Truck Driver Hiring
If you are looking for new drivers, there are a few simple steps to making sure you find the right fit. First of all, rank the qualities that are the most important to you: low cost, long experience, safety record, reliability, ability to deliver on-time, etc. Of course, all these qualities are important, but if low cost is your top priority, you might need to sacrifice long experience.
Your top priority should determine how you go about recruiting people. If you need the least expensive labor you can find, then you will either need to hire new drivers or offer attractive incentives like regular work hours, predictable scheduling and reliable home time.
If you are tired of training and losing drivers or you need drivers who have established themselves as safe and reliable, be prepared to pay what they’re worth. When you post your job ad, let candidates know how much experience you’re looking for and make it clear that you’ll be calling their references. Offer incentives that experienced drivers want, like good pay, dependable miles, good home time, and quality equipment.
Advertising
When deciding where to place your ad, think about who you want to hire. New drivers are less likely to be regular readers of trucking magazines than experienced drivers. If you are looking for entry-level people, make sure you place ads where Internet searches will find them. If your company has a website, you can post job openings here, but unless you have excellent search engine optimization, it might be hard for candidates to find.
National job websites compile listings from all over the country. These sites usually charge you a fee to list your job, and in exchange, your listing is available to more people. Consider posting your trucking job multiple places: sites specific to truck drivers and those with a more general audience.
If you are a small, local company, a big national job site might be overkill. A local newspaper ad can be more affordable and return a manageable number of candidates.
Make sure your ad is clear about job requirements and qualifications. The more specific you are about the kind of person you need, the more likely you’ll get good candidates. State how much the job pays, how much prior experience you require, whether you are willing to reimburse for CDL training, and explain what kinds of work the driver will have to do. Will he have to interact directly with customers? Will he have to load and unload? Will he have help with labor? How many miles will he drive per week?
Screening
Whether you have three calls about your job or an inch-thick stack of applications, you’ll need to find the best possible match. With a large number of applicants, you will probably be able to weed out more than half right away if you stick to your established list of priorities. If you need experienced drivers, you can instantly weed out anyone with less experience than you want. Look at the drivers’ prior work and see who came from a company you respect. Once you whittle the stack of applicants down to a manageable number, give your candidates a call and see how well they communicate by phone. Have any acceptable matches fill out a release form and request their DAC record and call their references. Before you sign anyone on, be sure to bring them in for an interview to assess their interpersonal skills.
Recruiters
If you don’t have time to go through this process, you can consider hiring a recruiting company to do the legwork for you. Recruiters either charge a flat fee or a per-hire rate. Although recruiters can save you time, in the end, they aren’t going to have to live with the people they recommend. Before you sign anyone on, be sure their personality is a good match for the company.