Recruiter (new to trucking industry) looking for driver opinions on the recruiting process. Help!

So, I recently went looking for a new job; in fact, more than once, since the first one that I accepted did not work out.

Recruiters often seem to be operating under the false impression that their carrier has a great deal more to offer than it really does. New drivers experience this as intentional deception, on the part of the carrier and/or recruiter, where more experienced drivers see the flaws in an offer, for what they are.

If you are paid by the mile, then $0.36/mile on 10-99, is not a good deal. Plenty of carriers pay $0.50/mile or more, get you home at least every weekend, and contribute around 80% of the cost of your medical/dental/vision benefits. Sure, they may only run you 2000 miles per week, on 300-400 mile trips, but the promise of 3000+ miles per week is seen by most experienced drivers, for the baloney that it almost invariably turns out to be - and 2000 miles at 50 cents pays about the same as 3000 miles at 36 cents - why work harder for the same money?

A 401k is not a retirement benefit. It is a tax-penalized, enforced savings account, that consumes resources often better invested in paying down mortgage/truck/car/other debt, or paying school tuition for your kids. It only has measurable value, at all, if the company offers matching contributions - and even on the rare occasions that they do, it usually takes so long for the matching contribution to become vested, that very little (if any) matching contributions are ever really paid out. The managed investment programs usually absorb so much in fees, that the investments typically lose face value for the first year or two, and perform more poorly than passbook savings accounts over the lifetime of the funds in the account. Investment firms always have attractive numbers to quote, but like weekly mileage estimates, they rarely resemble reality.

Places that pay hourly always seem to want drivers to sit through long layovers without pay. Places with guaranteed minimum pay rates place conditions upon the guarantees that wind up invalidating those guarantees, in practice. Sign-on bonuses are rarely paid for signing on, and if I am obligated by contract to stay for some period of time, then it's a good bet that the carrier already knows that I won't want to stay simply because the are keeping me happy. If I show up at a terminal and see barriers placed between me and the office staff - especially things like bullet-proof glass, or security guards - then I know that they make their drivers angry enough, often enough, to feel that these measures are worth implementing. If I see that their trucks and/or trailers are garbage, then I will move along because I don't want or need either the inspection citations or the safety issues. Drivers talk to one another. If your drivers hate working for your company, prospective recruits hear about it.

When I find reasons not to want to work somewhere, I will generally discuss it with a recruiter - once. Not twice. Many drivers won't even discuss it. Recruiters tend to be rabid about their companies in the same manner as Jehovah's Witness missionaries are rabid about their church - which is to say that they are dismissive of criticisms, and eager to believe anything positive that they are told about their cause. If I told you that I wanted to be home daily, and you set me up for a route that gets me home weekly, I won't keep banging on you about it. I may not reject it out-of-hand, because I know that getting home daily is a lot to ask, and I'm likely to have to compromise - but the compromise will factor in my decision, and I'm not going to orientation until I'm sure that I'm going to drive for you. I'm also not going to argue the point with you. If you tell me that I'm going to make $1500/week, because I'm going to drive 3600 miles per week, and get multiple stop pay and unloading pay... I'm going to be understandably skeptical. I probably can't legally do that much mileage, in practice, and still participate in unloading at multiple stops, and if you're telling me that I can, then I suspect that you don't understand the vagaries of trucking - that you don't know what you're talking about. Again, I'm not going to argue with you regarding my doubts about your competence; I'm just going to stop talking to you.

The process of looking for work, as a trucker, sets applicants up to be required to complete 10-20 page applications - and most of the recruiting process - before anyone at the employer will give us the time of day. As a result, we often find ourselves up against the end of the process, before we have a clear understanding of the benefits and hardships that the position we applied for, may involve. I've had recruiters offer me an orientation date, before getting around to telling me the name of the carrier. If I don't want to work for that carrier, then that recruiter probably isn't going to hear from me, again. He has already wasted too much of my time.

Look carefully at what your company has to offer, what your recruits are looking for, and your industry reputation. If your recruits are finding more of what they want, somewhere else, then either you will want to adjust what your company has to offer, or what kind of recruits you are targeting. And if your company reputation is in your way... well... that's a hard one to fix, *after* it happens. Few carriers are willing to take out the bullet-proof glass, security guards, and/or high-security locks, once they are in place, but no one really wants to work in a climate of fear and/or intimidation. If your company has a poor reputation among drivers, or a low measure of trust, well... no amount of proclaiming the turn of a new leaf, can overcome a reputation for deception or underhandedness. The best bet is to make the drivers that you have left, as happy as you can, and hope that the word spreads. No incentive can overcome mistrust, whether that incentive is offered to the recruit, or the driver who refers him. A reputation can only be overcome by a consistent, long-term, demonstrated and witnessed behavioral change. It's best just not to let this happen to your reputation, in the first place...

 

A little long in the toof, but some good insight there.

The reality is that 3rd party recruiters are just an application clearinghouse and cannot even begin to remotely answer the questions and nuances of an experienced driver who has been around the block or two.

 

Agreed. Thanks for a well written article.

It is amazing that companies think they can absolutely screw their
drivers and somehow nobody else will find out. The #1 thing a company
can do to recruit drivers is keep the ones they have happy.

 

I enjoyed this immensely
Thanks

 

Multipule stops plus 3600 miles a week is BULL. A red flag. I'll do 40 stops in the NE all week, but it's going to be like 900 miles on the truck. Ive done it.

401k simply takes away control of your money. Purchase precious metals and store them in a safe with insurance riders to match at home. We did TIAA Cref for a while and it took about 8 taxed years to get the money out and then some. We understand they are crying for money now. There is none from the workforce to satisfy them. Oh was there any profit? yes. About 600 dollars after the tax man finished with us. Would be better to get the metals. At least watching 11 dollars become 49 in that same period of time.

I prefer to spend a meal with a driver of a company I am interested in. You learn all sorts of things that Recruiters are probably told not to talk about or discuss.

As a Person, I have certain things I will not accept in trucking. One of those is a camera staring me in the face. Are you kidding? Let's see a pretty dispatcher on a camera for ME. LOL.

It is better to have a pro gun policy than to spend money on the barriers. Way better. If the area is too tough for that then freaking take the entire trucking company and MOVE it out of the city.

There is (Agreed) no point in talking to recruiters without knowing which company will do the orientation. Not telling me hard information is a waste of my time, an insult and a waste of yours as well. If you did tell me that I will be orientation with ####carrier in blownup jersey, then it is likely I will finish talking with the recruiter right quick.

 

I will point out that I was referring to barriers placed between drivers and office staff, in the terminal - not between office staff and the community. Too many carriers feel the need to limit access to the office, so that drivers are kept out. If having drivers in the office is problematic enough to require barriers, then why are drivers this insistent upon coming in?

Happy drivers are out on the road, driving - not coming in to the office, needing to be kept out. If you need guards, locks, and/or bulletproof anything between drivers and the office staff, then the big question is what are you doing to make drivers this motivated to get at your office staff. How angry do you have to make your drivers, before this level of security becomes necessary or wise, and why not just stop making the drivers this angry?

Where else could you work, and find this level of separation between classes of employees? Where else would it be necessary?

 

I'm thinking about that Knight Transportation driver who walked in and shot some office people awhile back down in Texas, I think.

Then again, there's a definitive reason behind term, "GOING POSTAL".

 

I'll make it simple for the recruiter

There's a good chance I already know about the company you're recruiting for. When I do, I'll already determine my answer on the spot.

If I like your company, I'll complete the application. Examples, Old Dominion, Walmart, UPS.

If I'm on the fence, I'll flirt with the idea, but most likely not follow through with a completed application. Why? Because working for a new company takes time, effort and bureaucratic paperwork. Ain't nobody got time for that.

If I don't like the company, you'll know about it. Want to know how? (Hang up)

 

I turned down 2 companies because on the same day they would give me a orientation date. They seemed way to desperate.

 

Absolutely.

That is also one of my triggers as far as wanting to work for a company. If they put up bariers like that, I don't want em period. I'll just quit. That happens to be a question I ask of the recruiter. Or better yet hunt a company driver in the Petro and ask him directly because recruiters lie.

Any seperation between employees of a company is destructive. It is something I fight against all the time. I don't care if high muck a much is boss of everything and lives in a million dollar ivory tower, he puts his pants on the same way most of us do... hopefully.