Retention begins at recruitment with CDLLife — Taking the Hire Road

This week on Taking the Hire Road, Jeremy Reymer, founder and CEO of DriverReach and the host of Taking the Hire Road, is joined by two guests — Travis Overton, president and owner of CDLLife, and Charles Gracey, president of Hot Seat Services.

With retention rates still at an all-time high and companies still in need of drivers, efficient driver recruitment and retention practices are a necessity for trucking companies. 

CDLLife produces content for advertising purposes while also functioning as a news hub and community for truck drivers. Its services include lead generation and brand management. 

“We create content — content is king. Those that create content well grow user bases, fans, engagement and followers. From a driver perspective, we use these things as resources whether online or on the app,” Overton said. “We are also marketing and advertising experts. We take our knowledge base and help trucking companies figure out how to spend their money around recruiting as efficiently as possible.” 

Hot Seat Services assists both carriers and drivers with the recruitment process. 

“I saw a need in this particular field and wanted to make it better,” said Gracey. “I wanted to maintain integrity with the drivers and carriers and put out services that solve the problem and make everyone happy along the way.”

Gracey stressed that retention begins with recruitment. 

“Companies need to know what they are offering and what they are trying to achieve upfront, and they need to share those things with the drivers. Those that do this from the beginning are going to bring in the right drivers that fit their organization,” he said. “It’s more than just filling in the holes or filling the seats — you want to find the right people for your company.”

Overton added that CDLLife and companies like Hot Seat should continue to partner together to improve recruitment efforts across the industry. 

“As good as my team is at generating leads, if the carrier has a poor execution of the lead, it doesn’t matter how much money they spend with me,” he said. “Some companies may not even need more leads and only need to be more efficient on the recruitment side. Both of these situations are where Hot Seat can come in and assist.”

Click for more FreightWaves content by Britni Chisenall.

More from Taking the Hire Road:

DriverReach aids trucking companies with critical tasks

Leveraging legal benefits to recruit and retain

Improving driver performance with Bestpass