This is part 3 of a 4 part series. Over the past couple of weeks, we have been seeing how Todd, the director of recruiting for a small fleet out of Spokane, WA, has been adapting to his fleet’s expansion.
Here’s an update on what’s happened so far. First, we met Todd. His fleet was small, and he was able to keep up with driver turnover. It was a concern. But nobody was getting stomach ulcers because of it. His world is turned upside down by a new fleet expansion into California. You can read that post here.
Next, we saw how Todd was responding to the expansion. Since he already knew about the driver he was needing, he began to use the Recruiting Lifecycle to scale his driver recruiting efforts. This begins with connecting with prospective drivers. You can find that post right here.
Now, Todd is moving into the next phase of the Recruiting Lifecycle: engaging.
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Why is engaging important?
Before we get back to the story, you need to understand why the engagment phase of the Recruiting Lifecycle is important.
Now that drivers are beginning to notice your fleet, they have awareness. That doesn’t mean they are fully prepared to apply for your empty driver positions yet. Quite the opposite, many are still unconvinced.
The engagement phase of the Recruiting Lifecycle ensures that you are continuing to keep your fleet top of mind for drivers. If you aren’t continuing to nurture potential hires, then you will see a large drop off between connecting and converting.
Now, let’s get back Todd.
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Engagement
Like we said earlier, Todd has already targeted his fleet’s ideal driver and connected with them. Now drivers are beginning to recognize his fleet. There are even a few drivers who have applied for positions. So Todd has seen a few applications for the new Bakersfield, CA terminal.
However, there still isn’t enough volume to completely fill his needs with qualified drivers.
Despite the expansion, Todd’s fleet is stillrelatively small. They aren’t well known outside of Washington state. This means that, while many drivers have begun to recognize the fleet’s name, they haven’t established trust with prospective hires.
This is a bit of a problem, and it feeds into why the engagement phase is critical.
To continue engaging drivers, Todd turns to content. He begins to write blog posts and create video content. He takes the opportunity to highlight the great things his fleet is doing for their drivers. This includes the health plan, flex time, pay, and the different positions within the fleet.
Todd has dedicated his efforts to giving his fleet a human face, which it previously lacked.
To distribute this content, Todd is using a number of different channels . . .
- social media
- email lists
- targeted native advertising
- targeted paid advertising
As the fleet begins to build trust with drivers, Todd begins to see more and more applications.
Next week we are going to take a week off from talking about the Recruiting Lifecycle. We have something else that’s very exciting to introduce to you. The following week, however, we will continue our story to it’s final conclusion.
