Time Digital Recruiters Make

Digital driver recruitment is becoming more common in the transportation industry every year. Carriers that do it properly are keeping their trucks on the road and thriving. When one succeeds, others follow close behind. However, not every company succeeds at digital recruitment right away. Here are the 5 biggest mistakes from first time digital recruiters.

Not Designing for Mobile Users

It is easy to get lost in the design process and design for only desktops. You are designing on a desktop so it makes sense to think people will view it on a desktop. That is not the case.

Drivers do not have access to desktops while on the road so they do their web surfing from mobile devices. 61% of drivers would choose to own a smartphone if they were forced to pick between their phone and their computer.

Not designing for mobile users makes it incredibly difficult for drivers to interact with your content. Drivers will quickly move on from your company and interact with the carrier’s content that is easily accessible.

Relying Too Much on Social Media

Recruiting on social media can have huge ROIs for digital campaigns. Recruiting within the groups is free and advertisements are cheap.

The biggest problem with focusing on social media is that it is extraordinarily competitive. Carriers nationwide think they are being smart and saving money by doing all of their online recruitment in Facebook groups.

Placing all of your eggs into one basket is never a good strategy. Companies that focus on social media set themselves up to fail when social media is producing low results.

Insufficient Funding

Many companies are hesitant to jump right into digital recruitment. They often test the waters first by running a low budget campaign.

Low budget campaigns have little money for ad-spend and the carrier did not hire a professional to run the campaign.

Not spending the needed amount

of money on a digital leads companies to draw false conclusions about the effectiveness of digital recruiting.

Giving Up Too Soon

Companies embarking on their first digital recruitment campaign can have too high of expectations.

Carriers will stop their digital campaigns if all of their empty trucks are not filled after the first month or two.

Even working with professionals, the first campaign takes some time to get rolling. Digital Professionals will collect data on which platforms are producing the best results and modify the campaign to be as efficient as possible. However, they need time to collect enough data to make the best decisions.

Not Hiring a Professional to Run the Campaign

The biggest mistake carriers make is assuming that their recruiters can also digitally recruit. Carriers will force their recruiters to try and find drivers online. This does not produce results.

Recruiters are meant to be on the phones talking to potential drivers, running orientation, or working on retention efforts. Their plates are already full.

People standing at target where they missed the bulls-eye. Represents missing the mark on a digital campaign.

They do not have the time to learn how to digitally recruit and then implement a comprehensive digital campaign.

Digital recruitment agencies will be able to use the best strategies that fill your seats fast. They also know what it takes to work with a transportation company. Digital recruitment agencies are familiar with your pains and how to relieve them.

 

Do not make the same mistakes as other carriers. Learn from their errors. Avoid these five common mistakes and digital recruitment campaigns will be one of your company’s most valuable assets.