Carriers Stepping Up Outreach to Recruit Driver Candidates
[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Motor carriers are expanding the scope of their recruiting efforts amid an ongoing driver shortage that’s been exacerbated by post-pandemic demand, hiring experts said.
“The biggest change that we’ve seen — other than the sheer number of companies who are now using our website to advertise their driving jobs — are the types of companies who are doing so,” said Darin Williams, president of CDLjobs.com, an online service designed to securely transmit driver job application data directly to a selected carrier. The company also has an advertising operation specific to trucking.
Prior to the pandemic it represented mostly larger carriers, but Williams said that is no longer the case. “Post-pandemic, we are representing carriers who never had to advertise. Private carriers, union carriers, ‘mom-and-pop’ carriers,” he said.
CDLjobs represented 135 carriers as of August, compared with 86 carriers a year prior.
Increased business resulted in a 53% increase in sales by the end of 2020 and a 110% increase in sales through July 2021 compared to July 2020.
Fleet managers find that healthy, happy drivers are key to business success. Stephen Kane of Rolling Strong says driver health starts with “being vulnerable enough to listen to somebody that knows about health.” Hear a snippet above, and get the full program by going to RoadSigns.TTNews.com.
American Trucking Associations projects the trucking industry will need to hire roughly 1.1 million new drivers over the next decade, or an average of nearly 110,000 per year, to keep pace with retirements and growing freight transportation needs.
HireRight, a provider of background screening and workforce solutions, in August released its 2021 U.S. Transportation Spotlight Report. It found that 52% of transportation professionals had planned to increase spending on job advertisements this year. Plus, 86% of respondents ranked finding qualified talent as a top concern.
“In the past, carriers typically worked individually with multiple service providers and media partners to generate drivers leads,” Priscilla Peters, vice president of marketing and training at Conversion Interactive Agency, told TT. “It involved lots of time, lots of phone calls and lots of unconnected data and analytics.”
Peters said the increasingly competitive marketplace renders this strategy ineffective, and is compelling carriers to seek a more comprehensive approach to build their brands and gain better visibility into what works and what doesn’t.
“This year we’ve found ourselves in conference rooms and on Zoom calls digging in deep with more and more carriers to identify what their driver persona is, and how we can create a marketing plan that includes multiple media partners but has one strategic message and goal,” Peters said. “Carriers of all sizes are committed to building a brand preference with drivers more than ever.”
Peters
The Alabama Media Group is a digital marketing agency and publisher that provides advertising on AL.com, The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times, Press-Register, Birmingham Magazine and This is Alabama. It has long worked with motor carriers.
“We’ve seen a big increase in trucking firms of all sizes,” Bart Thau, vice president of marketing at the Alabama Media Group, told TT. “But especially in the small-to-mediums. The sort of 50- to 1,000-truck range firms. What they’re trying to do right now is differentiate themselves and try to get the recruiting funnel directly connected to them.”
The number of trucking companies advertising with the group has doubled from about 50 a year ago to more than 100.
In the current environment, Thau added that carriers are trying to reach people who aren’t necessarily looking for a trucking job.
“We’re developing marketing strategies that help trucking companies brand themselves in the workplace for potential recruits,” he said, noting that part of that marketing strategy involves carriers making their operations appealing. And not just benefits and pay, but the lifestyle and workplace culture. This is mostly done through social media, he said.
“The majority of the inquiries that we’re getting now are from smaller fleets that really never had to advertise,” Hightower Agency CEO Pat Hightower told TT. “They could always find drivers, through referrals or through word-of-mouth, and they could do a little advertising internally. Companies with, say, 150 trucks or less.”
These days, Hightower is hearing from smaller fleets on a daily basis who are looking for guidance on advertising for drivers.
“Current clients have to spend more money, because it’s just supply and demand,” he said. “When there’s fewer drivers available, to access those drivers they have to spend more money.”
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
