Carriers Boost Recruiting Efforts to Find More Qualified Drivers

This story appears in the Sept. 20 print edition of Transport Topics.

Fleets are intensifying their already aggressive recruiting efforts to find qualified applicants, as skilled prospects become harder to find, industry officials said.

“Hiring quality drivers is very challenging in today’s marketplace,” said Mark Rourke, president of Schneider National Inc.’s truckload unit. “We continue to recruit drivers to fill vacancies due to attrition.”

Schneider’s goal is to hire 2,000 drivers to counter driver departures and to support growth in regional markets, Rourke said, and Schneider is offering a $5,000-per-driver sign-on bonus for teams. Other fleets advertising on websites also offer bonuses, but at smaller amounts such as between $1,000 and $3,000.

“Recruiting has become more competitive,” said John Steele, chief financial officer of Werner Enterprises, who said at a recent Dahlman Rose investor conference in New York that his company is hiring both experienced drivers and students from driving schools.

Other fleet executives agreed with Rourke and Steele.

“We are pretty active right now,” said Allen Bolt, director of retention and recruiting for Groendyke Transport Inc., Enid, Okla. “Since the end of last year, we have been trying to add drivers.

“Last year, we hardly had to recruit,” Bolt said. “Drivers weren’t moving around. There was a lot of downsizing.” Now, he said, “The big problem we are facing is that people have taken other jobs.”

Greg Cerny, director of recruiting for Riverside Transport Inc. in Kansas City, Kan., said he was worried about applicant quality.

“We are seeing quite a number of people who are right at, or below, minimum hiring criteria,” he explained. “The flow of incoming applicants is not lacking at all, [but] a lot of times we find it difficult to find people that meet our requirements.”

Like Bolt, Cerny said he believes fleets that kept up a good rapport with drivers have an advantage in today’s market as some drivers are exploring opportunities.

Herb Schmidt, president of Con-way Truckload, also stressed the value of keeping drivers happy.

“The carriers that have had miles for drivers have been able to survive the downturn best,” he said, adding that his company did not cut pay. “Drivers didn’t move around much.”

Con-way’s truckload business stayed steady by hauling freight for other company units, he explained.

He acknowledged that as capacity has tightened the competition for drivers has heated up and turnover has increased by 20%.

“We have ramped up our recruiting,” he said. “Overall recruiting costs have risen by about one-third. There is a bit more churning. Some drivers are chasing good fortunes and what they perceive as greener grass across the road.”

David Jackson, chief financial officer of truckload carrier Knight Transportation, Phoenix, also acknowledged a stepped-up recruiting effort, and suggested higher driver pay might be a solution.

“We are having to spend somewhat more money for advertising,” said Jackson, who also spoke at the investor conference in New York.

“I expect we will see driver pay increases across the industry,” he said. “That is a necessary thing given that [drivers] are paid per mile and the fact that some [carriers] have taken pay down. Maybe that will make it more compelling for some of those drivers who left the industry to come back.”

Less-than-truckload fleets also are paying close attention to manpower.

“The labor market is far tighter than you think it is,” said Rick Gaetz, chief executive officer of Vitran Corp., Toronto, at the investor conference on Sept. 9. “We’ve had huge attrition. We don’t take any Joe Schmoe off the street and put him in a $100,000 piece of equipment.”

The urgency of recruiting efforts is being driven home by the estimated shortage of 80,000 drivers right now, said Noel Perry, principal of Transportation Fundamentals. Perry said he expects the shortage will worsen going forward because even a “modestly normal” economic recovery will generate the need for 150,000 more drivers to handle growing demand.

Tighter hours-of-service rules, the federal government’s CSA safety program, and stiffer licensing and training procedures could exacerbate the situation and might create the need for 300,000 more drivers.

“No one knows precisely what the actual number is,” Perry told Transport Topics. “What we do know is that, if the economy recovers and if the Feds implement their regulations, the shortage will be decidedly worse than last time. We know how that felt. This one will feel much worse.”