Recruiting in Trucking is Broken. What I have learned from my YouTube Channel.

A little over 4 years ago I had the idea of starting a YouTube channel.?I had come in to trucking after being a club DJ for 27 years.?I thought it would be a good way to revisit my creative side.?Fast forward and what I thought would be fun has changed my life. ?

When The Trucking Couple started, it was a way to share all of the cool things my wife Stephanie and I were experiencing on the road and during our travels.?Years later and it has become “without intending to” a recruiting tool for the expedited trucking industry.

I was recently watching a Gary Vaynerchuk video in which he described how he gives information away for free and how it has been a huge part of his success.?It got me thinking.?This is what I had done with The Trucking Couple.?It wasn’t my intention but, by telling the viewers about this incredible industry I had discovered, I had unwittingly created a very successful recruiting tool.

What was the secret sauce??The only thing I can come up with is that I gave it away for free.?It’s no secret that I am passionate about this industry.?I’ve come to the point where “I’m supposed” to be done with driving.?When I think about it “not driving” I get anxious but, thats another story for another time.

Our channel by YouTube standards is not phenomenally successful.?Since we began it has just over 13,000 subscribers.?My average views are just over 500 per video and I regularly have 50 people tune in for our LIVE streams but, it has helped over 200 people come in to this industry.?So, why is recruiting broken? ?

When I started receiving e mails about “how do I get in to expediting” I would call, email and text them.?I found myself leaving voice mails with no reply and the same with texts.?It started to wear on me.?I thought, what the hell??They asked me for the information and I’m wasting my time chasing them to give them the information they asked for??This is dumb!?I had recently made an appointment with a business contact and he used an automated app called Calendly.com for me to schedule the appointment.?I picked the date and the time and it sent me an email confirmation.?The gears started turning.?If I could use this to schedule my calls, I wouldn’t have to chase anyone down.?I took it a step farther and gave them a number to call at the time of the appointment.?If they called, GREAT!?I would answer their questions and help them either get started in a new career or just find a way to make their existing career (trucking) better.?The system has gone through many changes over the years but, the core concept is still the same.

4 years and almost 500 videos later, I take a lot of phone calls.?Over the years a lot of people have been critical of my methodology.?I don’t follow up.?I don’t call, email or text if they missed an appointment.?I also don’t call them back after the initial call to see if they have made up their mind.?If you’re wondering.?No, I don’t even save their email address’. ?

Recruiting, especially in the transportation industry has not changed with the times.?If you can fog a mirror and happen to fall into a trucking recruiters database, you will wish for the days when calls about your extended warranty were all you had to worry about.?They (recruiters) have software to make sure they stay in touch with you till you work for them, find a job somewhere else, die or change your number.?My wife just made a good point.?Even if you work for someone else, they will try and woo you away.?I want everyone, especially recruiters in the industry to know that I am not picking on you or the way you do your job.?Most of you have someone to answer to.?That person or company is usually the one who sets the guidelines for how you are to recruit.?Not only are you told how to do it but, your success is measured by metrics created by the company you work for or someone they pay to tell them what those standards of success are.

Another point from Stephanie.?In the normal and traditional job hunting scenario.?You apply, hope for an interview, show up at the time of the interview and hopefully make a good enough impression to land the job.

What is the difference between what they “recruiters” and I do??I don’t recruit.?I give away information about this incredible industry for free.?I am honest about the good and the bad.?I will not tell anyone something because its what they want to hear.?

Here is the most important part.?I sincerely believe in my heart that Hyfield Trucking is the best in the industry.?I believe to be part of the #Hyfieldfamily is to be part of something more than just driving for a trucking company.?I think that if you want to be part of what we have here, you should be ok with working to join what we have.?You have to take multiple steps to just talk to me and even more to join our fleet.?I was raised during a time when you wore a tie to an interview.?You were early for the appointment.?If you were lucky enough to get the job and you found yourself with nothing to do, grab a broom and sweep.?Never let a boss think you had nothing to do.

There are a lot of great people out there today with this type of work ethic and even more without it.?People with good work ethic will work for a great opportunity.?They will take the steps necessary to achieve success.?Its not a perfect system.?Some, very few work the steps and into the job and then… don’t work.?I also miss out on some good drivers who don’t want to go the extra mile to get the job.?I guess this is the part that I am most criticized for.?I’m not selling this job.?If someone wants it and I mean really wants it.?They can easily have it just by taking a few extra steps to become part of something sincerely special.?If they don’t want to take the extra steps.?1.?I don’t really know about it because once they don’t call or follow up, I don’t think about them any more and 2.?Did I really miss out on someone if they couldn’t follow simple directions or even worse, didn’t want to?