For years, motor carriers have searched for a secret formula to attracting and keeping the best drivers. Conversion Interaction Agency reports that driver recruitment advertising increased by 51% from April to September of 2024. That’s the highest increase since tracking began in 2020.
In fact, no job in the United States is advertised more often than that of “truck driver.”
Motor carriers should understand that they’re competing against other companies at the regional and local level for new drivers — and some long-time over-the-road (OTR) drivers are even turning to gig positions during their job searches.
In short, the experts say, the old way of recruiting drivers is no longer effective. To recruit in an increasingly competitive market, hiring managers and recruiters must make the most of new technologies. The use of artificial intelligence is no longer a novel idea, either for business or in everyday life; it has become a necessity.
When recruiters consider factors involved in encouraging drivers to enter their recruitment pipeline — or “funnel” — several factors should be considered.
Online ratings matter
First, when it comes to online reviews of carriers on a 1-5 scale), most employee reviews fall to the extreme — they either “love” you (4-5) or “hate” you (1-2). You may be surprised to find that the same factors are noted as top concerns at both ends of the scale — pay, equipment and management.
While some carriers tend to ignore bad online ratings, writing them off to disgruntled employees or “troublemakers,” the truth is that these ratings are vital to a carrier’s ability to attract quality drivers and other employees.
Consider this: According to recent surveys, more than 40% of existing drivers say they’re currently searching for a new job — and another 20% say they plan to look for a new job once the economy improves.
When researching motor carriers, job seekers tend to believe online ratings (whether they’re accurate or not) over a company’s “party line.”
While setting an online “rating goal” isn’t necessarily a good strategy, carriers that consistently fall below 3 on a 1-5 scale should take notice. Low ratings mean reviews don’t reflect the carrier in a positive light.
The ever-increasing use of AI in the recruitment process is an excellent strategy to begin improving the recruiting process. But how?
Honesty truly is the best policy
Today’s drivers are interested in two things when searching for new employers — pay and operations planning. In addition, they want an honest and transparent recruitment process. Rule of thumb: Never promise anything you can’t deliver.
All too often, carriers place emphasis on the recruiting process over retaining the good drivers they already have — and making empty promises is about the fastest way to lose drivers (and don’t forget, those “lost” drivers could well leave an online review of your company).
When seeking to attract new drivers, having a reputation as an open, honest and transparent employer is vital. Keep in mind that drivers are no longer limiting their job searches to just one or two carriers. With online job postings so plentiful and easy to find, drivers can apply to multiple carriers at once with just a click of a button.
Don’t be afraid of AI
Carriers that use AI in recruiting see 10% to 30% more completed applications than those using the traditional method — and they see them quickly.
The use of AI enables a recruiter to immediately contact a potential applicant and encourage them to complete the application process. With an “early bird gets the worm” mentality in recruiting, it’s easy to see how using AI tools can outshine the traditional recruitment process.
The “machine learning” (data-driven improvement) of AI allows carriers to pinpoint their search for drivers geographically, provides recommended hiring budgets, offers analytics to improve online recruitment campaigns, and provides insight into improving job descriptions as recruitment tools.
The advantages provided by AI lead to improvements in the recruiting process, resulting in more qualified applications and reduced lead-to-hire time. In addition, IA can provide insights for smarter recruiting. This all adds up to financial savings for company recruiting and hiring departments.
Carriers using the AI process report that the cost of filling a driver position can be reduced by as much as two-thirds of the cost of traditional recruiting.
Brad Vaughan, vice president of recruiting at Maverick Transportation, notes that AI helps channel applicants through the recruitment process.
“You have to utilize top of the funnel advertising to develop your brand and develop your reputation,” he said.
That’s just the beginning.
“Then you’ve got to maintain your reputation by finding where you’re being rated on these various sites, from Google and Glassdoor to Facebook,” he said. “You have to respond (to these ratings) and acknowledge that you’re actively watching and listening.”
Vaughan also notes that the use of social media in recruiting is increasingly important, sharing that, depending on the time of year, as much as 30% of Maverick’s hires are made through social media recruiting.
The importance of creating a brand
As Vaughan suggests, among the most promising aspects of AI is the ability to promote your brand in a market filled with carriers, most of which are potential employers.
As noted earlier, for most job seekers, the top source of information about a potential employer is a carrier’s online reviews. Higher reviews not only benefit the carrier in terms of attracting more and better applicants, but they also save money.
Conversion Interaction Agency statistics indicate that carriers receiving reviews of 3 or greater on the 1-5 scale save 48% on the cost of recruiting per application.
In addition, the agency says, 57% of applicants want to be familiar with a carrier’s brand before applying to them.
To succeed in today’s fast-paced, technology-heavy climate, carriers must diversify their recruiting marketing strategies.
The recruiting funnel
The recruiting funnel begins with a company pouring general brand marketing into the top and ends with good applicants being converted into employees at the bottom.
At the top of the funnel is information one will find on search engines such as YouTube and Facebook.
Videos are among the most effective methods of increasing your company’s brand recognition and improving recruiting at all levels of the funnel.
“Video is just compelling, and you can use it in a lot of different places,” said Priscilla Peters, chief marketing officer for Conversion Interactive Agency.
Today, almost anyone with a smartphone can record and create video clips to use in marketing and recruiting.
“Video is vital, and I would use it across a lot of different channels — in your digital advertising, on your social advertising, on your website, in an email campaign,” Peters said. “You can make it translate a lot of different ways.”
The recruitment funnel also helps carriers strategize and move quality leads from top to bottom much more quickly than traditional recruiting.
Properly utilizing AI and the recruiting funnel may decrease the overall number of applications received — but recruiters will find that those emerging at the narrow end of the funnel are quality applicants who have the best chances of becoming good, long-term employees.
The use of the recruitment funnel also allows a carrier to grow its online community, develop the type of community wanted, and encourages referrals through various channels.
Of course, a carrier should never forget that its existing drivers are often the best source of information for prospective employees.
If your drivers know and trust your company, they will often respond to negative comments and set the record straight. For most applicants, this carries much more weight than a similar response issued by the company’s recruiting department.
For many carriers, the idea of implementing AI in the recruiting department may seem a bit overwhelming. The technology is new, and it is growing quickly.
Fear that AI will replace existing systems leaves some within a company unwilling to give it a try.
But when used properly, AI will supplement existing recruiting systems, not replace them. There will always be a need for the human element in human resources.
Since retiring from a career as an outdoor recreation professional from the State of Arkansas, Kris Rutherford has worked as a freelance writer and, with his wife, owns and publishes a small Northeast Texas newspaper, The Roxton Progress. Kris has worked as a ghostwriter and editor and has authored seven books of his own. He became interested in the trucking industry as a child in the 1970s when his family traveled the interstates twice a year between their home in Maine and their native Texas. He has been a classic country music enthusiast since the age of nine when he developed a special interest in trucking songs.
