As an independent carrier, you know how much work goes into building a successful trucking operation: Investing in commercial vehicles, obtaining all the required certifications, finding shippers, and so much more goes into running a trucking company. But all of this effort will do little more than keep you in the same place if you can't find the right drivers to expand your business.
Whether you're an owner-operator looking to take a step back from the long hauls or a small carrier aiming to add trucks to your fleet, recruiting dependable drivers is essential to your continued success.
With this post, we'll go over how to know when your trucking business is ready for growth, find the right drivers, and bring them on board.
Perfect Your Current Fleet First
It's easier to bring new drivers onboard when you show them a company that's already thriving. New hires should be seen as a way to scale your business—not to fix it. If you feel that your company already has a set of clearly defined expectations, values, and communication practices, you can skip this step and go straight to hiring.
If on the other hand, you think there's any room for improvement whatsoever in terms of communication, morale, or customer satisfaction, you should address those areas first, so you're not building on a flawed foundation.
To ensure your company's growth goes smoothly, you should define clearly what you expect from your drivers (and other employees) now and moving forward. The exact metrics you use should vary based on your particular objectives as a company, but it's crucial that you empower drivers to take an active role in evaluating their performance.
For example, “empowering drivers” could take the form of incentivizing them—with a cash reward if feasible—to deliver goods on-time and consistently. Or you could use a more collaborative model where members of your company are encouraged to identify problem areas and work together to devise solutions. Remember, getting the most out of your hires means creating a culture that balances friendly competition with genuine camaraderie.
You should also make sure your current customers are happy with the service you provide. Quality issues like late deliveries, slow response time from dispatch, and difficulty confirming the details of loads with shippers/brokers are only made worse when you expand your business without first resolving the underlying cause or causes.
Find Quality Drivers
Two places to look for new drivers are trucking job boards and social media groups. Specialized job boards like AllTruckJobs, CDLJobs, and ClassADrivers are ideal for small- or mid-sized trucking businesses looking to expand their fleets. Social media sites like Facebook have multiple trucker groups which you can request access to. LinkedIn can also be a useful starting point when hiring new drivers.
When posting a job on specialized boards or anywhere else you should include the certifications your company's work requires, the level of experience you desire, and any individual traits you're looking for. This will limit the number of applicants and simplify the screening process.
While you can also hire friends and family as drivers, you should know what you're getting into when doing so. It can be difficult to treat friends and family like any other employee—negotiating pay, giving honest feedback, and possibly even firing them can put you in a difficult position in your personal life. And outright nepotism isn't generally good for the morale of drivers who aren't your close friends or family.
Interview and Onboard New Drivers
When interviewing candidates, try to ask a few standard interview questions mixed in with questions geared specifically to your company's business model and values. Keep most questions open-ended to allow for more nuanced responses. Here are a few example questions to get you started:
How would you describe your daily routine as a truck driver?
What do you value in a trucking company?
How do you define effective communication?
What experience have you had securing heavy equipment to a trailer? (When hiring a flatbed driver or other specialized driver)
How would you describe your experience moving temperature-sensitive freight? (When hiring reefer drivers)
Before conducting interviews, try to develop a consistent interview structure from one candidate to the next as well as a clear rubric you can use to gauge performance. It's worth it to ask your current drivers/employees to help with the creation of interview questions and the response rubric as a greater range of perspectives will lead to more comprehensive hiring criteria. Just as importantly, doing these things will help you avoid interview biases.
Once you've found the right driver(s), onboarding them is largely a matter of familiarizing them with your company's practices and culture. Be upfront about your business' culture and the performance metrics you use. If possible, have a more experienced driver available to walk new hires through their first week.
Lastly, while you should give drivers some time to acclimate to their new work environment, don't hesitate to offer constructive criticism when they're not meeting established goals. Identifying potential issues early can stop them from developing into serious roadblocks.
By repeating this process of evaluating your company, locating quality drivers, and conducting well-structured interviews, you'll be able to grow your trucking operation steadily while minimizing the number of hurdles you need to overcome.
Are you interested in an alternative to the standard trucking business model? If so, take a look at how Relaymile is reimagining trucking to provide drivers with a healthier, more consistent standard of work.
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