It’s no secret that the CDL driver market is a competitive field and modern carriers are constantly looking for better & more efficient ways to get ahead of the recruiting competition. Historically speaking, job fairs have always been a great way for driver recruiters to get their brand in front of a large pool of driver candidates.
But, traditional job fairs can come with some drawbacks. They require your recruiters to travel, set up costly booth displays, and stay on top of their game even if overwhelmed by a crush of candidates. Virtual job fairs however offer all of the perks of a traditional job fair, high exposure, a good-sized candidate pool, strong employer branding, and more, without the limitations of an in-person event. Read on to see our list of 9 reasons to hire your next CDL drivers at a virtual job fair.
What is a Virtual Job Fair?
A Virtual Job Fair (VJF) is an online event that provides a virtual environment where various tools such as 3D digital booths, video chat, and live chats are used to meet, screen, and hire candidates. VJFs break free from the limitations of traditional hiring events by eliminating geographical barriers for both recruiters and candidates and offering a dynamic solution for hiring qualified drivers at scale in a single afternoon.
Driver recruiters can use virtual career fairs to hire for multiple roles within the same fleet or represent multiple carriers at once. Upon entering the VJF, prospective employees can approach recruiters at different virtual booths to learn more about the driver job openings that interest them the most, as well as easily apply for multiple jobs in real time. Take a look at the below benefits to see how much value taking part in a VJF they can bring to your driver recruiting team.
More Efficient in Every Way
Participating in an in-person career fair can take weeks or even months of planning. From securing a venue to scheduling, and managing capacity regulations to marketing the event, in-person events can be overwhelming. With a virtual event, you can eliminate the myriad of advance and day-of logistics associated with an on-site event. Virtual job fairs reduce your tasks to selecting the look of your booth and promoting your participation in the event. Once set up is complete, on the day of the fair recruiters and candidates can easily connect without the expense of travel time, and other costs that add up.
Simple Set-Up
With a virtual job fair, there is no need to order, pack or ship branded tablecloths and banners or branding materials! No more anxiety about printing deadlines for swag or company literature. And certainly no wasted time or money guessing quantities.
Booth setup is simple and it only takes a few minutes to brand your booth and upload any digital assets you want from videos to links and digital brochures. All attendees can view whatever promotional materials you upload at registration. When the event ends, instead of collecting leftover items and breaking down an exhibit, simply log out, and go about your business.
Easy Access
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of virtual career fairs is that they provide all the benefits a traditional job fair would, but from any location and on any device eliminating the obstacle of geography. Driver candidates can join your virtual job fair from wherever they are with the click of a button. This opens your recruiters up to a larger candidate pool and makes it easier to connect with ideal talent outside your immediate region. It also makes it easy for busy drivers to participate at their convenience, and in the driver recruiting sector, anything you can do to make the recruiting process more driver-centric goes a long way towards improving your results.
Competitive Advantage
Not all carriers have made the savvy move to leveraging VJFs to their advantage, despite the obvious benefits. By choosing to implement this digital strategy, your fleet will be ahead of the competition in every way. Driver candidates are always going to appreciate a more flexible and convenient way of finding and applying to CDL job opportunities, so they’ll surely be impressed with your modern take on career fairs.
Higher Candidate Volume
The nature of the open and flexible access of virtual career fairs allows driver recruiters to reach a more diverse and widespread group of potential candidates without geographical barriers providing a larger applicant pool than what is often found at in-person events.
Additionally, there are no maximum occupancy or lingering gathering size restrictions to contend with. Virtual job fairs allow driver recruiters to start the hiring conversation with driver talent outside of their normal reach and offer a seamless platform to interview people in different cities and states. This opens up more driver candidate sourcing opportunities to attract top-tier drivers and find qualified CDL candidates to fit your fleet perfectly without excessive travel. Furthermore, the technology behind virtual recruiting events makes the job search easy for drivers, creating a great first impression of your employer’s brand.
Cost-Effective
Virtual career fairs save money. It’s that simple. Traditional career fairs require you to rent out a venue and or a booth. Then, there are logistical costs such as food and beverage for vendors, printing fees, personnel, and the cost of swag. Not to mention possible hotels, flights, and parking for both vendors and attendees. None of these costs need to be worried about with a virtual job fair, saving you a significant amount of not only money but time and stress.
Employer Branding to Entice Desired Candidates
Virtual career fairs allow you to create a custom recruiting experience for the CDL drivers you wish to target. Use your customizable booth to showcase specific company assets or informative videos not easily discovered on your website or highlight FAQs customized to open driver positions. Every aspect of your virtual career fair booth can be designed to give CDL candidates what they want Including a healthy dose of authenticity. Drivers can research this richer, more specific profile before the event instead of reading a brochure or pop-up banner waiting in line at your table. Better informed applicants generate more productive conversations.
Pre-Set Schedules Eliminate Surprises
Driver recruiters can set general schedules to establish different types of meetings such as one on one chats or group interviews for varying durations allowing recruiting staff to easily plan their day, and CDL applicants to know in advance what the time limits are for their 1:1 or group meetings.
Save Time With Pre-Screened Talent
In addition to interacting with more people, you also are able to hire more drivers faster due to pre-screening. Prospective drivers can be pre-screened and if qualified, can be scheduled for an interview immediately leading to reduced time to higher as well as better driver retention down the line.
Are You Ready to Start Recruiting CDL Drivers Virtually?
Work4 is excited to announce our newly launched transportation brand, RigGigs. With this new partnership, we are bringing you transportation industry-specific virtual job fairs that are set up for local, regional, or national CDL driver hiring as well as a soon-to-launch driver job board (stay tuned.)
With Job Fairs by RigGigs, our virtual technology connects you to a larger pool of driver candidates making it easy for recruiters to meet with qualified drivers in a convenient virtual space that mimics the look and feel of a physical event. Our all-in-one platform gives you all the tools you need to virtually meet, engage, and screen top driver candidates to seat your empty trucks in a single afternoon. To learn more about Job Fairs by RigGigs and how Work4 can fit into your driver recruiting strategy, schedule a meeting.
