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Skills Needed for Top Recruiters

In order to recruit and retain drivers in today's competitive market, top recruiters must be at the top of their game. To be successful, they must be able to sell their company to the best drivers, since those drivers will be able to work for anybody in the trucking industry. Through the careful observations of the top recruiters in the trucking industry, a specific set of skills has been found to enable a trucking company to maintain top quality recruiters. Those skills are the following:

* Creating a positive first impression: Top recruiters greet applicants warmly and make sure to exchange names.

* Developing the applicant's situation: Top recruiters ask conversational open-ended questions to get the driver talking (a good mix is if the driver does 70 percent of the talking and the recruiter 30 percent). During this time they screen for knockout factors; if the applicant is not qualified, they politely end the process and record the basic lead information (name, address, phone number).

* Identifying the personal needs of the driver: Top recruiters go beyond the obvious -- miles, money and home time. The top recruiters find out what that individual person needs, i.e., to see his son play football, buy a better house, put his children through college, etc.

* Effectively presenting the company program: Top recruiters customize the presentation of the company to the unique needs of the driver rather than spit out a laundry list of features.

* Getting commitment: Top recruiters always "ask for the business"; they get a specific commitment from the driver to move the process forward on the first contact. The best approach is to schedule an orientation date based on availability. This will solidify the commitment or surface any objections that haven't been discussed.

* Follow through: Top recruiters follow up frequently with applicants to make sure that the commitment is sustained and the driver arrives at orientation on schedule. Maintain and update contact information.

* Listening and responding: Top recruiters use focused listening skills and then respond to what the driver has said. They frequently will paraphrase what was said to confirm and demonstrate listening.

* Product knowledge: Top recruiters have in-depth knowledge of all aspects of their company. They spend time in operations to fully understand how things work in the "real world." They communicate regularly with all other departments so they can continuously improve their knowledge.

The skills listed above have the most impact on achieving outstanding results. In order for a company to maintain top recruiters, they must allow them frequent opportunities for training, which will enable them to maintain their high performance recruiting operation.

Source: TCA Report newsletter. Used with permission.

"Pay your people the least possible and you'll get from them the same."

-- Malcolm S. Forbes