As the world slowly but surely comes back to life after the COVID-19 shutdown, trucking and logistic industry leaders are being forced to face the new reality. While many CDL truck drivers have been out on the roads this whole time doing essential work for the economy, the industry still needs to grow and scale. The old issues facing CDL recruiters – the ongoing driver shortage, personalized driver recruiting, etc. – are still here, but they’re joined by the fact that, for the foreseeable future, in-person recruiting, training, and onboarding might not be a possibility.
While the phrase ‘getting back to normal’ has started to come up more in conversation, savvy CDL recruiters are taking a step back and assessing the situation with long-term success in mind:
- What version of normal will make CDL drivers most comfortable?
- Can we minimize risk without sacrificing recruiting efficiency?
- What does ‘normal’ look like in CDL recruiting, anyway?
These are just a few of the questions at the top of every CDL recruiters’ list.
Although there isn’t a single cut-and-dry answer to these tough questions, there are a few ways for CDL driver recruiters to adapt a safer, more driver-focused recruiting process without sacrificing the health and safety of drivers or employees:
- Automated solutions to drive efficiency: If there is one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that social quarantine has skyrocketed our technology usage. While CDL drivers have been looking for a tech-driven recruiting process for a while now, the new recruiting process must be extremely easy, automated, and worry-free. Recruiters can start by auto-filling any documents with secure driver information, making it easy to send and receive communications, and taking the recruiting process online.
- Recruitment tools that don’t sacrifice personal connection: Any recruitment and hiring process, regardless of industry, requires some sort of personal interaction to ensure both parties are comfortable with the position and situation. Taking these conversations online doesn’t mean leaving the human interaction in the past. Instead, CDL recruiters can turn to tools like video chat, text messaging, and detailed recruitment guides to ensure drivers still get the personal application experience they are looking for.
- Remote onboarding and training: This will probably be one of the biggest changes CDL driver recruiters will have to face in the wake of the ‘new normal’. CDL truck driving comes with so many regulations, guidelines, and training expectations that it has traditionally been something that many carriers require to be completed in-person. Now, however, remote onboarding and training is a necessity. Luckily, there are industry-leading solutions on the market that make it easy to train new drivers and track their progress to ensure they’re ready to get on the road.
If you’re ready to take your driver recruiting process completely remote, DriverReach can help. Our suite of solutions – including integrations with leading learning management systems – ensure that CDL driver recruiters can make a seamless transition to the new normal.
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