Tag: to

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Video Interviews

Posted on by admin

In person interviews have not been possible since March. This means that if you have hired any drivers in the past three months, you had to conduct a video chat interview. Whether you are using Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc. you need to be prepared. Follow this guide to get the most out of your video interviews.

Man gets the most out of video interview

1. Set the Bar for the Meeting

As the interviewer, it is up to you to be an example of what it means to be a professional at your company. You need to set the bar for the interview.

One way that you can set the professional bar is by dressing professionally. Working from home it is tempting to remain in your comfortable clothes, but when you interview you are the face of your company.

Drivers are going to judge your company based on you. So dressing professionally will send the message that your company takes themselves seriously. Professional drivers want to work for professional companies.

The next thing you need to do is find a space that has quality lighting and is in a quiet space. Doing this will ensure that the driver will be able to see you clearly and there will not be any interruptions.

2. Understand Technical Difficulties

You need to remember that this world is new to the drivers as well. Many of them are going to struggle with interviewing remotely.

If a driver you are interviewing hops on the call late because they could not load the page, or if the call drops, you need to work with them.

Do not rule out hiring a potential driver because they could not figure out the video interview. Have patience, rushing to judgement will lead to you ruling out quality drivers.

3. Record and Review Later

There is no doubt that interviewing drivers in person is the best way to gauge a potential employee. However, video interviews have certain advantages.

The biggest advantage that video interviews have is that it is easier for you to record the interview and review it later.

You will become fatigued if you conduct multiple interviews in one day. This can lead to you overlooking a great driver.

Recording and reviewing the video interviews will help ensure you offer your positions to the most qualified driver.

4. Provide Clear Instructions

As mentioned earlier, drivers are likely to struggle technically with the video interview. The best way to avoid this is to provide clear, step-by-step, instructions prior to the interview.

The more you can do to eliminate technical barriers, the more you can focus on the driver. This way you can get a better idea of who the driver is as a person.

5. Ask Questions That Generate Articulation

Because you won’t get to have the human interaction like a typical interview, you need to ask questions that get drivers to explain themselves.

Here are some common video questions to ask drivers:

  • Why did you decide to apply with our company?
  • Why are you a truck driver?
  • Describe the best work environment you have been a part of
  • How did you manage driving your toughest routes?

Driver providing articulate answers on video interview

Video interviews will not allow you to test a driver’s capabilities so you must get drivers to describe their skills to you. You will have to make your hiring decisions based on how drivers are able to articulate their thoughts. Because of this, the questions you ask directly affect retention and overall company performance.

If you don’t know what you are doing with video interviews, it can lead to hiring the wrong person. Follow these 5 tips to get the most out of your video interviews.

7 Tips to Improve Your Employer Brand

Posted on by admin

Your company has an employer brand whether you actively work on it or not. Quality drivers are well aware of the best and worst employers. Here are 7 tips to improve your employer brand.

Benefits of a Strong Employer Brand and What it is

Employer branding is how potential drivers perceive your company. This is your reputation as an employer.

An employer branding campaign aims to improve your company’s attractiveness to the top drivers and increase retention rate.

Building your company’s employer brand will lead to lower recruitment costs. Drivers will know that your company is a great place to work and will actively seek out opportunities to work for you. Your company will not have to spend exuberant amounts on job postings.

The strongest employer brands attract the top quality of drivers. Truck drivers that are true professionals, and take pride in their craft, want to work for carriers that are the best of the best.

Lowering your recruitment costs and hiring the top talent is going to lead to improved company performance.

What's your brand written out on clipboard

How to Identify Your Employer Brand

Before you embark on building your employer brand, you need to assess where you are starting from.

Employer review sites, like Glassdoor, are the best place to begin identifying your employer brand. Glassdoor gives you quantitative ratings and how each rating stacks up against the competition.

Computer tab open to glassdoor

After reviewing your rankings on sites like Glassdoor, the next step is social listening. Social listening is done by searching your company on social media. You need to read your mentions and interactions. Reddit forums and trucking social groups are a great place for social listening.

If your employer turnover is high, that is a key indicator you have a weak employer brand.

7 Tips to Build Your Employer Brand

  1. Define What You Want the Culture to be

    If your company does not have a clearly defined culture then it is up to you to define it. Write out a clear vision and mission statement. 

    Once you have your vision and mission statement, establish 3 – 5 company values. These values are at the core of your company’s decision making process.

  2. Hire Culture Fits

    After defining what the company culture is, start hiring drivers that match your culture.

    You can do this by communicating the company values to potential drivers in the interview process. The drivers that you hire should strongly identify with at least two of the values.

    Potential hires that do not align with company values will not do well in your company and will hinder your employer brand.

  3. Treat Potential Drivers as Customers

    Quality truck drivers are the most valuable asset to your company. Companies that employ top notch professionals experience lower turnover rate and higher profits.

    During the hiring process, you need to treat the drivers as customers. It is up to you to ‘wow’ them. Sell the drivers on why working for your company will make their lives better.

    Treating potential drivers as customers will help you attract the top professionals.

  4. Use Storytelling

    You need to be frequently producing content that tells the story of your company. Tell stories about how much your current drivers love working for you.

    Potential drivers and passive candidates will interact with these stories and recognize your company as a great place to work. Positive stories build up employer brands.

    Hand writing Tell Your Story in expo marker

  5. Act on Feedback

    As you are going over your reviews on Glassdoor and conducting social listening, you will come across plenty of feedback. Assess whether this feedback is legitimate.

    If you come across positive feedback, double down on what you are doing well. Negative feedback that is brought up repeatedly needs to be fixed.

  6. Increase Driver Perks and Benefits

    The quickest way to get your drivers to brag about your company is by paying them more.

    However, solely paying your drivers more is not enough to build up your employer brand. You need to utilize all 7 tips.

  7. Be Authentic

    Drivers will see through you if you are not being authentic.

    To avoid this, come up with company values that your staff truly identifies with. Do not set values that you think potential drivers want to hear. That is inauthentic.

Whether you are aware of it or not, you have an employer brand. Drivers are taking note about which companies are best to work for. Follow these 7 tips to improve your employer brand, attract the best drivers, and increase company profitability.

How to Create a Trucking Recruiting Website

Posted on by admin

A well built website is one of the most impactful tools for recruiting truck drivers. Strong sites will generate positive impressions, inform the driver, and get them to apply. Here is how to create a trucking recruiting website.

What Are The Key Elements of a Good Website? 

Team of cartoon people work to create trucking website

Clear Site Navigation

Having an easy-to-follow website design serves two purposes. Clear site navigation makes it easier for visitors to consume your content and for search engines to index your site.

Your home page is the sun that your website-galaxy revolves around. Each page should always be one click away from the home page. Also, your homepage must highlight only the most important pages on your site.

One of the first things a driver should see when visiting your site is a link to apply.

An example of a site that shows the "Apply Now" link on the home page.

Well Designed Landing Page

A landing page is the section of the website drivers visit when they click on one of your paid advertisements.

Your recruitment landing page needs to be designed to sell the driver on working for your company.

Instead of using a bunch of text to tell drivers about the position and why they should work for you, use imagery. Include multiple photos of your current drivers happy on the job and video testimonials from drivers.

Show don’t tell.

Strong Call to Action

No matter how good your images are or how convincing your site is, drivers will not apply without a call to action.

Good example of a strong call to action.

 

Think of the call to action as the catalyst that gets the driver to actually submit an application. All the other content is used to persuade the driver that they want to work for you.

The call to action gets the application.

Mobile-Friendly

In today’s trucking world drivers have the capability to be checking new job opportunities 24/7. Mobile phones are the driving force behind this shift in trucking recruitment.

Last year, 67% of drivers used their smartphones to look for new employment opportunities.

Taking the time to make sure your site is mobile friendly is a necessary. If you do not have a mobile friendly site then you will miss out on all the applications from drivers that come to your site with their smartphones.

Positive ‘About Us’ Tab (Your Why)

Well done 'About Us' tab.
People are not motivated by what you do but why you do it.

Use the ‘about us’ tab to create a positive portrait of your team for drivers to see. Drivers want to work for a company that is going to value them.

Constructing a well done ‘about us’ page will stir excitement in potential drivers. They will see that your team is passionate about the industry, respect their drivers, and it will motivate the driver to seek greener pastures.

Content Content Content

Quality content works wonders. Done properly, content will increase awareness among drivers, get them to consider working for you, and ultimately increase applications.

Your site needs to have blog posts, videos, and photos, that all paint your company in a positive light.

Different people like to consume different types of content. That is why you need blogs, photos, and videos.

Excellent Visual Design

An aesthetically pleasing design with interesting visuals will create a strong first impression with drivers.

Excellent design sends the message to drivers that your company does the due diligence to get the job done right. This will attract the types of drivers that are true professionals and take pride in their work.

Optimized for Search Engines 

Your site is useless if no one visits. Optimizing your site for search engines will make it so that drivers will find you when they search for potential jobs.

Simple optimization practices like adding alt-text to your images, writing clear meta descriptions, and using effective SEO titles do not take much time and produce results.

What Should You Not Put on Your Website?

It is just as important to know what to avoid putting on your site as it is to know what to have on your site.

Dedicated Testimonial Page 

Testimonials are essential to any website. They are one of the most influential pieces of content potential drivers consume.

However, potential drivers are far less likely to engage with the testimonials if they have to go to a separate page. Do not have one page with all the testimonials

The best practice is to sprinkle your testimonials throughout your site. Mix the testimonials in on all the pages on your site.

Dead End Thank You Page 

After the driver applies, a lot of companies will show a simple “thank you” page.

Example of a dead end thank you page after application is submitted.

Having a dead end thank you page misses out on a huge opportunity. Drivers are at the peak of their interest right after applying.

Instead of a dead end page suggest to the driver that they engage with more of your content!

Confusing Messaging (K-I-S-S)

Keep in mind that your site serves two purposes: to increase driver applicants and increase business.

Do your best to keep your messaging as simple as possible. K-I-S-S. You should not spend any time on topics that do not serve either of those two purposes.

Create a trucking website that has simple messaging and applicants and business will both increase.

Automatic Sound/Videos

Nothing is more obnoxious than landing on a site that you have never been to before and getting blasted by automatic sound/videos.

Don’t do it!

In today’s market a well built website is mandatory to effectively recruit truck drivers. Follow this guide to create a trucking website that is a great truck driver recruiting website.

How To Recruit Truck Drivers on Social Media

Posted on by admin

72% of the public uses some form of social media. No wonder carriers are focusing their recruiting efforts to social media. However, most companies are not using social media to its fullest potential. Here is how to recruit truck drivers on social media.

There are 4 areas you need to know about in order to successfully recruit on social media. You need to focus on: company profile, relevant groups, paid advertisements, and using the right platform.

Use Company Profiles to Build Your Employment Brand

Drivers will do their research before applying for your company. You want to make sure that you have a positive brand image and strong social presence .

Think of your profiles as a platform to convey the company culture to potential drivers. It is best to post a lot of images and short videos that show off everything your company does to take care of its drivers. You need to highlight happy drivers as much as possible.

Another useful strategy is to post content that increases engagement. Posts that contain questions, polls, or contests are great at generating engagement. The more engagement you can generate the better.

Finally, make sure that you are posting frequently. Tools like Hootsuite will help you post frequently. Hootsuite will enable you to plan posts out in advance and upload the posts automatically.

Interacting in Groups to Build Relationships

Social media is filled with groups designed to connect drivers and recruiters. You need to join as many groups as possible. There are groups with drivers around the country and others that are focused on specific regions.

In order to be seen, post frequently and always respond to drivers that comment on your posts. Keep in mind that there is a lot of competition in the groups so you need to set yourself apart from the competition.

Join these groups with the company’s page AND encourage recruiters to join with their personal accounts. Recruiters that use their personal accounts to engage with drivers will come off as more personable/trustworthy.

Effective posts use eye catching photos and little words. Your goal should be to generate enough interest that the driver visits your site. The website will have the information needed to sell the driver on working for your company.

Paid Advertisements Keep You on Drivers’ Minds 

Any social media campaign is incomplete without paid media. Each social media platform has its own advertising tools (Facebook ads, Linkedin ads, Twitter ads, Google ads, etc.).

The goal of paid media is to keep your company on the mind of potential drivers. Drivers spend a lot of time on social media, by advertising on social media you are meeting the drivers where they are at.

The best part of paid media is its hyper-focus. If you take the time to set up the proper settings only your desired demographic will see your ads. Hyper-focus campaigns lead to increased ROI.

For best results, your paid ads need to be eye catching. Drivers will spend hardly any time interacting with the paid ads so every millisecond counts. Create ads that burn an image into the drivers minds.

Canva is the best platform for designing advertisements. The platform makes it easy for people who have little design experience create professional quality ads.

illustration that shows how to recruit truck drivers on social media

Platforms to Use For Maximum Results

There are many platforms to use for recruiting truck drivers. Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Youtube, and Twitter are the main platforms you should focus on.

If you are determined to expand beyond those platforms Reddit, Snapchat, and TikTok are becoming more popular with drivers.

Facebook and Twitter give your company a voice. Instagram is visual so post smiling faces and quick videos. Linkedin is professional; here you will want to post company accomplishments and management philosophy. Youtube should be used to post videos of driver interviews and more in depth visuals that tell stories about how great your company is.

Instead of focusing your energy on using as many platforms as possible, focus on thriving within one or two of the platforms.

Social media is an excellent tool to recruit new drivers.You can interact with drivers directly and social media will give your company a voice. Follow this guide and successfully recruit truck drivers on social media.

How to Hire for Long Term Retention

Posted on by admin

Retaining truck drivers does not start once a driver is officially an employee. It starts before you hire them. Follow this guide to hire for long term retention.

Hiring any able-bodied driver is counterproductive and may cost your company money. It costs on average $8,000 to hire a new driver, hiring people who you do not envision being with your company long term is expensive.

Culture-Driven Hiring

Have your company establish what personality traits best thrive within the company’s culture. Defining an organizational culture takes many forms. Some companies choose to bring in outside consulting and others conduct staff-driven discussions.

Once you have decided the culture, you need to go out of your way to hire drivers that are cultural fits. A study from the University Iowa found that employees who fit the company culture have greater job satisfaction, are more likely to remain with the organization, and perform at a higher level.

Establish your culture, communicate that with everyone you interview, and hire the drivers that match the culture. Doing this will get your company high performing drivers that stay long term.

Asking the Right Questions 

Get past surface level questions. Ask questions that demonstrate the candidates abilities and who they are as a person.

The mistake that many companies make is rushing the interview process. They will gauge an applicant based on a brief phone call and a background check.

When you are interviewing potential drivers take the time to probe and dig deeper. The conversation should not stop at the applicant’s first answer. Ask follow up questions that get to the root of the applicant’s answer.

Here are some questions from the Harvard Business Review that assess culture fit:

  • What type of culture do you thrive in? (Does the response reflect your organizational culture?)
  • What’s your ideal workplace?
  • Why do you want to work here?
  • Tell me about a time when you worked with/for an organization where you felt you were not a strong culture fit. Why was it a bad fit?

Image depicts "retention" on a road to symbolize truck drivers

Paint Your Company in the Correct Light

The natural response for many driver recruiters is to paint their company in the best light. However, this is actually counterproductive.

Driver candidates need to have a realistic understanding of what they are signing up for. They need to know about the job, organization, culture, management, and their peers.

Recruiters also need to be proactive in disclosing the less appealing aspects of the position. The drivers need to know about the long hours and difficult routes they are signing up for.

A famous example of using the difficulties of a position to recruit is Ernest Shackleton’s ad in the paper. In the ad he said:

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.

Shackleton’s crew was not taken off guard by the harsh conditions because they knew what they were signing up for from the beginning.

Over-promising how great your company is to the driver will ultimately lead them to feeling misled. Drives that feel misled are more likely to leave.

Having retention in mind from the very beginning of the hiring process will pay dividends in the long run. The drivers you hire will be more satisfied, less likely to leave, and perform better. To do this implement culture driven hiring, ask the right questions, and accurately portray your company.

Guide to Content Creation for Driver Recruitment

Posted on by admin

Content is king. It is how trucking companies educate and build relationships with potential drivers. Today, 85% of job searches begin at a search engine, drivers research companies before making a decision. The right content will guide a driver from awareness, to consideration, to application. Here is the guide to content creation for driver recruitment.

Content That Generates Awareness

Content that generates awareness for your company is crucial because it creates the first impression with drivers. 

“Two things remain irretrievable: time and a first impression.” – Cynthia Ozick

The content you create to generate awareness needs to focus more on painting your company in a positive light and less on the fine details of the position. Hook the drivers with engaging content. 

The three main areas you are going to want to focus on to generate awareness are social media, paid media, and company brand. 

Social Media 

Social media is the best place to show off your company. You control everything that is posted so you control how positive the company comes off as. 

On your company’s pages, post a lot of visual content. People do not want to read long paragraphs when they are scrolling through Facebook. 

Post photos of drivers happy to be on the job, digestible graphics that depict company growth, and short videos. The videos must have subtitles and cover things like driver testimonials, company wide celebrations, and what it is like to work for your company. 

Paid Media 

Paid media is a great way to generate awareness because you can pay to be in front of the eyes of your exact target demographic. 

However, drivers will know that what they are seeing is a paid advertisement and will move on from it quickly. 

Create eye catching images, and catchy slogans in big font for your paid media. Every millisecond you can get drivers to look at your advertisement is a win. 

Company Brand

Drivers often first hear of your company via word of mouth. Your company brand will dictate whether that word of mouth message is positive or negative. 

To build a strong brand image, create content that shows off all the positive things your company does. Show how you take care of drivers, interact in the community, and any other goodwill the company does. 

You will want to post this content on your website and social media. It is just as much for your current drivers as it is for prospective drivers. Current drivers that love the company they work for will tell their friends about your company.

Now the Driver is Hooked and in Consideration

After becoming aware of your company, if a driver likes your content they will then consider working for your company. 

In the consideration phase, drivers need more in depth information on the position and company. They are looking for things like employee-generated content, company mission, and company updates. 

Employee-Generated Content

First hand accounts from your drivers are authentic and resonate with candidates. 

Following a driver around with a camera to create a “day in the life of” video is an example of employee-generated content. 

Another example is interviewing your highest performing drivers and asking them what they enjoy about working for your company. 

The goal of employee-generated content is to create authentic material to sell candidates on your company. Potential drivers will get tired of hearing from the recruiter why the company is so great, but will enjoy hearing from another driver. 

Company Mission

If you want to see how powerful a company mission is, watch Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk “Start With Why”.

Drivers that have core values that align with your company’s will be far more likely to apply and then stay with you long term. 

People are not motivated to act by what you do but why you do it.

Company Updates

Drivers will look to receive company updates if they are interested in working for you. They will sign up for your weekly newsletter or frequently check your company’s blog. 

If you do not have some form of frequent company updates, it is time to start one. 

Quality drivers want to work for a quality company. Weekly updates will show interested drivers the awesome things you do each and every week. 

Colorful blocks spell out the word "content" with blurry blocks in background

Getting That Application

Once drivers begin making moves to submit an application, they need more technical content. At this point they have already decided that they want to be a part of your company and now they need to know how to apply.

Drivers will need in-depth job descriptions, personalized landing pages, and an easy to follow online application.

Job Descriptions

Drivers more than likely skimmed through the job description during the consideration phase. Now that they are ready to apply, they will give it a longer look over. 

For drivers, pay is one of the most important elements of a position. They also care about things like home time, and any other benefits. 

Describe all of these things clearly, and do not oversell the position. Be honest and sure you can deliver on all promises made in the description.

Personalized Landing Pages

You need to make a personalized landing page for drivers that are applying for your company. Think of this as a chance for you to roll out the virtual red carpet for new drivers. 

On the landing page add photos of employees welcoming the new applicant and a video of upper management saying they are thrilled the driver is applying. 

Also, include writing that highlights the next steps and a call to action. The call to action needs to call for the driver to officially submit the application.

Easy to Follow Application

The final moment. Your content successfully generated awareness, got the driver to consider working for you, and has welcomed the driver that clicked on the new applicant landing page. 

Do not lose them because your application is too confusing/time consuming. 

Write clear and concise instructions. Use tools that make uploading documents easier and require as little writing as possible. 

Content is king when it comes to digital driver recruitment. The proper content will generate awareness, consideration, and applications. Each step requires different kinds of content. Follow this guide to make the right kind of content and generate more applications.

How to Stay Productive Recruiting From Home

Posted on by admin

The Coronavirus is forcing millions of people to work from home who previously had never done so. This sudden transition has caught many people off guard. If you have not adapted to recruiting from home, then you are missing out on hiring the drivers that are in need of work. Here is how to stay productive when recruiting from home.

Designate Certain Times of The Day For Certain Tasks

As a recruiter you have so many different responsibilities that it can be difficult to choose where to start. The beginning of each day can be overwhelming when you look at all the outreach, orientation tasks, and retention efforts that need to be done.

Recruiters need to be focused on one of the three areas mentioned above. Before you start each day allocate specific times to focus on one area at a time.

For example, your daily schedule could look like this:

  • 9:00am – 11:00am focus on retaining drivers
  • 11:00am – Noon social media outreach
  • Noon – 1:00pm lunch
  • 1:00pm – 3:00pm focus on orientation
  • 3:00pm – 4:30pm calling/reaching out to potential hires
  • 4:30pm – 5:00pm answering emails and wrapping the day up

Each day will be different as your top priority will change. Make sure to be building your schedule so that you are allocating the most time to your most important projects.

Take Advantage of Technology 

Now is the time to experiment with new technology in your recruiting process. There will not be any in-person-job-fairs or hiring events happening any time soon.

It is up to you to get creative with the tools you have.

Maybe instead of calling all of your potential drivers, you ask them if they want to do a Zoom meeting.

Universities around the country are offering online courses for free. Try taking a digital marketing course and using those strategies.

Technology will enable you to reach drivers and build relationships as effectively as in person recruiting before the pandemic. Recruiters that do not take advantage of technology will struggle.

Find a Specific Work Area, and Close it Off 

Working from home comes with a set of challenges and distractions that are not issues in the office. Kids, pets, chores, etc. all weigh on you while working from home.

Man working at home, quarantined from the corona virus

The best way to escape those distractions is to find a specific work area and close it off from the rest of your home.

If you have a home office keep the door closed during work hours. Having the door open invites distractions into your office and invites you to get up and leave the office.

Don’t have a home office? Set up a makeshift office in a room that does not get used often. The guest bedroom is a great option.

Noise cancelling headphones are the best option if you cannot physically close yourself off from distractions.

Shut Off The Computer at The End of The Day

Teleworking from home makes it easier to convince yourself to work late. Your computer is right next to you all the time and it is tempting to work extra hours.

Now that we do not have to physically leave the office, work and home lives blend easier.

Working too much will end up being counterproductive. Long work hours lead to poor sleep and eventually burnout.

Dress For The Door

One of the biggest perks of working from home is that there is no dress code! You get to dress however you please.

Online you will see a lot of people recommending that you still get up and get ready for the day as normal. However, if you are used to dressing in business attire everyday then that advice probably makes you cringe.

It is great advice to stick to your morning routine. That will get your mind ready for the day. Instead of dressing professionally, dress in a way that you would feel comfortable answering the door for a stranger. Comfortable, yet not too unprofessional.

For the next few months, working from home is our reality. Each of us is impacted in our own way by the pandemic. Following the steps above will help you overcome these new challenges to stay productive while recruiting from home.

How to Lead Your Truck Company in a Volatile Market

Posted on by admin

"Turmoil" runs across a stock ticker. All stocks are down.

The first quarter of 2020 has been filled with ups and downs. January started with the DJIA reaching all time highs, followed by a crash. The Coronavirus has hurt carriers that focus on transporting goods shipped in from China, but it has helped carriers that supply grocery stores. Russia and Saudi Arabia embarked on an oil war which will lower fuel prices for carriers but potentially harm the industry in the long run. Throw in an upcoming presidential election and the future will be filled with ups and downs. Here is how to successfully lead your truck company in a volatile market.

Plan for Contingencies by Playing ‘Kill the Company”

Volatile markets crush companies by following record highs with crippling lows. Companies that are not prepared for the lows crumble.

Start making a contingency plan by analyzing your company’s weak points. ‘Kill the Company’ is a great exercise that highlights your company’s weak points. Gather the leaders of your company and tell them to pretend to be the company’s number one competition for the next three minutes. Their goal is to come up with a plan to put your company out of business.

Knowing your weaknesses will shine a light on the factors that could be catastrophic. Build a plan that will get your company through the worst of times.

Build up Your Capital Reserves During the High Points

Capital reserves are like a savings account for your company. Use the upswings in a volatile market as an opportunity to build up your company’s capital reserves. Building up capital reserves will enable you to fund contingency plans or pay for essential costs, like salaries, when the company stumbles in a market crash.

Be Aggressive With Payment Collections

Volatile markets are not the time to be relaxed with payment collections. Money will be tight for everyone. Companies that owe you money will try to hold on to their cash during the downswings and wait for the upswings to pay you.

The best way to improve cash collections is to communicate with your clients frequently and to make it as easy as possible for them to pay. Starting five days before the bill is due you need to be on the phone with clients reminding them to pay you. Call them on the due date and then every day after that until they pay. An online system is the easiest way to accept payment. Enable clients to pay you from their computer by using tools such as Quickbooks

Setup Alternative Sources of Income

It is good business practice to set up as many revenue streams as possible. Doing so will mitigate risks. Having multiple sources of income will help the company survive while its main revenue source is struggling.

One common way for a trucking company to earn extra revenue is to sublease a portion of its warehouse. Subleasing to another company will generate a monthly income that helps cover your fixed costs.

Do Not Layoff Drivers to Save Money

Companies will turn to layoffs in order to save money in a struggling market. However, this leads to the quality of service you offer to suffer.

Building up your capital reserves and establishing multiple revenue streams will provide your company the money it needs to keep its staff. Ideally, it would also provide the funds to hire the top drivers that other companies laid off.

Keeping your staff intact will ensure you continue to provide great service through tough times. This will earn the loyalty of your current clients and help you gain even more business from companies that are disgruntled by their current carrier.

Take Advantage of Competition Slowdown and Continue to Market

According to the Small Business Administration,

“Savvy marketers can boost sales and market share, even if the industry in which they compete is in a slump.”

The competition that is not prepared for a volatile market will be forced to slash their marketing budget. Using your capital reserves, your company can fund marketing campaigns that capture more of the market.

Include Employees in Implementing Policy Changes 

Volatile markets will force your company to implement policy changes. You must involve your employees in these changes. Doing so will generate a sense of team and ownership in the changes.

Trying to force policy changes on employees will create a sense of rebellion. Turbulent times require your team to come together and overcome adversity. Employees turning on the company will magnify every issue the company faces.

Volatile markets separate the great companies from the not so great companies. If you do not know how to lead your truck company in a volatile market, your company will struggle mightily. However, choose your next steps wisely and you will come out of these difficult times on top.

7 Strategies to Improve Driver Recruiting

Posted on by admin

Driver recruiting to fill your trucks

A carrier’s most valuable assets are their drivers. Companies that successfully recruit quality drivers in high quantities outperform the competition. Utilize these 7 strategies and your company will improve its driver recruiting.

1) Remove Tasks That Keep Recruiters From Recruiting

Driver recruitment is a demanding job. Assigning recruiters tasks outside of recruiting will keep them from devoting the necessary time needed to recruit.

Time spent planning orientation, running digital marketing campaigns, qualifying applicants, etc. is time away from recruiting. In order to maximize efficiency, recruiters need to focus all of their energy in three areas:

  • Calling fresh, pre-qualified, leads
  • Referral programs
  • Rehire programs

Recruiters wearing too many hats will produce sub-par results. Remove distractions so recruiters will focus solely on recruiting

2) Hire a Trucking Digital Agency

Digital recruitment generates a constant stream of fresh leads for your recruiters to contact. However, it has to be done properly. Your recruiters do not know how to run effective digital campaigns.

Also, a digital ad agency unfamiliar with the trucking industry will not succeed. Hire a digital ad agency that specializes in truck company marketing and driver recruitment. Specialty agencies will speak your language, have your interests at heart, and will know how to navigate recruitment road bumps.

Digital campaigns are more effective than outdated methods. The first place drivers go to find a new job is the internet. Run a digital campaign and drivers will see your posting when they look for a new job.

Another benefit to digital campaigns is everything is tracked. Agencies will use tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to see how each marketing platform (social media, ppc, remarketing,etc.) is performing. Tracking data also allows them to use A/B testing. They experiment with different images/messaging and see what variations produce the best results. Data driven decisions will generate campaigns focused on the most effective platforms using the most effective messaging.

Skilled agencies will be able to promote your job postings specifically to people who you want to see it. You will not waste a single cent on ads being placed in front of uninterested people. Digital campaigns are hyper focused.

3) Assign Primary Recruiting Responsibilities 

Assign your recruiters to recruit specific kinds of drivers. One recruiter needs to focus on drivers, one on owner operators, one on CDL students, etc.

Recruiters will take pride/ownership in the type of driver they are assigned.  Also, assigning drivers will assure your company has different drivers with diverse skill sets.

Instead of having a team of drivers with the same qualifications, your company will have a collection of different endorsements, O/Os, and rookie drivers.

In addition to assigning recruiters specific drivers to recruit, make sure recruiters are assigned specific channels. Driver applicants that slip through the cracks because a recruiter forgot to reach out to them is frustrating and costs the company money.

4) Train Recruiters to be Salespeople

Truck driver recruiting is a sales job. Recruiters are selling the idea of working for your company to driver applicants. If your recruiters are not properly trained in sales then they will struggle to recruit.

Recruiters need to be trained to utilize conversation techniques that discover why a driver would want to change jobs. After figuring out the “why” the recruiter can use that to sell the driver that working for your company will fix that why.

5) Shorten the Recruiting Cycle

The longer it takes from “hello” to contingent offer, the least qualified drivers you hire. Enable your recruiters to offer drivers a contingent offer on the first call. It is unnecessary for and inefficient to have a recruiter get clearance from a manager before making contingent offers.

Another way to shorten the recruiting cycle is to use a landing page that drivers can apply on. Drivers should click on your ads and be able to apply for the position without having to search through any tabs.

6) Inspire Drivers to Refer Your Company 

Getting drivers to refer your company to other drivers is a great way to bring on new talent. However, it can be difficult to get drivers to actually refer your company to their peers.

Oftentimes recruiters will implement an impersonal referral program. Recruiters will send out an email blast, or in a large meeting, ask all of the drivers at once to refer the company to their friends.

Ask drivers personally and privately for help. Doing so will lead the driver feeling like you are asking them for help, not asking the whole company at once. People are committed to people, not the company.

One strategy that produces results is pulling your top drivers into your office, asking them for help, and then giving the driver their own business cards. The driver will hand out their cards to people they meet on the road.

Do not forget to compensate drivers that refer qualified drivers.

7) Actively Recruit Potential Rehires

When a driver leaves your company for another, that does not mean they should never work for you again.

At the time the driver resigns have a company vote if they should be welcomed back. 30 days after the driver resignation, start sending them recruitment content. It is common for a driver to start a new position only to realize their former employer was a better situation.

Make sure to send out messaging to former drivers on December 1st. December 1st is the end of the busy season and drivers are starting to think about where they are going to work the following year.

Finally, announce company changes to former employees. Former drivers may have left because your company was not paying them enough, but they enjoyed everything else about your company. Letting former drivers know about the pay increase may motivate them to return to your company.

Improving the quality and quantity of drivers recruited will improve your company’s bottom line. Despite the driver shortage, your company should not settle for a lack of quality drivers. Follow these 7 strategies and bring in more qualified drivers.

This article based on Kelly Anderson’s webinar 10 Things to Improve Quality and Quantity of Drivers Recruited

How to Use the Driver Shortage as an Advantage

Posted on by admin

The driver shortage is the largest issue facing the transportation industry today. According to the ATA in 2018 the trucking industry was short 60,800 drivers. If the current trends hold, the shortage may rise to over 160,000 by 2028. From a bird’s eye view, the driver shortage is a major issue that needs to be addressed. However on a local level, carriers can use the shortage as a tool to beat out competition. Implementing top notch recruiting strategies will enable your company to hire quality drivers instead of your competition.

Getting Ahead of the Competition

The best way to illustrate how a company can benefit from the driver shortage is through a hypothetical situation. In this hypothetical situation let’s say that there is a city with 3 trucking companies and 20 qualified drivers.

Each company has 10 trucks to fill, but obviously there are not enough drivers for each company to fill their trucks. Companies 1 & 3 have been around for decades and decide to use the same recruiting strategies that have always worked for them. They post help wanted ads around town, attend job fairs, and implement a referral program. These efforts produce some results and Companies 1 & 3 are able to successfully hire 5 drivers each. Company 2 on the other hand, is a relatively new company and they decide that old recruiting strategies were not effective enough. Company 2 decides to implement digital based recruiting strategies, offer a higher pay for drivers, and reorganizes the company structure to maximize efficiency. These changes in the recruiting process are highly effective and Company 2 successfully recruits the remaining 10 drivers.

Now that Company 2 has enough qualified drivers to fill all of their trucks, they are avoiding all the necessary costs that come along with idle trucks. Also, Company 2 is doubling the revenue that Companies 1 & 3 are earning. While Companies 1 & 3 are struggling, Company 2 is thriving which leads to them earning more business from local brokers. Eventually, if the trend continues, Company 2 will be able to buy out Companies 1 & 3.

Company 2 adapted to the times and used strategies that their competition were not using. The combination of effective recruiting and the driver shortage lead to Company 2 doubling in size and eliminating its hypothetical competition.

Becoming Company 2

It is safe to say that everyone wants to be Company 2 in the above hypothetical. That is a lot easier said than done. In order to be Company 2 you need to be better at recruiting and retention than your competition. Digital marketing recruitment strategies, such as geofencing, are far more effective than traditional recruiting strategies. If your company is not maximizing digital strategies then you need to bring in an agency that is highly skilled in this area. Dedicate one team to using digital strategies that fill your applicant pool and a separate team that focuses on recruiting.

The driver shortage is the number one threat facing the transportation industry as a whole. However, that is not the case on the local level. A company that recruits better than its competition will benefit from the shortage. That company will employ the majority of qualified drivers and outperform competing companies. Implementing digital strategies and reorganizing the recruiting structure will set your company up to use the Driver Shortage to your advantage.