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Are You Recruiting or Marketing?
By Sundy J. Muse-Morton
It is no secret the trucking industry is suffering from a severe shortage of professional drivers. According to the American Trucking Association, the industry presently has a shortage of 20,000 drivers and this number could be as high as 54,000 by the end of 2006. Time magazine reported in their Oct. 10, 2005 issue that "the U.S. is projected to add 574,000 truck-driving jobs over the next decade." This shortage can and will be crippling to some carriers. Given these estimations, trucking companies are in a fierce competition to recruit qualified drivers.
Gone are the days of just placing the "Help Wanted" ad in the local paper. Today carriers compete in the recruiting arena by "selling their company" to drivers. Trade digests and magazines are filled with full color ads promoting everything great about a carrier similar to an automobile ad detailing what that particular model has to offer. Which brings up the question: Who is "selling" these companies? Are carriers relying solely on their recruiters, hiring an advertising agency, utilizing their in-house marketing personnel or some combination of all of the above?
At the 2006 Annual Recruiting and Retention Conference sponsored by the Truckload Carriers Association, the audience was packed full of recruiters and operations managers, but very few "marketing" hands were raised in the air when the question was posed to the general assembly of who does what. According to Gina Edmonson, event planner with ACS Multimedia Advertising, 95 percent of the attendees registered as directors of safety, recruitment and/or operations. The numbers for the 2005 event were almost identical. Granted a position title and related responsibilities vary from company to company, but even given that variance, this ratio in attendees is surprising.
At O & S Trucking in Springfield, MO, the Marketing Department is structured to work in conjunction not only with Sales/Customer Service as is most common in the industry but also with Human Resources and Recruiting. This design allows the skills and training of marketing personnel to be utilized throughout the company in a variety of ways. With this model and the conference attendee group in mind, a small survey of truckload carriers was conducted to gain perspective as to what percentage of carriers are coupling their in-house marketing personnel with their recruiting department.
The survey was sent to truckload carriers nationwide selected at random. Please note that for the purpose of this research the title "driver" refers to both company-employed drivers and leased independent contractors. Also, with the definition of "Marketing" being so subjective in industry it was defined for participants as the set of activities designed to influence choice whenever an individual or organization has a choice to make. The response rate was 38 percent.
Responding carrier breakdown:
99 drivers or less: 11 percent
100- 499 drivers: 50 percent
500-999 drivers: 17 percent
1,000-4,999 drivers: 17 percent
5,000 drivers or more: 6 percent
* 32 percent rely completely on recruiters to design campaigns, place ads, etc.
* 16 percent rely completely on an advertising agency.
* 16 percent rely completely on in-house marketing personnel.
* 5 percent utilize a combination of in-house marketing personnel and recruiters.
* 53 percent of the respondents stated that the idea of their in-house marketing and recruiting working together had been considered.
* 80 percent of that group has pursued the cooperation effort.
* 5 percent relies on a combination of all three: in-house marketing, recruiting and an advertising agency.
Marketing professionals are educated in the fields of research, planning, branding, statistics and goal-oriented campaigns. Combining those skills with the working knowledge of driver recruiters can lead to dynamic recruiting efforts and results. This model can be effective for carriers by utilizing internal resources and possibly reducing cost. The general consensus from the survey is that more carriers are entertaining the idea of coupling in-house marketing and driver recruiting.
Sundy J Muse-Morton is the marketing director for O & S Trucking, Inc.
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