TIP Trailer Services suggests some Practical actions that fleet managers can take to recruit truck drivers.
- Recruit at trade shows and events
Many of you will be exhibitors at shows and events across Europe. These are great opportunities for meeting truck drivers visiting the shows, in person.
To capitalise on the recruitment possibilities of shows, TIP recommends a plan of action including the following:
- Set measurable goals for the event. Research the number of attendees, a percentage of driver attendees and estimate how many drivers you are planning to recruit. Communicate goals to your staff clearly.
- Prepare and highlight the messages that you want to communicate to interviewees about your company as an employer; how it differentiates from other companies and the driver job specifications. Share these messages with all the members of your team so that you will all be communicating the same information.
- Announce in the Show Preview sections of the trade press that your company is recruiting. You can contact the press through a press release, an ad or by phone.
- Use a set of standard questions, interview potential drivers at the show or at least take their contact details so that you can organise an interview afterward.
- Follow up after the event. Your post show communication via email or phone is essential. Assess your candidates and decide whom you want to recruit.
- Evaluate your team’s performance. What worked? What didn’t? How could you improve next time?
- Recruit at truck stops
- Use printed media at truck stops. Why not buy poster ad space at truck stops so you can catch the attention of drivers with your recruitment campaign as they use the facilities?
- Organise physical events. You could organise a stand branded with your fleet’s name and logo in the entrance hall of a truck stop. This would give you the opportunity to talk directly to drivers. You could also incentivise drivers to have a conversation with you by offering them a voucher for a drink or meal, for example.
- Advertise in trade magazines, (like Fleet Transport!) or on websites (www.fleet.ie) that your target audience reads online or buys at truck stops.
Recruit via social media
On long trips, drivers actively use social media to communicate with their families and discuss issues on the road.
- Make use of social media such as Facebook or Instagram and their display advertising opportunities. There are numerous truck driver-focused Facebook community groups that you could place a recruitment advert in.
- Make your recruitment strategies mobile friendly. Most drivers in Europe communicate via smartphone. Adapt your recruitment marketing so that it attracts drivers’ attention via their smartphones. Smartphones are an increasingly visual medium so communicate through photos and short videos where possible.
- Recruit via the press
Develop your company’s presence in the press and build your reputation with drivers and other players in the industry.
Editors are always searching for news stories to publish. If your fleet has taken an interesting initiative to help attract new drivers, then share it with the media. Initiatives could be providing an unusual reward for overtime or establishing a working policy that particularly appeals to women truck drivers. Editors also like to receive news of corporate events such as “new customer wins” or a “fleet ordering a significant number of new trailers”.
You can communicate with the media yourself or hire a public relations consultant to help you.
- Recruit via your drivers
Nothing beats word of mouth recommendation, particularly the one of your well-motivated drivers. Encourage your drivers to introduce their driver friends to your company. Provide your drivers with a reward for doing so.