Are You Posting a Job or an Opportunity for a Career?

If you want to hire more qualified drivers, your job postings need to stand-out from your competition.

We call it being a purple cow. A plain old black and white cow attracts zero attention from people passing by. A purple cow makes heads turn and calls people to action. 

Your ads need to make you the purple cow, and one way to do so is to advertise for a career rather than just another job.

Your Competition is Posting Just-Another-Job. Time to One-Up Them.

Nearly every trucking company is posting about just-another-job in the trucking industry. “We have a regional position running from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. Home on nights.” That won’t turn any heads because it’s just like every job posting out there. It does nothing to tell someone why they should apply.

Your ads need to focus on the why. Instead of selling your candidates on the what of a job, focus on what makes the job unique. Sell them on a career that will:

• Provide for them and their family
• Give them freedom, financially and otherwise
• Fulfill them personally
• Change their life by giving them a new career

If you create a why-centered job posting highlighting a career rather than just-another-job, you will stand-out from the crowd and attract better candidates.

Creating a Driver Career Ladder

Of course, it’s not enough to promise a new career. You need to back-up your talk with action. If you want to attract and retain high-quality drivers, you need to create a driver career ladder.

We’ve created four rungs to the career ladder that are plug-and-play to implement. They build upon one another and work together to create a desirable and driver-centric culture. However, in this article, we’ll only cover the two rungs that most closely relate to effective driver recruiting. You can be the employer-of-choice if you implement:

1. CDL Finishing School: train recent CDL graduates to become safe, professional drivers.
2. Driver Certification: train your current employees on essential safe driving practices and certify them as a cut-above the rest.

Download eBook: The Driver Shortage Is For Your Competition

CDL Finishing School

With the driving population gaining more grey beards than green beans these days, you need a farm system to create your own drivers. Create a curriculum for recent CDL grads to become safe, professional drivers. That way, you can safely and effectively hire a fleet of all-star drivers that your competition is overlooking.

Then, you can advertise directly to this group of potential drivers offering a new career path that will change their lives. Your advertisement will stand-out as a unique proposition and your qualified applications will increase.

Of course, it takes time to create an effective curriculum for new drivers. Check out our proven model CDL Finishing School. Our eight week program can take someone fresh out of CDL school and turn them into a driver anyone would be lucky to hire.

Driver Certification

We’ve seen time and again that the best drivers want to work for a company that values their safety. If you want to be that company, you should invest in a defensive driving certification program.

Create a system that trains drivers on defensive driving practices and promotes those who pass. Give a modest pay bump as a reward for completing the program. Not only will you have less accidents, but you’ll attract more drivers if you showcase this in your ads.

Center your job postings around the fact that you invest in driver safety and reward safe driving practices. They’ll see you as the “purple cow” who has something unique to offer.

Need a proven and easy solution to the defensive driving certification? Our world-class program LLLC Defensive Driving is quick to implement and proven to reduce your accidents by 20%. With this process, you will:

• Save money on accidents
• Protect your drivers
• Attract more qualified leads

Attract Best-Fit Drivers by Offering a Career

The best drivers aren’t just looking for another job to hold them over. They want to drive for a company they can build a career with. It’s a match-made in heaven because you’re looking for the same thing: a driver who will retire with you rather than quit and work for the competition in 6 months.

Become the purple cow by offering a career rather than just a job. You’ll stand-out from the competition because of your unique offering.

Of course, it doesn’t happen overnight. You need to write effective ads and target your ideal drivers to make drastic changes. But if you build and advertise for driving careers instead of jobs, you will build a fleet of qualified drivers.