Had A Chat With A Recruiter Yesterday!

I was in the orientation room last night here at the Prime terminal in SLC. Just minding my own business on the computer. The drivers lounge was way too loud. When all of a sudden one of the recruiters came up to me and asked me a question. He asked me "what speed are the trucks governed at?" I told him "57". Then he quickly ran back to his phone to assist the applicant.

After his phone call I got around to having a chat with him. Told him why we are governed at 57 just so he would know. He appreciated it.

I then asked him a few questions jokingly. I asked him how many applicants he has at the moment. He told me that he's actually one of the "not-busy" recruiters from Prime. The man is 75 years old and insisted that he doesn't want to be burdened too much. So he likes to lower, or limit, the amount of work he has.

He then told me has has 105 applicants right now. Again, he insisted that 105 is an extremely low number. He then told me the average is 400-500 for a busy recruiter.

I then said "you seem very interested and motivated to get the guy to sign up. Do you get paid commission for each person you bring in?"

He then told me that he gets paid minimum wage hourly. But the vast majority of his income comes from bringing the driver in the company. He told "I get paid by the head."

So there you have it folks. This is just how busy a recruiter is! 105 seems ground breaking but apparently that's nothing according to him.

Drivers, this is why we say that recruiters are extremely busy. Imagine how easy it is to forget about an application when you have 400 on you.

Just wanted to share this interesting encounter I had with a Prime recruiter.

Wow! That's truly incredible. No wonders you can't get those people on the phone to save your life.

Ya know, I think that really shows your typical American Corporate thinking. I've watched for many years how job applicants fall all over themselves to go work for a company whose recruiters were quick to respond and attentive to their questions. It makes people feel like the company is organized and that they genuinely care about you as a person. Now as adults we're supposed to keep in mind that they're salespeople and it's their #1 job to make us feel that way. But many of us fall for it anyhow. In fact, that was the basis of my article The Biggest Mistake New Drivers Make When Speaking With Recruiters.

And yet these companies pile hundreds of applications on each recruiter so there's almost no chance they can respond quickly or be attentive to anyone. So the company immediately looks disorganized and uninterested. The countless millions of dollars these major companies spend to bring in new applications often goes right out the window when something as simple as having a recruiter answer the phone or respond to an email is simply not possible.

Baffling. I mean, a giant corporation with over a billion dollars in annual revenues and they're piling 400-500 applications on people making minimum wage before commissions, losing probably 1/3 off all drivers before they ever even get a chance to speak with them. I found that Prime had over $1.2 billion in revenues in 2012 on this list of Top 50 Trucking Companies.

$1.2 billion in revenues and tens of millions spent on recruiting and they can't bring in a few more recruiters to up their chances of landing more drivers and getting a better return on their investment? Seems like madness to me.

It's baffling isn't it Brett? Not only could they bring in more applicants, but they could be more selective and make sure the applicants are actually qualified. Think about how much money they spend bringing in applicants that never get out of the orientation room.

Failing the drug test is understandable, really no way for them to know about that ahead of time. But many cant get through for other reasons. A guy in my orientation was kicked out because of a previous accident, hitting a low bridge. The recruiter told us the applicant had been totally upfront about it, and she felt terrible. In fact she was almost in tears, even called several companies herself trying to find someone to take him. The problem was the cost of the accident was much higher than she thought it would be. He was driving a car hauler not a dry box, so even though it was empty the damage was still upwards of 60 to 80 thousand so he could not be hired. If she had had time to make a few calls before brining him in this could have been found out before hand and saved everyone time and money.

The driver had never heard the actual cost of the accident, he had been let go as soon as he returned to the terminal and was shocked when he heard the number.

Woody

Or they can take care of the drivers that they have and not have such a high turnover rate. Take half of that money they spend on recruiting and spend it on the drivers and you will keep more of them around. Good drivers will be knocking on their doors and they can be more selective in who they hire.

Geeze, these "college graduates" that run some of these companies do not have any common sense. Those that have been to college, there is a class called common sense where they line you up against the wall and beat it out of you, right? And if you go on to get a PHD you have to take Advanced Common Sense where they make sure you have none left.

Or they can take care of the drivers that they have and not have such a high turnover rate. Take half of that money they spend on recruiting and spend it on the drivers and you will keep more of them around. Good drivers will be knocking on their doors and they can be more selective in who they hire.

Geeze, these "college graduates" that run some of these companies do not have any common sense. Those that have been to college, there is a class called common sense where they line you up against the wall and beat it out of you, right? And if you go on to get a PHD you have to take Advanced Common Sense where they make sure you have none left.

Pat, I don't think if they treat their current drivers any better that it will somehow decrease the turnover rate. I don't think companies have much to do with the high turnover rate.

The typical driver coming into this industry has the wrong mindset. All they think about is money and they don't think the decision through. They come into the job without actually being prepared for it. I think the high turnover rate is due to the fact that its just such a sudden change of lifestyle. The driver isn't prepared for it and he just cannot thrive in that environment.

I think that if everyone would come into the industry after months of studying then the turnover rate would decrease tremendously. The driver would know what to expect, he would know the difficulties of the job and be much more prepared for the sudden change in their life.

Understand that entirely.. But look at #1 on your own list. More money makes some bad situations more tolerable. Just think if their drivers would stay 5 years instead of 1 the reduction in expenses they would encounter.

Understand that entirely.. But look at #1 on your own list. More money makes some bad situations more tolerable. Just think if their drivers would stay 5 years instead of 1 the reduction in expenses they would encounter.

Agreed.

One detail a lot of people miss when talking a out the turnover rate. It's not the people that come in for a few weeks a d then go back home cause they had it wrong. The main reason for the higher turnover rate is the current drivers on the road. It's well known in trucking that as long as you have a clean safety record you can quit a job in the morning and have another one before noon. Every time a driver leaves one company for another one he is added to that list as a turnover. Considering we have well over 4.5 million CDL holders in America it does not take long to increase the turnover rate percentage.

More money makes some bad situations more tolerable.

It's common to think that if you pay someone more they'll be happier or do a better job. Seems kinda obvious, right? But look at company trainers. They get paid a good bit more to train students than they would make as solo drivers, and yet a terrifying percentage of the trainers out there are simply lousy. They have terrible attitudes and they have no interest in teaching anyone anything. They look at training as a necessary evil in order to make a few extra bucks so they put up with having a student in the truck. In spite of the extra pay, they're not happy about it in the least. Would they do it without the extra pay? Almost certainly not.

So does the better pay mean they'll tolerate more? Probably. But it doesn't mean they'll do a better job and it doesn't mean they'll be happy. And once your competitors raise their pay to match yours you no longer have an advantage. Now your turnover rate is just as high as it was when you were paying less, your payroll has skyrocketed, your profits are plummeting, and your drivers aren't doing their job any better than when they were paid less.

The realities of running a business.

The turnover in trucking is a combination of what Daniel and Guyjax said. There are more people than ever in trucking today who don't belong there or don't want to be there because of the lousy economy we've had for years and the utter lack of blue collar jobs that pay a living wage. There are also 1,000 jobs waiting right now for any driver with a year of experience and a clean record. That's tough to ignore when your dispatcher aggravates you or your truck breaks down for the third time in a month.