Did you have a chance to attend our recent webinar, “Recruiting is Sales: How to Train Recruiters in Sales for Better Conversions”? We received more questions than we had time to answer in the allotted time frame, so our presenters on the webinar, Jeremy Reymer and Wendy Bartz, answered them below in this Q&A-style blog post.
If you weren’t able to join the live webinar, don’t worry – you can watch it on-demand anytime!
Question: What advice would you give to a brand new recruiter fresh out of college?
Answer: I’d recommend spending some time (at least a couple weeks) with the dispatch department to learn how they interact, what challenges they deal with, and what the drivers are experiencing on a regular basis. This will help when you’re speaking with driver applicants. You’ll have better context when describing your company, the benefits of driving for you, etc. And by the way, Exactly What to Say, CDL Driver Recruiting Edition is always a great tool for a new recruiter!
Question: What is the best way to handle telling a candidate that they have to complete an MVR/background, interview and road test, Clearinghouse, and pre-employment testing (work steps, physical and drug screen)? Along with employment verifications, etc.. the list seems to keep getting longer - these are required steps.
Answer: Drivers know that this is part of the hiring process. Trucking is a highly regulated industry and it’s something all drivers will expect. That being said, the more streamlined you can make it, the better experience the driver will have. And that will give you a leg-up over other companies that the driver has applied to.
Question: Is the book "Exactly What To Say: CDL Driver Recruiting Edition" available to download versus mailing a print copy?
Answer: Unfortunately there’s not an electronic version of the book. However, we are considering an audible version that could come out in 2021. In the meantime, you can purchase a physical copy of the book here. Download our Recruiting Toolkit to take advantage of a discount code for “Exactly What to Say, CDL Driver Recruiting Edition”.
Question: When I talk to drivers, they get a little overwhelmed with the amount of steps needed to get hired... What can I do?
Answer: See the Q&A above. In addition, I suggest being very transparent about what the driver can expect. Let them know what your process entails, and be sure to put measures in place that allow you to be as efficient as possible.
Question: How to help a recruiter recognize work ethic or a good fit to our company. Does he/she need to be more aggressive or dig into past experience? I believe also it has something to do with knowing your competition. Thoughts?
Answer: While you can learn a lot from seeing details in a driver’s complete application (patterns in work history, etc.), there’s no substitute for good candid conversations with applicants. Ask questions about why this happened or why that happened. Sometimes it will be clear that the driver is to blame for not holding steady employment at any one company over the past 3-5 years. But knowing the competition and who that driver was working for can help make that determination. Some companies have awful reputations and it makes sense why that driver didn’t stay there very long.
Question: I have found hiring recruiters that have "trucking" recruiting experience tends to bring bad habits that eventually bring about problems to our culture that we spend more time on educating. My question is would you rather hire someone with Trucking Recruiting experience or train someone to fit your culture.
Answer: I am a firm believer of the adage “You want to hire people who are smart, people who are driven...but above all, you want to hire people who have integrity; without THAT, the other attributes will hurt you!” First and foremost, hire people who have the three characteristics I referenced. If the role is in recruiting, then you want someone who’s wired to recruit (same as being wired for a sales role). If they have trucking experience AND they pass the smart, driven, and integrity test, then hire them right away! Otherwise, find those people and then teach them the industry. Just recognize that there can be a learning curve to get them to the point they feel comfortable talking “industry” to prospective drivers.
Question: Why do many drivers – after they have been approved from our company – disappear completely, and cannot be reached, right before they need to do the drug test or start driving?
Answer: This is one of the most frustrating parts of recruiting. The best way to reduce how often this happens is to make sure that your recruiting process is as streamlined and efficient as possible. Be sure that you’re looking at your process from the driver’s perspective – make sure that you’re providing a great applicant experience. If you remain engaged throughout that efficient process, and accommodate the driver as much as you can along the way, you’ll have much better success ensuring the driver shows up for orientation and becomes part of your team. By the way, any time you can leverage technology to make that onboarding and orientation experience better, by all means do it!
Stay up to date on CDL trucking trends! Be sure to check out the DriverReach blog for other relevant articles and head over to our webinars page for an up-to-date list of upcoming events and on-demand recordings.
Interested in seeing DriverReach’s modern Recruiting and Compliance Management System in action? Request a demo!