As the shortage of drivers is showing no sign of going down, trucking companies and recruiters are facing big challenges to find truck drivers to keep their wheels moving. Fortunately, millennials are entering the industry looking for a great career. However, millennials truck drivers are not looking on Craigslist or job boards for their next opportunity.
Here are the top three recruiting strategies for millennial truck drivers that you can immediately use to fill your trucks.
1. Be active online
In today’s digital world it is now standard that you do online research before making any big commitment. Whether that’s an online purchase, or looking for a place to live, or looking for your next job opportunity. This presents a great opportunity for trucking companies to attract the millennial generation, who are constantly staying connected via social media.
It’s important that you are active where your ideal truck driver is active. If your ideal driver spots one of your trucks on the road, insteading of calling you immediately they are more likely to first ‘Google you’, and check out all of your social media profiles. If they find negative feedback, or even worse… no feedback they are likely to forget about you. However, if they find an active social media presence with tons of video testimonials from other happy drivers… the probability of that prospective driver calling you looking for more information has increased substantially.
2. Be Accessible.
You’ve heard it before “no one likes to talk on the phone these days”.
There’s some truth to that.
Alot of prospective drivers (especially the millennials) would rather email, chat, or even text before jumping on a call with a recruiter. Making yourself available in all these means of communication will give you an advantage. Trust me, your competitors are not doing so.
3. Talk about more than just Salary
Drivers are in it for the money, and that doesn’t change regardless of the generation you are targeting. However, the money isn’t all that matters when looking for the right company to drive for – especially for millennials.
You’ll find that company culture, great equipment, and respect for a young driver will go a long way. I know… it sounds cliche and you’ve heard it before… but it’s true.
We’ve helped dozens of trucking companies, who fell in the middle of the pack regarding RPM and sign-on bonuses, dominate their hiring regions.
Amrit is the founder of GetTruckDrivers.com and a Trucking Consultant who has helped North America’s largest trucking businesses to grow exponentially. His area of expertise lies in driver recruitment and customer acquisition for ethical fleet owners.