How to Recruit Truck Drivers

The trucking industry is stepping on the gas – and not letting up!

Last year the trucking industry generated $700.4 billion in revenue, setting an all-time high for the industry (Memphis Daily News). The trucking industry’s good fortunes should shed some light on the state of the economy, as the economy still relies heavily on transportation, freight and distribution. The high revenue means a high volume of goods, which eventually turns into sales and profits. Exactly how much freight? 10 billion tons, almost 70% of all domestic cargo (Memphis Daily News). This new revenue peak is a positive sign that the economy is continuing to recover from the recession in 2008. It also means that many companies need to recruit truck drivers.

As you would expect, however, with growth also comes demand. In such a growing industry, there is a high demand for truck drivers. In fact, the United States is currently short 30,000 truck drivers according to the American Trucking Association. That number is expected to climb to 239,000 by 2022.

Why are truck drivers in such high demand? In addition to the growing industry, new safety regulations have limited truck drivers to a 70-hour-week. Companies have to hire new drivers to cover the extra hours their current employees cannot take anymore.

But the real underlying issue comes down to recruitment. Trucking companies often rely on traditional job boards to recruit truck drivers. Traditional job boards attract countless unqualified applicants and fail to reach to passive job seekers.

recruit truck drivers on their phones

With mobile recruiting, you reach both the active and the passive job seeker, and you can also target your advertisements so only those who show an interest in the field will receive the message. The ad sets can appear on social media platforms like Facebook on both a computer and a mobile device or tablet. They can also show up on other mediums like gaming consoles or other apps like Waze or ESPN. Because your social media profile and your mobile phone know you intimately, advertisers and agencies can identify you. Specific trucking job titles, relevant experience, industries, interests and demographics are common identifiers, in addition to physical location.

Those who receive the ad meet specific criteria as set by the recruiter, therefore eliminating the amount of inexperienced applicants. In order to further make sure all candidates are qualified for the position, all clicks lead to a customized landing page that clearly outlines all of the specific credentials.

These ads are deployed throughout various targeted geographic footprints. Using geoconquesting, the advertisements appear only at locations where it makes sense. For example, the parking lot at truck stops and hotels along the freeway are a set target. When truck drivers pull in to take a break during their drive, they’re almost guaranteed to pull out their cell phones and scroll through Facebook or their other favorite apps. Want to learn more about it? Click here.

Advertising through social media makes sharing a post with friends almost effortless. Those who may not be actively searching for a job in the trucking industry might know someone who is and can easily forward the message.

At Purplegator, we’ve had great success with mobile truck driver recruitment campaigns. You can read about two of them, here and here.

Mobile advertising is the wave of the future, especially with recruiting. Put us to work for you.