Building relationships after hiring

August 6, 2021 Brad Perkins

Building relationships after hiring is key to retaining drivers

While truck drivers were recognized and celebrated as essential workers over the past year, the reality is that the driver shortage continues to affect the industry, with employers only able to fill 1 out of every 10 jobs according to Centerline’s annual State of Trucking survey. That means not only the possibility of product shortages if jobs can’t be filled, but also an increased need to keep drivers engaged and motivated to stay with your company.

That’s why hiring drivers is about more than just getting people into trucks. It’s about building relationships and continuing to check in. For a Centerline recruiting manager in the Northeast, that meant helping a driver get back home.

“I had an application from a driver who was working over the road (OTR) and spent most of his time in North Dakota, despite being from New England,” said Jaime Donner, recruiting manager in Connecticut. “He had an apartment in North Dakota because his job dispatched him primarily out of the Midwest. He had a wife and newborn child in Rhode Island who he rarely was able to see. His family was being supported by his in-laws because they could not afford to pay for the apartment in North Dakota and a home in Rhode Island.”

Donner went to work looking for jobs in Rhode Island that fit his skills and connected him with a last-mile delivery client. But it was more than a connection – she also arranged for drug screening in South Dakota, travel home and a road test and interview, plus the opportunity to see his family.

Thanks to Donner’s hard work, the driver is not only thriving in his new role, but the family moved into a new apartment and his wife returned to school.

“This is why I love what I do,” Donne said. “I really feel like we made a positive impact on this entire family.”

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Building relationships after hiring

Want to learn more? See how recruiting and retention efforts contribute to keeping drivers engaged and wanting to stay with your company.

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Building relationships after hiring

Want to learn more? See how recruiting and retention efforts contribute to keeping drivers engaged and wanting to stay with your company.

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