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Volume 2 Issue 2 In
this issue: Driver
Sound Off --------------------------------- Our
Sponsors
--------------------------------- Question
of the Day
Do
recruiters tell drivers the truth during the recruitment process?
• Yes. If you're not straightforward with drivers from the get-go, it only creates problems later on. • Sometimes but not always. Let's face it, there's a fuzzy gray area recruiters have to traverse in order to fill cabs. • No. If you're totally and brutally honest, you'll lose recruits and eventually your job. Click Here to Vote In
our last newsletter, we asked readers the following question: What
will be the biggest issue facing the trucking industry in 2006? •
Driver shortage. Recruiting, training and retaining drivers
is always a big issue for the trucking industry, and 2006 won't be any
different. •
Fuel Rates. If it's anything like last year, we better buckle
up because we're in for a bumpy ride. •
Rules and Regulations. Whether it's HOS, safety and security issues
or driver training requirements, the feds are always throwing something
new at us. • The Economy. As the economy goes, so goes the trucking industry. 0 percent Note:
Inside Trucking polls are
surveys of those who choose to participate and are therefore not valid
statistical samples. Is
there a question regarding driver recruitment and retention you would like
to ask the trucking industry? Send suggestions to: phorner@otrprotrucker.com --------------------------------- Quote
of the Day
"If
you do not know where you are going, every road will get you
nowhere."
-- Henry Kissinger --------------------------------- Contact:
What They're Saying About Us With
a combined monthly circulation of 250,000 backed by the best customer
service in the driver recruitment publishing business, Over
the Road and Pro Trucker magazines have an unequaled reputation for producing
results for our advertising clients. But don't just take our word for
it. Here is what one of our clients had to say in an unsolicited
letter: "Having
been involved with advertising over many years, I’ve heard all the
pitches and all the claims. I met Jenny Shefsky here in the Detroit
area at one of the expedite shows and listened to her sell me the
benefits of your magazine. At first, as with anything, I was
skeptical, but after several re-assuring conversations with Jenny we
decided to give OTR and Pro Trucker a chance and committed to a four-month run. "Jenny
and the design team made the construction of our first ad a breeze and
never once did we receive anything less than 150 percent of their
effort. After several changes to the ad, we had what we thought was a
winner and we ran with it. A couple of days after the magazine was on
the shelf we started to receive some calls. It looked like the ad was
working. We ran the same ad two more months and we received a steady
amount of calls, typically three or four a week. "Jenny
suggested we try changing the ad and market our 'Lease to Own'
program. Jenny and the design team had a good idea the first time, so
we listened. The ad was reconstructed several times, and after we all
agreed that it was ready, it went to print. The day after the ad hit
the stands we received more than 15 calls. That was just one day.
Since that ad was run, we have averaged
six calls per day and that was over a month ago. Our trucks are filled
with high quality drivers, and now we have to go out and buy more
trucks to keep up with the response. "It’s
hard to find a product and a company that actually delivers what they
say. I must say Jenny and the entire staff at your organization not
only did what they said they would do, they surpassed it with
outstanding customer service and gave me a feeling that our success
was more than just business to them, it was personal. Jenny made a
believer out of me and you should be very proud of the representation
that she gives your organization." Don Wells Freedom
Transportation Group
To learn more about Over the Road and Pro Trucker and how to put our team to work on your driver recruitment advertising needs, go to: www.otrprotrucker.com
is brought to you by Over the Road and Pro Trucker, the leaders in the driver recruitment publishing industry for nearly 25 years.
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If
Louisville, KY is considered the center of the trucking universe when the
Mid-America Trucking Show rolls into town each year, then the show's
Recruitment Center certainly serves as the hub of the industry's recruitment
and retention activity for those same three days. We look forward to seeing
all of you at this year's MATS, set for March 23-25. Over
the Road, Pro Trucker and now Inside
Trucking have proudly sponsored the Recruitment Center for more than a
decade. We put a considerable amount of time and resources into the show, but
we believe the effort is well worth it. We've built our reputation on
connecting drivers in search of new job opportunities with companies looking
for quality drivers, so it only makes sense that we would make every effort to
bring the two parties together, face-to-face, at the biggest and best trucking
show in the country. Once
again, we'll be headquartered at the main entrance to the Recruitment Center
in the West Wing of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. While I'm sure
you're well acquainted with your OTR/PT sales rep, we invite you to drop by
our booth and meet our other staff members and special guests, including
Nextel Cup driver Ken Schrader, who will be signing autographs from 1-3 p.m.
on Thursday, March 23. Kevin
Rutherford, financial planner, small fleet owner, former owner-operator and
the author of the new "Business of Trucking" column in Over
the Road and Pro Trucker, will
also be at our booth. Finally,
this year marks the 25th anniversary of Over
the Road, so you know we'll be in celebratory mode throughout the show. In
the meantime, enjoy this issue of Inside
Trucking. It is loaded with articles and ideas aimed at turning around the
industry's high turnover rate. As
always, we appreciate your feedback, and if you think others at your company
would benefit from reading Inside Trucking, encourage them to sign up for a complimentary
subscription. As
always, we appreciate your feedback. If you think others at your company would
benefit from reading Inside
Trucking, encourage them to sign up for a free subscription. --
Marvin Shefsky, Publisher/CEO
By
David M. Johndrow
We
all know there’s a driver shortage. That’s old news. The reasons why –
long hours, pay rates that haven’t rebounded to pre-recession rates,
increasingly stringent regulations – that's also old news. However, when
you combine that with an average driver turnover rate of 114 percent and the
upcoming retirement of nearly one-fifth of heavy-duty truck drivers over the
next 10 years, it’s imperative to begin making changes now that will help
you find and retain qualified new drivers for the long term. Recruit
and Process There
are a number of ways to recruit drivers, and I’m sure you’ve tried most,
if not all, of them. The approach today’s most successful companies are
taking involves offering "Applicant Self-Service," which allows
applicants to search and apply for jobs at their convenience. This is great
for the unemployed, but most of you are trying to attract the under-employed
and/or unhappily employed. To
address this, several companies have designed or purchased what is now being
coined as Hourly Hiring Management Systems (HHMS). These systems typically
include a combination of technologies ranging from telephone recruiting
using interactive voice response (IVR) technology, online Applicant Tracking
Systems (ATS) and on-site computer kiosks. These systems allow applicants to
hear or view individual job descriptions, pre-screen for the position and
submit an application 24/7. And, if they meet all pre-determined
qualifications, candidates can instantly schedule an interview. This
provides a professional interactive experience for the job seeker and
captures the information needed for human resources to move from high-volume
interviewing and processing to evaluating only the most qualified and
available candidates. Practices
and Retention The
No. 1 one reason why individuals left their jobs in 2003 was because they
did not know what they were getting into and what the actual job entailed.
For new entrants into the truck driving field this can be an enormous
problem. Many newcomers might romanticize the job, focusing on "the
peace and freedom of the open road" without truly understanding what
the job entails. This
brings me to "Realistic Job Previews." This is your opportunity to
provide candidates with an accurate picture of the job. If possible, it’s
best to allow candidates to really see the working environment and spend
some time observing others actually doing the job. Since regulations or
other restrictions may prevent this, you can have one of your more
experienced drivers speak with the candidate to answer any questions and
help him/her truly understand what it takes to be successful. By
giving candidates a chance to see the job beforehand, they have the ability
to de-select themselves if they decide the job isn’t for them, and save
you the time and money of processing their paperwork, orientation and
training costs only to find them gone in the first 30 days. If
you implement the above practices you should be hiring qualified individuals
who know what the job entails. That alone doesn’t ensure they will make it
past the 90-day mark. Regardless of preparation, the reality of any new job
can still be intense and require some significant adjustments. Employee
supervisors have the most influence over how well and how quickly new
drivers make the transition. Supervisors certainly know that driving for
hours on end and adapting to a new lifestyle for long-haul drivers can be
taxing during those first few months. They need to be talking with new
drivers and offering advice and understanding to help with the inevitable
adjustments. This
general communication should be done frequently as it opens the lines of
communication for a successful long-term relationship. To ensure supervisors
are doing all they can to keep qualified new employees, some companies ask
new staff to complete a scorecard to rate the supervisor at 30 or 90 days.
This assists in measuring what is key to your business. Your other option to
garner this information is an exit-interview strategy. Believe me, the
scorecard significantly improves your chances of turning your recruiting
pipe dream into a possibility. David
M. Johndrow is co-founder of HRLogix, an Applicant Tracking Solution
provider, and now leads the company’s Human Resources consulting division.
David has more than a decade of experience in human resource management and
can be reached at 877-HRLOGIX or djohndrow@hrlogix.com.
My Point
According
to David M. Johndrow, the author of this issue's lead article titled,
"Finding Drivers Who will Stay: Pipe Dream or Possibility," the
No. 1 reason why people leave their jobs is because they did not know what
they were getting into. As David notes, this is especially true for new
entrants into the trucking industry because "many newcomers might
romanticize the job, focusing on 'the peace and freedom of the open road'
without truly understanding what the job entails." Elsewhere
in this issue, in our "Driver Sound Off" department, we asked a
handful of drivers to tell us what companies
need to know about drivers that they should but don't. Not surprisingly, we
received some pretty strong responses, most of them not too flattering
toward management. Based
on Johndrow's experience and on our own sample of drivers' opinions, what we
have here in the recruiting and retention industry is a classic failure to
communicate. During the recruitment process, either too many recruiters are
doing a lousy job of explaining what driving a truck for their company is
all about or too many drivers have stars in their eyes and aren't listening.
Either
way, the breakdown in communications creates unrealistic expectations for
the new hires. Predictably, when those high expectations aren't met, drivers
start looking around for greener pastures, and the cycle begins anew. The
industry has an annual turnover rate in excess of 100 percent. Inside
Trucking's mission is to bring that number down because the constant
churning of drivers ultimately negatively impacts everyone's bottom line. We
don't pretend to have all the answers, but Inside Trucking is focused on asking all the right questions and
opening up the lines of communication any way we can. We strive to present
the best ideas and information we can find from a variety of sources,
including leading experts on the issues at hand: driver recruitment and
retention. We'll also provide a driver's perspective on key questions. The
goal is to help you improve your company's retention rate. Communication,
of course, is a two-way street. We welcome
your feedback. In fact, we can't succeed in our mission without it. We see
our role as facilitating communications. If you have an idea you'd like to
share, tell us about it. If you would like to contribute your expertise to
the newsletter, go for it. As we've said many times before, we're all in
this together. Together, let's make it work.
--
Marvin Shefsky,
Publisher/CEO,
(mshefsky@otrprotrucker.com) If
you're involved in the recruiting and retention of over-the-road
professionals, you ought to know what makes drivers tick. Sure, every driver
wants more money, more home time and more respect, but what else do those
behind the desks need to know about those behind the steering wheel? To find
out, we asked a random sample of drivers the following question: What
do companies need to know about drivers that they don't? Here
are some of the responses:
Mark
Leggu, 53, Grove City, OH Professional
driving experience: 25 years "I
think a lot of company officers forget that when they go home at night,
drivers are still out on the road making money for them. They don't seem to
care a whole lot about the drivers. All they care about is the freight,
plain and simple. That's not right, and they should know better."
Larry
Faul, 59, Independence, KY Professional
driving experience: 38 years "Given
all the problems you see with some of these young drivers and others coming
into the industry, companies should know more about the people they're
putting in their trucks. What's their life history? How honest are they? How
careful are they? They may have a CDL, but are they really qualified to
drive a truck?"
Ron
"Snuffy" Smith, 52, Massillon, OH Professional
driving experience: 28 years "There's
a lot they need to know. They can start by not treating us like robots. Our
personal needs don’t matter as long as the load gets there on time. That
attitude needs to change. They need to show compassion. It’s not just a
truck and load. We’re human beings and we have limitations."
William
Ringstaff, 42, Omaha, NE Professional
driving experience: 16 years "Pay
attention to the driver. Listen to the driver. Don't try to force them all
the time. Believe it or not, truck drivers actually know something about
driving a truck and delivering freight. Some companies and some dispatchers
-- I'm not saying all companies and all dispatchers -- need to learn that
drivers have a life other than sitting behind that steering wheel." Driver Shortage Noted in Fed'd Beige Book The
U.S. Federal Reserve, in its Beige
Book published Jan. 18, 2006, made several references to the driver
shortage. The Beige Book,
published eight times a year, is a summary of current economic
conditions based on anecdotal information from the district directors of
the 12 Federal Reserve Banks as well as interviews with key business
contacts, economists, market experts and other sources Below
is a list of all of those references. For the full report, go to:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/2006/20060118/FullReport.htm Trucking
and Shipping: Trucking and shipping demand remained strong across
the country, but companies were constrained by continuing driver
shortages in the Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago and Philadelphia Districts. Employment
and Wages: Atlanta reported several locations with tight labor
market conditions, while Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Kansas
City, Dallas and San Francisco all reported specific occupations in
which jobs have been difficult to fill. Several of these Districts cited
trucking jobs. Philadelphia
District -- Services: Trucking firms reported continuing high rates
of activity, resulting in difficulty finding sufficient numbers of
drivers. Cleveland
District - Transportation: Carriers continued to report difficulty
attracting and retaining drivers, however few firms planned to increase
wages. Some acquisitions are reportedly being undertaken to add
additional drivers to firms. Atlanta
District -- Manufacturing and Transportation: Driver shortages are
still a major concern. For instance, activity at the Port of New Orleans
was reportedly limited by a shortage of truck drivers. Chicago
District -- Business Spending: Shortages of truck drivers and
skilled manufacturing workers persisted. . . . Trucker wage gains
reportedly slowed, despite persistent labor shortages. Kansas
City District -- Labor Markets and Wages: Several types of workers
were said to be difficult to find, including truck drivers, auto
mechanics, oil and gas workers and unskilled manufacturing workers.
Driver Shortage Near Top of Concerns It
should come as no surprise that the driver shortage is one of the top-10
critical issues facing the trucking industry, trailing only fuel costs,
according to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the
trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization. The
ATRI surveyed more than 2,000 trucking industry executives. Fuel costs
and the driver shortage easily topped the top-10 list of concerns, with
more than double the ranking of other issues. The complete results were
released during the Management Conference and Exhibition of the American
Trucking Associations (ATA). ATRI also solicited and tabulated
strategies for addressing each issue. For
the record, the rest of the top-10 included insurance costs,
hours-of-service, tolls and highway funding, tort reform, regulatory
redundancy/costs, congestion, environmental issues and trucking
security. The
survey results and proposed strategies will allow the ATA to better
focus its advocacy role on behalf of the “Given
the complex and fast-changing array of issues facing us,” says ATRI
Chairman Jim Staley, “it is more important than ever that we are
proactive on what matters.” “On
every legislative and regulatory topic, issues come and go so quickly
today,” adds Doug Duncan, incoming ATRI Chairman. “If we’re not at
the table with sound, science-based information and a common sense plan
of action, then we’re going to get left behind, and saddled with
solutions that have no bearing on moving Source:
ATA
Truck Driving Ranks as Top-25 Job Heavy-duty truck driving ranks as one of the top 25 jobs for 2006, according to a survey by Careerbuilder.com, a leading national job bank. In a survey of 8 million new jobs, heavy-duty truck driving ranked No. 18 on the list. The industry currently is experiencing a national shortage of 20,000 drivers, according to an American Trucking Associations (ATA) analysis. The ATA predicts that the shortage of long-haul drivers will increase to 111,000 by 2014 if current demographic and labor trends continue. Trucking is the single most-used mode of freight transportation, totaling 70 percent by value, 60 percent by weight and 34 percent by ton miles. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that trucking dominates shipments of distances less than 500 miles, while rail dominates shipments of longer distances. ATA is mounting a campaign to highlight the value of working in the trucking industry and hopes to offset current demographic trends, which limit the industry's workforce. Sources: Roemer Report (used with permission), ATA
Recruitment and Retention Committee to Meet May 3 If
you're interested in finding out useful tips and trends regarding driver
recruitment and retention and you or your company is affiliated with the
Truckload Carriers Association, mark May 3 on your calendar. That's the
scheduled date for the next Quarterly Meeting of the TCA's Recruitment
and Retention Human Resources Committee, held via conference call. The
conference is scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m. (Eastern time). Suggested
topics include: *
How to Get Funding for Training New Drivers *
Recruiting Company Drivers *
Best Driver Retention Practices for All Departments *
Measurement Formulas for Turnover The
Recruitment and Retention Human Resources Committee is chaired by Kevin
W. Burch, president of Jet Express, Inc., who also chairs the quarterly
meetings. For
further information, including how to join the committee and phone-in
instructions, contact Virginia (Ginny) DeRoze, Director of Education and
Training, Truckload Carriers Association: phone: 703-838-1950; e-mail:
vderoze@truckload.org. The
first quarterly meeting in February provided members of the Recruitment
and Retention Human Resources Committee an opportunity to share ideas on
recruitment and retention and to provide an update on what is happening
in the field. Representatives from 31 carriers called in to participate.
In
a discussion of new sources of drivers, two carriers talked about
working the military bases and the military base transition teams. They
also found it helpful to work with the Family Support personnel. Another
carrier works with the Department of Labor's "HireVetsFirst"
programs. Another company talked about hiring police and fireman for
part-time work. The part-time work involved such activities as picking
up trailers and short, 500-mile trips. During
a driver image discussion, several of the participants talked about the
importance of the driver image within the company as well as focusing on
the external image. Having departmental retention goals within the
company that focus on the driver can improve the driver image with both
the driver and the staff.
Inside Trucking is freely distributed by the publishers of Over the Road and Pro Trucker magazines as a service to help our clients strengthen their driver recruiting and retention efforts. |
