On this week’s episode of Taking the Hire Road, DriverReach founder and CEO Jeremy Reymer welcomed Priscilla Peters, vice president of marketing and training at Conversion Interactive Agency, to discuss the ever-changing methods of recruiting in the digital age.
Some things will never change in driver recruiting. For instance, Peters said to never underestimate the power of a job referral. But in other ways, technology has propelled the recruiting process away from print advertising and reviewing stacks of job applications toward establishing a social media presence and reviewing online portfolios.
Peters said that it’s crucial for trucking companies to follow these tech trends and that the industry may not give drivers enough credit for their tech savviness.
An emerging trend has come in the form of driver reviews. Peters explained that the word-of-mouth, first-person testimonials can greatly impact one’s perception of a company, so it’s best for carriers to monitor these message boards and websites.
Findings from a Conversion Interactive driver survey in November, in conjunction with the Professional Driver Agency, found that 74% of participants said that they first browse driver reviews before making an employment decision.
The survey also found drivers desire some sort of guaranteed component in their pay and that drivers are valuing time at home more than ever before — so much so that it even rivals driver pay in some cases. If home time is an exceptional quality of the company, Peters urges carriers to make that a focal point in their advertising.
“A lot has evolved; the driver has evolved and so has technology,” Peters said. “That’s what we’re always focused on at Conversion Interactive. How do we continue to innovate?”
Conversion Interactive is a full-service ad agency that provides recruiting, retention and training strategies for the transportation industry. The agency has the ability to work with carriers of all sizes and understands that the marketing budgets of smaller carriers can be considerably challenging for some.
“One of the things that we’ve developed to help small fleets is a solution called LeadFlex Max. Instead of having to sign an agreement with an ad agency, it basically allows small fleets to ask, ‘I just need a driver or two today. Can you help me with that?’” Peters said, describing the self-service aspects of Conversion Interactive’s lead-bot advertisement purchasing within the platform.
LeadFlex Max generates fast leads for carriers of all sizes and displays branded driver jobs with an integrated lead capture form for every job posted. The platform allows for unlimited job postings and for each user to seamlessly create a branded job site.
“Let technology work for you and your recruiters,” Peters said. “The fleets that are really winning in this market are the ones that are saying, ‘I’m going to try it. I’m going to put that chatbot to work for me while my recruiters are doing other things.’”
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