Professional golf's Masters Week was the inspiration for this episode of Recruit & Retain, during which host Chad Hendricks discusses how truck driver recruiting departments need a great short game, but the long game is what will take them farther. 

"So far I haven’t been able to find a single leader to describe to me in detail what their long game is going to be.  It is a hope and pray plan or 'we’ll figure it out as we go,'" Hendricks says in this episode. 

But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if you had a plan in place that instead of left you crossing your fingers, it let you rest easy knowing your company was always going to be set in terms of drivers?

In this episode of Recruit & Retain, you'll learn:

• What will happen if your driver hiring strategies aren't innovative
• A few really interesting facts about the history of golf's long game and how it's evolved
• How you can develop your long game driver recruiting strategy
• How that long game involves retention
• How all of us can win the "Green Jacket"

Advertising in the truck driver recruiting industry has evolved considerably over the past 10 years – and it’s about to make another shift. But if you're wondering why you keep getting the same results, or worse, your results are not as good as they used to be with the same or higher advertising budget, this podcast is for you.

Chad Hendricks, host of the Recruit and Retain Trucking Edition podcast and President of Driver Outcomes, discusses the evolution and how the advertising industry continues to fall short. He explains why we may be looking at the wrong metrics, and you will learn why and how to look at the right ones that will make a direct impact on your business.

If you're interested in trying something new, something that is quite literally changing the face of your industry, you won't want to miss this episode.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• A brief history of recruitment advertising
• The state of recruitment advertising today
• The metrics for success you should be paying attention to
• How to change the state of recruitment advertising into something mutually beneficial

How to connect with Chad:

Chad Hendricks

If you’re wondering how to differentiate your carrier from the other trucking companies out there, have you considered trying to brand yourself as the carrier that prioritizes drivers’ sleep?  

“In this current economic climate where it is difficult to retain, recruit and maintain any workforce - health and wellness and safety has got to be paramount for any leader or executive or supervisor.”

In today’s Recruit and Retain, Steven James, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at Washington State, core faculty in the Sleep and Performance Research Centre, discusses the impact of sleep on high risk occupations such as driving. 

In particular, he talks about how night driving is not something that humans are designed to do from a core biological level. So what can carriers do to make it easier for drivers, to improve safety for them and other road users?

“There's been multiple studies over the last 20 years that have compared drowsy driving to drunk driving. If you've been awake for 24 hours, it's the same as blowing a 0.10, and the risk is significant for being involved in a collision.”

To find out more about the science of sleep and how to help drivers cope with disruption to their sleep routine, download and listen to this episode today. 

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Sleep debt and sleep pressure
• The individual differences in sleep need 
• How to cope with disruption to our sleep routine
• Similarity between drunk driving and drowsy driving
• Naps save lives
• Impact of night driving on the body

How to connect with Steve James:

• Steve James PhD

Are you struggling to recruit and retain drivers, then don’t miss this third installment of Recruit and Retain fresh from the Iowa Motor Truck Association. 

In our third episode to discuss all things driver recruitment marketing are Leah Shaver, President and CEO of the National Transportation Institute; Brad Jones, President and CEO of Saige Partners, a driver talent acquisition firm; and Beth Potratz, CEO for Drive My Way.

So, should you include pay in your driver adverts? Why is using a stock photo a bad decision for a driver recruitment post? And what can you do to improve your marketing efforts and improve the quality of leads coming in. 

“One of the things that we're doing differently is we're actually marketing a driver assessment. And then we're spending money on the drivers that pass that assessment. I know they're a higher quality driver, because the data is showing that the drivers that pass these assessments do stick around longer.”

Finally, how do you attract drivers who aren’t looking to change jobs?

These are just a few of the questions we delve into in this episode. To find out all the answers and more, download and listen now. 

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Should you put pay on your advert?
• Why stock photos in ads don’t work
• How to attract passive job seekers
• Why pay isn’t a driver’s #1 motivator
• How to improve your recruiter’s sales skills

How to connect with guests:

• Leah Shaver
• Brad Jones
• Drive My Way

If you’re struggling to attract drivers, then don’t miss this second installment of Recruit and Retain fresh from the Iowa Motor Truck Association. 

In this episode, discussing all things driver recruitment marketing, are Leah Shaver, President and CEO of the National Transportation Institute; Brad Jones, President and CEO of Saige Partners, a driver talent acquisition firm; and Beth Potratz, CEO for Drive My Way.

“We have four different generations of folks working today in the trucking industry, and all of them respond differently to different things, and are interested in different things that they're going to experience at the workplace.”

So if you’ve been wondering what to put on your FB ads to catch a driver’s eye. If you’re not sure how to differentiate your carrier (hint - be unique). Or if you have a very small marketing budget, then download and listen to this latest episode and take advantage of not one, but three perspectives on how to up your marketing efforts. 

“People don't necessarily move because something is better. When we're using a lot of social media for advertising, it does have to stand out. Otherwise it doesn't filter through the noise.”

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• How to write effective FB ads
• The importance of language in marketing
• Why you should highlight your internal core values in your ads
• How to improve the quality of your leads
• Marketing tips on a small budget

How to connect with guests:

• Leah Shaver
• Brad Jones
• Drive My Way

Just how important are pay and company culture when recruiting and retaining drivers? 

Joining Chad to discuss these hot topics are three very special guests from the Iowa Motor Truck Association - Leah Shaver, President and CEO of the National Transportation Institute; Brad Jones, President and CEO of Saige Partners, a driver talent acquisition firm; and Beth Potratz, CEO for Drive My Way. 

If you’re struggling to recruit or retain drivers, it’s usually to do with one of three things: pay, marketing or company culture, with pay being the number one driver pain point. 

But just what is the most impactful thing carriers can do when it comes to pay to get drivers to come on board? Pay market rate, consistently. Drivers want to know how much they’re going to get paid, when they’re going to get paid, and when they’re going to get a pay rise. 

“I feel like most companies think if I just had the highest pay, I would get the drivers. But we know there are companies out there that are the highest payers, but the drivers are not necessarily just flocking to those companies.”

And it’s not just pay that helps retain drivers. The driver’s relationship with the organization and their dispatcher, how they’re shown respect at work, whether the carrier puts their core values into actions. These aspects of workplace culture are vital to recruiting and retaining drivers. 

“If you were to send a mass email out to your entire organization and ask what your core values are, how many people would have to Google those to determine what they are?”

To hear all this and more, don’t miss this latest episode of Recruit and Retain. 

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Why consistent pay is essential
• The lower the pay, the higher the turnover
• High pay does not guarantee drivers
• The driver/dispatcher relationship
• What respect in the workplace looks like

How to connect with the guests:

• Leah Shaver
• Brad Jones
• Drive My Way

One of the things that comes up time and again when we talk about the challenges and the struggles that carriers and recruiters are having with recruiting and retaining drivers, is communication. 

From issues between the executive team and the recruiters, inter-departmental issues, issues between dispatchers and drivers - it all comes down to communication and culture. 

If you’re wondering what your carrier can do differently to attract and retain better drivers, thinking about what you can do that’s better for your drivers, don’t miss this latest episode. 

While there is no magic job or magic marketing technique to improve driver recruiter and retention, what you can do is focus your attention on communication problems.

And it’s communication that we’re talking about with our two guests: Jordan Wagner, founder of WJW Consulting, and Tim Hindes, former CEO of Stay Metrics, now the General Manager of Retention at Ten Street.

“I truly believe that communication solves all problems. And it can [from] marriages, all the way to the workplace. In marriage, the number one and two issues are money and sex. And then the number three is communication. And guess what? Number three can solve number two and number one.”

• What communication actually means
• The different forms of driver communication
• Importance of non-verbal communication 
• Poor communication comes from the top down
• How to train on communication and put it into practice

How to connect with Jordan Wagner & Tim Hindes:

• Jordan Wagner
• 419-583-9139
• www.wjwconsulting.com
• Tim Hindes

Don’t miss Jeremy Reymer, founder and CEO of CDL driver applicant tracking system, DriverReach, and Wendy Bartz, Director of Sales and Services at DriverReach, discuss how your carrier can solve its driver shortage issues on this week’s episode of Recruit and Retain. 

DriverReach helps carriers figure out what the solution to their driver recruiting challenge is. They utilize the latest technology to streamline your recruitment process, prioritizing driver engagement.

“It's so important that you're engaging and nurturing all the leads coming in. We spend so much money on advertising and getting leads into the system. We really need to put the effort in towards building relationships.”

Download and listen as Jeremy and Wendy share their thoughts on DriverReach, why more and more carriers are investing in driver technology, what’s making drivers change the way they research carriers, why outside investors are looking to invest in the HR and the driver recruiting technology space, why you need to invest in your recruiters, how carriers are improving driver training, and why you should be creating driver-focused content.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• How DriverReach can help your carrier
• Why your carrier needs to invest in driver technology
• How to appeal to drivers
• Outside investment in trucking
• Why you should invest in your recruiters
• Create driver focused content

How to connect with Jeremy Reymer & Wendy Bartz:

• Taking the Hire Road podcast 
• DriverReach

If, like us, you love hearing how industries outside of trucking are handling recruitment and retention, then you aren’t going to want to miss this latest episode of Recruit and Retain. 

Joining Chad today is Joretta Nelson, vice chairman and owner of Credo, a company dedicated to helping higher education establishments thrive in order to impact the success of students.

“Credo has been around for 25 years. We started out as a campus planning and architecture firm, specifically working with Independent Colleges. And we quickly realised that our work would have to be informed by good strategy and an understanding of student success, to get campuses to spend their resources wisely.”

Much of this conversation revolves around Credo's retention model and how what the higher education industry is doing to retain students, to encourage them to stick with their education, directly relates to trucking and what carriers can do to provide a better experience for their drivers, encouraging retention. 

Credo has taken 50 years of research into what it takes to retain students in education and distilled it down to how the entire campus, as a whole, could really focus on student success, because what it boils down to at the end of the day is this - if students don’t graduate, that impacts the whole world. 

“We developed a framework to think about it. And we've been out doing this work now, grabbing a campus as a whole and saying, let's stand alongside the leadership both at the top and in the middle, and really transform the way the campus thinks about [student retention].”

To find out more about how retention in trucking aligns with retention in higher education, and to learn new ways for your carrier to retain drivers, download and listen to this fascinating episode. 

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Why retention in higher education is so complicated
• How higher education and trucking align
• The universal dilemma of retention
• Why you want fulfilled human beings as drivers
• What carriers can do to help drivers thrive

How to connect with Joretta Nelson:

• Joretta Nelson - Credo Higher Education Consulting Team

Do your drivers have a good quality of life? 

After 22 years in trucking, going into carriers and helping them achieve a drastic overhaul, Roy Craigen knows how to improve driver quality of life, and in the process, improve your carrier, and improve driver recruitment and retention. 

Roy established TRANSCOM Fleet Services in 1991 and today they develop unique programs aimed at improving trucking operations across North America by shifting culture, attitude, and ultimately performance.

Roy and his team will come into your organization, they’ll literally embed themselves in your carrier in order to bring about the change you need. They aren’t consultants, they roll up their sleeves and get stuck in, making drastic changes.

Don’t miss this latest episode of Recruit and Retain where Roy not only discusses the most common issues he helps carriers with, but also shares top ways to improve the quality of life for drivers - spoiler alert, drivers are all different. 

The key takeaway from today’s episode? 

“I had the honor and privilege of working with over 3000 drivers in my life. And I know, they're not all the same. But I do know this, if we don't force quality of life, for all of our drivers, somewhere between seven and 11 years, something bad is gonna happen.”

To find out more, download and listen to this latest episode. 

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

Key takeaways

• How Transcom Fleet can help your carrier
• How to have a good relationship with drivers
• Find new drivers at Walmart
• How to improve driver quality of life
• The ideal bonus program

How to connect with Roy Craigen:

• https://transcomfleetservices.com/
• [email protected]
• 780-449-7200

Driver retention is tough, everyone is talking about it. Of course, recruitment is tough too - how do you get leads coming in? How do you get drivers on the phone? But it’s retention that’s the big topic of conversation - once you’ve got drivers, how do you make them stay?

Rachel Lovell is Vice President of People Operations at Milan Supply Chain Solutions. She started with them 15 years ago, with no driver’s licence, straight out of high school, and worked her way up through the ranks to where she is now, handling recruitment and HR.

“I'm like the Milan cheerleader, I love the company, I bleed blue is what I tell people because that's one of our main colours. I want everybody's experience to be like mine, I want this to be a hire to retire company.”

But the biggest challenge she’s up against is retention.

“Retention is so important because we need to retain them not just in our own company, we need to retain them in the industry. That's why it's an industry wide effort and why you hear it happen so much.”

From the messaging from leadership, to adding to their driver experience team, to utilizing the data from Workhound, to the biggest feedback they’ve received, don’t miss this latest episode of Recruit and Retain with Rachel, and learn what Milan have done to operationalize retention.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Why Milan is a hire to retire company
• The biggest changes in driver retention
• Becoming driver obsessed
• Utilizing Workhound
• Why communication is key to retention
• Driver retention manager

How to connect with Rachel Lovell:LinkedIn - Rachel Lovell Milan Supply Chain Solutions