So where are the best places to find qualified candidates? Motor carriers can develop relationships with educational institutions and, in effect, build an apprentice program where the student, or driver candidate, learns his or her way into a professional driver status.
According to Rose, there are also the more traditional ways, such as sponsoring job fairs, Internet recruiting and classified advertisements in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, radio and television.
“But one of the most effective ways is word of mouth from your existing drivers,” Rose said. “Usually, a driver referral program accompanies this activity. This program encourages current drivers to assist in recruiting efforts of the company by rewarding them in some manner when they do bring a qualified driver to the ranks.”
Shortcuts to Avoid
It is tempting to limit your screening timeframes to only three years and only to any information you can obtain from digital employment databases. However, there are many employers around the country that do not file electronic reports to the databases.
“If you can’t find complete records for a candidate’s three-year period online and there are no employment gaps reported by the driver, make sure you file manual requests with the employers in question to validate all of the information you have in front of you,” Thomforde said.
Lewis points to a myriad of shortcuts he sees taking place throughout the industry, including:
- Ignoring the application employment history. The best determination of future behavior is past behavior and, if an applicant has major issues in his or her past work experience, there will likely be issues again.
- Making a hiring exception without leadership approval. This goes back to recruiters not having the final say in hires, as mentioned above. Leadership is in their position because of their experience and expertise in the industry, and final hiring of an applicant should rest with them.
- Overselling what you can deliver. Honesty from recruiters is absolutely essential, and many drivers will tell you they’ve been burned by false advertisement or promises in a job. The fastest way to lose a driver is to not set real expectations up front.
- Weak orientation or limited fleet manager engagement. Drivers are essential members of a company’s team. They are front-line employees and need to have the resources available to continually perform their jobs, have their concerns heard and addressed and feel they are valued.
Cost-Effective Screening
The most cost-effective way to get new hires screened is to choose the right human resources and employment software suite. To reduce the amount of time and investment in hiring drivers, employers need to select a solution that automates as many of the screening processes as possible. From background checks to health screens to electronic verification, there are software solutions out there, which are designed to improve all of these processes.
“There are about a million ways to market a company and recruit drivers, but if you have a limited advertising spend or low name recognition within the industry, then focus on referrals from current employees and partners,” Lewis said. “I’d also advise keeping pay packages simple. Sign-on bonuses, retention and performance bonuses are commonplace in this industry, but if a company places those dollars in baseline pay, then drivers know exactly what they are getting.”
Another simple and cost-effective option to help reduce costs and expedite the physical and medical exam process is to implement a pre-exam medical questionnaire (post-offer or for incumbent drivers). These small steps will expedite the information gathering and review process and make the candidate feel they are being treated fairly and have a role in the process.
Mistakes to Avoid
The biggest mistake Thomforde sees is hiring companies focusing too much on improving “efficiency” in their hiring process without regard for simultaneous improvement in the effectiveness of their hiring process.
“Because our industry is facing a driver shortage but the jobs still need to be completed, it is tempting to fill available opportunities with drivers that meet only minimum qualifications,” Thomforde said. “Safety records, background checks and certifications should be just the beginning of the screening and hiring process. More thorough reporting in the ‘core screening’ and ‘conditional screening’ portions of the process, along with the implementation of personality testing, will help hiring companies make fewer mistakes when they are looking to grow their teams.”
Lewis adds that, often, recruiters who are speaking with multiple candidates daily can fall into the trap of becoming robotic and more probing, resulting in critical follow-up questions not being asked. Additionally, leadership can unknowingly place too much pressure on hires versus addressing the underlying issues of poor net performance.
“Most importantly, don’t buy into other competitors’ turnover numbers,” Lewis said. “No one is the same.”
Another big mistake Spencer sees being made is not focusing on the candidate experience. There are so many requirements for screening drivers that this can often become the sole thing employers are focused on.
“However, in such a competitive industry, providing a positive candidate experience is critical to keeping candidates engaged,” Spencer said. “Have a transparent process, proactive communications and updates about the status of the background screen and hiring process, and a well-designed web portal or mobile access point for submitting information, asking questions or checking in. This is critical to the candidate experience, and this needs to have an equal focus to compliance and requirements.”
Maintaining a Safe Driving Environment
Safety is key to a successful driving career. Once hired, there are various ways companies can integrate new drivers into a safe driving environment. Aside from the required, regularly-scheduled programs like physicals or drug and alcohol testing, hiring companies should work on creating a nurturing work environment for their teams.
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