As the freight market continues to fluctuate each year, trucking companies are continuing to seek ways to increase fleet profitability. Creative recruiting departments are leveraging automation to assist with engagement and speed-to-hire. From initial touchpoints to onboarding, taking steps to automate your driver recruiting process has never been easier.

Perhaps you have considered adding in automation, only to hit pause fearing the loss of the human element and unique relationship that exists between driver and recruiter. After all, that has historically been one of the biggest driving forces that separated good recruiters from great ones.

No tool exists that can 100% replace that recruiter-driver relationship, and that should never be the goal. Rather, automation should be viewed as a tool to help maximize recruiting efficiency in the transportation industry and place a higher value on those very conversations that you might worry of losing.

Why You Should Consider Recruiting Automation

Before we dive into the specific areas that can be infused with recruiting automation, we first need to tackle why you should invest in these technologies. Like anything else in recruiting, ROI is front and center.

Productivity

Let’s call a spade a spade: the most successful driver recruiters are the ones that are efficient. As a fleet adds capacity, one of the first departments to feel the added strain is recruiting. The job that was formerly done by one recruiter is now stretching them thin. Sure, you could consider hiring additional recruiting staff, but does additional productivity justify the increased overhead?

Automation can help streamline menial tasks that devour time. Responding to questions as drivers visit the website, trying to reconnect with old leads, etc. all eat up valuable time that recruiters could be talking with candidates that are entering and moving through the hiring process.

Candidate Experience

Drivers that are looking for a new fleet will submit an average of 25 applications. Tools like Tenstreet’s Intelliapp make the process incredibly easy for drivers to access a stored application and streamline the application process. But what happens after that?

Recent retention studies cite candidate experience as one of the biggest reasons that fleets fail to retain drivers. It could be as simple as recruiters failing to quickly connect with the candidate that starts the relationship off on the wrong foot.

In today’s day and age candidates expect expedited responses, putting recruiters juggling multiple job functions behind the 8 ball as soon as an app is submitted. Automated touch points help to constantly engage with a prospective candidate, helping recruiters provide a white glove hiring process.

Increased Speed to Hire

Speed to hire, or lack thereof, is one of the biggest challenges that recruiters in the trucking industry face. Failing to get a driver from application to behind the wheel in less time than a competitor can result in empty trucks. Savvy recruiters will argue that there are some areas that cannot be glossed over, and while that is true, communication is an area that can easily be automated.

Simple touchpoints can work in the background, allowing recruiters to focus on the more labor-intensive tasks like verifications of employment. But even in that realm, there are systems available that are looking to automate that process.

Tools to Help Automate the Driver Recruiting Process

Keeping in mind the “why,” let’s dive a little deeper into some specific tools that can help smooth out the process and put drivers on the road to success.

Auto-Responders

Although not the newest technology available to fleets, auto-responders are finding themselves being used more and more in driver recruiting. Fleets looking to dip their toes in the automation water can easily implement these triggered responses. The instant nature of auto-responders can help overburdened recruiters initiate conversations with drivers even as they are working through other tasks.

When looking at this technology, make sure that messages can be done via SMS. Studies have shown that 98% of people will respond to a text message within two minutes. Tie this type of tool to your application and you have instant dialogue as soon as a driver hits “submit.”

Drip Campaigns

Ongoing engagement with a candidate is essential. While that might be stating the obvious, drivers can quickly fall through the cracks should communication lapse. Those 25 other carriers the driver applied to are all jockeying for attention, and the fleet that can aid recruiters in the communication process will come out on top.

Today’s drip campaigns range from basic cadences to intricately structured workflows based on a variety of predetermined criteria. These can be triggered based on a driver-based action or by the recruiter. Regardless, the product creates more touchpoints between the two parties. Budget-conscious fleets will find that drip marketing tools can greatly impact remarketing efforts, working in the background with little to no maintenance after launch.

Scheduling

It often seems that a driver’s attention is more sought after than the holy grail. Recruiters that struggle with getting time scheduled with a driver to pre-screen, interview, schedule time with safety, or otherwise, can quickly begin chasing their tails through the scheduling process.

The number of tools available to help drivers schedule based on their availability is staggering. The simple fact is that most fleets choose not to implement the technology. Those that do, will save recruiters hours each month. Time that can be utilized for more pressing pieces of the process.

Ready to Learn More About Automation?

Whether you are looking for the latest cutting-edge technology to help your recruiters, or are exploring automation technology for the trucking industry for the first time, know that you are not alone. More carriers than ever are helping their recruiting teams streamline the hiring process and increase engagement with drivers through these amazing tools. Overwhelmed or just don’t know where to start?

The KJ Media team has been in the recruiting trenches for years. Our team has a unique understanding of the day-to-day challenges that trucking companies face, and we are here to help. Helping fleets with everything from digital marketing to process automation, we are ready to jump in and assist, whatever your needs. Connect with our team here or visit our website to learn more.