It’s the goal of every driver recruiter team, attract the best drivers and convert them into long-term employees. But, once you’ve invested in the time and resources to attract top driver candidates, connecting with these quality applicants can be tricky. In order to stand out from the crowd, it’s essential that your team have a system in place to connect with higher-quality driver candidates as quickly as possible. If your recruiting team is having trouble getting candidates on the phone for follow-up conversations, we’ve put together this list of the four best practices for following up with truck drivers.
Communicate on Their Terms
Start by asking driver candidates what their preferred method of contact is, as well as what the best time to contact them would be. Recruiters should prioritize being available when drivers are most likely to be available to talk including evening and weekend hours. Reaching drivers on their terms gives you a better chance of getting in touch, but it also shows that you understand and respect a drivers’ busy schedule.
Be Timely
Get in touch with driver candidates as soon as you can after they fill out their information. According to some of our top customers, the best practice is to follow up with candidates in 8 minutes or less. Good drivers are in high demand, and if you want them in your fleet, you have to be faster than your competition. An agile and well-trained recruiting team can be the difference between hiring or losing a good driver candidate.
Prescreen Candidates Over the Phone
It can be frustrating when a candidate makes it all the way down the recruitment funnel before it becomes obvious that they don’t meet your minimum requirements. To reduce frustrations for recruiters and candidates prescreen prospective drivers over the phone early in the recruiting process. During the prescreen you can check for everything from hazmat certifications to age requirements due to insurance coverage. Getting those required questions out of the way early can help recruiters get drivers on the road faster. Pro tip: Once a driver candidate passes the initial screening, schedule them for orientation during the phone interview to keep the hiring process moving swiftly. If you need a good list of key questions to ask during your next driver interview check out the related article below:
Leverage Technology
When it comes to efficiently moving candidates through from leads to new hires, technology can play a pivotal role in delivering continuous engagement without being overbearing. An applicant tracking system (ATS) or talent management system, will help you to standardize the hiring process across the board. They can not only handle but fully automate many of the hiring process steps from email marketing to interview scheduling and more. Technology helps recruiters get more done with less manual time and resources. In fact, more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies currently utilize an applicant tracking system in their technology stack.
Partner With Work4
If you’re looking for more candidate leads to follow up on, Work4 is the leader in social and mobile recruiting for the trucking industry. Whether you’re looking for OTR, lease purchase, flatbed, reefer or something else, we speak your lingo. What’s more, our proprietary candidate lead generation system will put you in front of candidates that do too. Our system is designed to integrate seamlessly with many of the top ATS systems including Bullhorn, Avionte, iCims, Tenstreet, and DriverReach, to name a few. Find out how your business can benefit from partnering with Work4. Try out all of the features of our custom ads campaigns free for 5 weeks and see the difference in your recruiting stats.
