Reliable advices for hiring a truck driver

From time to time every transportation company faces a necessity to hire truck drivers which will fully fit its policy. Of course, recommendations and personal contacts always can take place in this sphere but in most cases the employers have to struggle and to spend a lot of time and energy to find appropriate candidates.

How you need to act

1. Check the law

   This point is more required for a new company which is not very familiar with a hiring process but all but also can be applied for an experienced company dealing with drivers from different states. For example, while everybody knows that American commercial drivers have to have an additional CDL certificate, some states have additional regulations. For example, you may not be allowed to hire a truck driver on a contract basis (only permanently as a full-time employee).

2. Check the insurance policy

   Every medium or big transportation company definitely has a contract with some particular insurance company as it’s one of the significant parts of its deals – insurance coverage normally is already included in a basic quota. Normally, the same company is in charge of the personnel’s insurance. To avoid any misunderstanding, before hiring a new staff, you need to check with its representative if they have any additional requirements in regards to the drivers, like a maximum age or a minimum experience.

3. Advertisement

   It’s important to mention the most essential information to avoid wasting time when talking to the candidates which totally don’t fit the position. Plus, that is how your advertisement will be comparable and therefore competitive among others. Such important information includes the salary rate, qualifications’ requirements, working conditions (like average working hours, trucks’ types and others) etc. You can also ask for additional information from the candidate himself besides the resume. For example, to be sure that this is a reliable person and a good professional, you may require contact details of the former employers. And as soon as you will have any doubts, you can easily approach them. It’s also essential to mention the required experience but, nevertheless, you should not turn away from new drivers. Entry level will allow you to easily adopt the candidate’s knowledge and skills exclusively for your company’s needs and you will not need to retrain him after the previous working place.

4. Posting.

   When you are looking for a truck driver to hire, it’s important to find an appropriate audience for your advertisement. Most effective job boards normally require some fee for the post so you need to carefully check the market and its features. In case of quite a popular and well-known company you can also use your own website to place the job offers there. Social media is one more “complimentary” way to post your advertisement. At least, that is how you can attract a younger generation of truckers who can bring some fresh ideas into your business.

Making a choice

As soon as you receive quite enough applications, it’s time to go through details to make the right choice.

First of all, you will need to check the compliance of the requirements and qualifications of the particular candidate. Sometimes people are just randomly sending their CV to as many employers as possible not actually going through details of the offer. On this stage you may significantly cut the number of the applications.

You can also request the criminal driving record of the candidates you think may fit the position. Of course, everybody deserves the second chance but if you see a lot of violations it’s a bad signal.

An interview normally consists of a few parts, including theoretical and practical check. In comparison with many other spheres and industries, you should not handover the whole hiring process to the HR department as its representatives usually do not have deep knowledge of this type of job. Many managers are sending the professional and experienced truck driver to attend the interviewing process to ask additional questions and therefore to make sure the candidate fits. And, of course, only a professional can check the practical skills of the potential employee, including his ability to make fast decisions and to “feel” the truck.

After you make a choice of the truck driver to hire, he should be checked and controlled during the first working weeks and even months. It’s nothing about a suspicion but more about to make a most supportive atmosphere and to help a new employee to adopt. It’s quite a common practice to choose a co-driver for the first period of time who will be in charge of the new trucker.