The Best Places to Advertise & Find Truck Drivers

When people find out about the success we've had recruiting drivers, they always ask “where are the best places to advertise for truck drivers?” Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet. If it were as easy as putting all your money on one website or job board, no one would have 20 trucks against the fence.

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Asking where to advertise before you look at your driver recruiting message and process is like LeBron James playing a game without warming up or reviewing the scouting report. There is no need to spend more money or shift where you advertise until your Driver Brand Statement and Recruiting Process are a Purple Cow.

Start by Evaluating Your Driver Brand Statement (Your Purple Cow)

Your Driver Brand Statement tells drivers why they'd be absolute fools not to drive for you. It’s what allows you to stand out from the crowd and get the attention of drivers in a matter of seconds.

Use the post-it note test to evaluate the effectiveness of your current message:

1. Write down three reasons drivers join and stay with your company (one reason per Post-it note).
2. Conduct stay interviews with your drivers to evaluate why they love working for you. Synthesize the top three reasons into statements small enough for one Post-it note (again, one reason per Post-it note).

Do you and your drivers give the same reasons? It's common that there will be some differences. Use the reasons and words from your drivers. You recruit drivers, not office executives, so use their language.

Differentiate Your Driver Brand Statement

Google “Truck Driving Jobs Near Me.” Click on the top ads that show up and the top 3 organic posts. What are they selling to drivers? That’s what prospective drivers are seeing. How are you going to stand out?

Drivers see 50 ads a day. You need to stand out like a Purple Cow in a herd of black and white cows.

Put your competition's top three reasons drivers join and stay with their company on Post-it notes. Stick those on a wall next to your reasons. What claims can you make that no one else can? If your competition can claim the package you offer, go back to the pool to find something else more unique, or think about how you can re-package what you already have.

Download the free eBook: How to Develop a Driver Brand

What Else to Include in Your Job Ads

Duties and Responsibilities 

Don’t say it when you can show it. Create a quick highlight video reel that shows your drivers answering the following questions:

• What tasks will the job require on a daily basis?
• What will working with customers be like?
• Will the job involve driving long distances or making multiple deliveries?
• Will the job require loading and unloading cargo?
• What is the overall objective or goal of the job?

Including this information can help to attract more qualified and interested candidates, which can save time and resources for the company during the hiring process.

To learn more on this subject, check out our article on the relationship between driver retention and recruiting.

Pay

Come out and say it. Drivers need to know. Make it simple so they don’t have to do the calculations.

Be real. Don’t say “up to” using the highest dollar earner last year. Set proper expectations from their first interaction with your company. Setting unrealistic expectations means you’ll lose the driver later.

Drivers are a skeptical bunch because they’ve all been burned. Remember they likely don’t trust a single word you say or number in an ad so you have to prove it.

Job Experience

Be concise with the commercial driving experience and any specialized certifications, driving record requirements, and specialized skills. It saves you from talking to people you can’t hire.

Hometime

Drivers want to know about the hours and schedule of a job right away. When a job ad gives them this info, they can quickly determine whether the position is a good fit. Some specific questions that truck drivers may have about hours and schedule include:

• How long am I on the road for?
• What does hometime look like?
• Do I get more hometime if there are delays on the road?
• Is there a simple way to make bonuses? (No PhD required to understand the program)

Perks & Benefits

A good job ad should include some of the perks and benefits that set the position apart. These can include obvious benefits like health insurance plans, retirement plans, and paid vacation days. It can also include non-traditional perks like flexible scheduling, telehealth services, financial planning, wellness programs, and employee assistance programs. If you offer them, consider including training programs and apprentice programs designed to support drivers' long-term career paths. Find what's unique and use it to stand out.

Where to Place Your Driver Job Ads

We’re finally at the question you came for - where do you advertise?  The quick answer is, go with what produces the most hires for the least amount of money. The answer to that differs from client to client but across the board the consistent best producers we start with are:

• Driver referrals
• Rehire campaigns (for those who are eligible)
• Indeed (if the post is optimized)
• Industry job boards (i.e. TruckersReport, TruckDrivers, USA, etc.)
• Organic social media campaigns on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram & YouTube
• Paid social media campaigns on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram & YouTube
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The best approach for placing truck driver job advertisements will depend on the specific needs and goals of the company, as well as the target audience for the position. 

The key is to be diligent about combining tracking links and recruiter input to create accurate source reports so you know Cost Per Hire by Source/Job/Location. Certain sources work better for certain jobs and locations. You need to be able to break it down to that level of detail to build marketing campaigns that produce the biggest bang for your buck.

This is where having an Applicant Tracking System, like A-Suite Recruit, is a requirement to successful and cost-effective recruiting.

Make It Easy to Apply

Quality drivers know they hold the cards in the recruiting game. They can go down the street if the application process is too difficult or time-consuming.

When's the last time you've looked at your candidate experience from the viewpoint of a prospective driver? Go look right now if it's been more than 90 days. After your short, compelling message, is there a clear call to action for the next step? If not, you’ll lose them.

Here are some other crucial things to consider:

• 90% of drivers applying for jobs on A-Suite Recruit do so on a smartphone. Are your website and online application mobile-friendly? 
• 94% of prospective drivers want to talk to a recruiter before filling out a full application and release forms. Can prospective drivers press a button to call your recruiter or do they have to punch in numbers after writing them down on a napkin? Is there a short, basic contact info page for name and phone number to make starting the process a low-risk commitment?

Any Applicant Tracking System worth anything will solve these problems for you.

We have a how-to guide for transitioning from paper to digital applications that you might find helpful.

How to Evaluate What Sources Work Today

As we said earlier, you need to track your success. Otherwise, you could be wasting precious time and resources.

The two key sources we measure are:

• Cost per hire by source
• Conversion rate by source

Establish your baseline by tracking these two metrics. Start with your lowest cost per hire and highest converting sources. Then, implement your new Driver Brand Statement and measure how many more leads your new unique message produces. You're leaving meat on the bone for each advertising source – finish what you already have on your plate before going back for seconds. Monitor the progress on a monthly basis. Make sure you're set up to track these metrics for any new advertising source you try. Live and die with them.