A successful last-mile delivery company is reliant upon the right drivers. Finding and recruiting these drivers can be time-consuming and divert resources from critical business operations.
Truck driver recruitment is a complex job that requires a thorough understanding of the industry and employment laws. Recruiting efficiently and effectively is difficult, but it can be done with solid strategies.
Streamline Your Online Job Postings
Hiring truck drivers is a major challenge for any transportation company, regardless of fleet size. There are mounds of paperwork to process, background and driving checks to complete, and DOT compliance to maintain.
The right driver recruiting software can help you streamline the process by providing a one-stop shop for all your recruitment needs. From custom branding to data-driven insights, these tools can help you find the best talent for your team and elevate your hiring standards.
An effective tool will offer features like online job postings to widen your reach and attract more candidates. It should also provide candidate screening tools and assessment solutions that allow you to make informed hiring decisions. It should also facilitate e-signatures to reduce the time required to complete your background checks.
Candidate engagement and marketing tools should be integrated to ensure your brand is consistent across all channels, including social media. These tools can also help you build an engaging applicant experience, ensuring your candidates are well-informed throughout the process and feel valued. This will improve the chances of retaining top talent, even after they take theory leave or choose to go elsewhere.
Automate Your E-Applications
Truck drivers are a highly sought-after group, and when it comes to recruiting, time is of the essence. If a company takes too long to respond to an applicant or their application process feels cumbersome, candidates will likely move on to another company offering them more opportunities.
Recruiting departments already have a lot on their plates. They need to be able to provide expedited responses to applicants, and they also need to manage the paperwork involved in the background check, DOT compliance, and hiring processes. This is why more and more fleets are turning to driver recruitment software to streamline their recruiting processes.
With the help of automation, recruiters can save time that would otherwise be spent on administrative tasks like responding to applications and connecting with candidates. They can also automate certain steps in their recruiting and hiring process, such as sending out driver permit application form, and pre-screening questionnaires to potential candidates. This allows recruiters to focus their efforts on the candidate experience and identifying top talent. Automated link tracking allows recruiters to easily see where a candidate is coming from and how they found your job posting.
Automate Your Background Checks
A lot of back-office work needs to be completed for driver candidates to become employees, including thorough background and driving checks and previous employment verification. Often, these processes can drag out the hiring process to weeks after an applicant has applied, leaving trucks empty and reducing fleets’ revenue.
Recruiting teams only have so many hours in the day, and those hours can get wasted on clerical tasks instead of connecting with applicants. Investing in recruitment automation technology that helps with these tasks can free up recruiting staff to focus on finding and hiring the best drivers.
Automate Your Interviews
When the time comes to interview a driver candidate, it’s important to keep the ball rolling as quickly as possible. Candidates will not stick around if your hiring process takes weeks or is cumbersome for them to complete.
The right recruitment automation software can help you get on a prospective candidate’s calendar and conduct interviews sooner with the push of a button. This makes the process more efficient for your recruiters and will keep you from losing out on drivers due to lost interest or a competing offer.
Beyond accelerating the initial touchpoints of your hiring process, driver recruiting automation also helps to speed up the process once you select a driver candidate. You can move quickly to get the driver on board using tools that validate previous employment, do background checks via integration with your MVR and background check providers, and create digital forms for DOT and company paperwork. This can save your recruiters hours each month and reduce the risk of costly fines due to not keeping up with DOT compliance.
Automate Your Onboarding
The last thing you want is for a prospective driver to lose interest or get a bad first impression because of slow or inefficient paperwork or orientation. Fleets that utilize recruiting software with digital onboarding can speed up orientation and the creation of new employee files and reduce the likelihood of missed deadlines.
Truck drivers are more interested in how many prestigious awards a company has won than in what benefits the carrier can provide them. A well-written job post that answers the question, “What’s in it for me?” can boost your application rate and help you find better drivers to represent your fleet.
Recruiting software that automates processes like writing and posting job ads, reviewing long applications, scheduling interviews, and onboarding new employees can give your recruiters more time to focus on closing warmer leads. And if your recruiters have lists of priority prospects that aren’t responding, automated messages can re-engage them to keep the recruitment process moving. This enables recruiters to do their best work and helps them to deliver on their fleet’s brand promise.
