CDL recruiters are no strangers to challenges, especially over the last few years. The myriad of changes and pivots carriers, recruiters, and drivers have had to make resulted in a bit of a ‘wild west’ mentality across the industry. For a while, the levels of competition for qualified drivers and the lengths carriers would go to connect with drivers made it feel like every person for themself.
With the industry finally righting itself and recruiting challenges leveling across the board, recruiters can make strategic decisions to move their organization forward – without sacrificing driver engagement or internal processes.
Here are a few of the most common challenges facing recruiters today and tips and tricks to overcome them:
- There aren’t enough hands to get things done.
The downsizing of workforces has impacted every industry over the last few years, and trucking organizations have been hit harder than most. If your team wants to do more with less, try turning to automation to help you pick up the slack. Setting up automated responses, drip programs, and nurture campaigns can help your team engage with drivers without relying on precious internal resources.
- The competition is still fierce for the most qualified drivers.
Every carrier is looking for top talent, and the demand for qualified drivers is through the roof. Unfortunately, many drivers have also taken advantage of the pandemic years to scale back or retire from the profession altogether— making the applicant pool to draw from even smaller. Your team can still break through the noise and engage with top drivers by optimizing your recruiting and application efforts. Auditing all your driver-facing content, processes, and workflows can help ensure your team delivers the best possible experience to drivers to beat the competition.
- The rise of ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ culture.
With so many changes going on in the CDL industry and the world at large, some organizations – especially those in trucking – are becoming increasingly wary of innovation or process exploration since they are afraid it will upset the status quo of how things have always been. Let’s just say that if there was ever a time to throw ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ mentality out the window, now is it. Modern CDL drivers are looking for a new way to engage with their carriers, and a new generation of talent is ready to join a forward-facing industry that isn’t stuck in the past. Trying out new technologies, solutions, and ideas can put your team on the cutting edge of this next phase of trucking.
- Differentiating from the crowd has never been more important.
In today's CDL recruiting landscape, standing out goes beyond just competitive pay or benefits. It's about effectively showcasing your company's values and culture to attract potential drivers. Enhancing your employment brand and simplifying the application process (like including an easy-to-access Apply button on the front page of your website) can help make your company more visible and appealing. This approach not only underscores your commitment to innovation and convenience but also positions your brand as a leader in understanding and valuing the modern driver's time and goals. Making your brand easily accessible is crucial in this digital era to attract the right candidates.
Want to get started?
With DriverReach, recruiters don’t have to choose between overcoming challenges and moving their strategic vision forward. Instead, recruiters can leverage industry-leading technology that ensures streamlined operational success, ongoing driver engagement, better compliance management and the flexibility to grow and change in the future. You can learn more and get started with DriverReach by scheduling a no-strings-attached demo.