My Grandfather used say, "You can bail or you can plug the hole." Of course what he meant is you can invest a lot of time and energy tackling a crisis after-the-fact (often with little impact), or you can go directly to the source of the problem and fix it. 

  

Job-specific behavioral assessment plugs the capacity hole by consistently identifying outstanding drivers who stay with the company.  By the way, candidates hired with behavioral assessments are also safer, have fewer customer complaints, love what they do for a living, and act as positive representatives of their employer.  

  

Confirming minimum qualifications is currently the most common method for attempting to determine future driver performance and retention. However, if you're like most of us you can think of at least ten recently hired drivers who looked great on paper, interviewed well, but are no longer with the company. Seldom is a driver's departure due to lack of technical skill or experience. It almost always comes down to their behavior on the job.

  

The truth is, if confirming minimum qualifications were the key to selecting and retaining successful drivers, the industry's turnover and driver performance problems would have been solved long ago. After all, most, if not all carriers do a pretty good job in this department.

  

But despite our best efforts we're struggling to re-fill the seats we filled last year, last month, and in some cases, last week.  In other words, most of us are still in "bail mode."

  

An operations manager recently shared with me, "The recruiting function has historically been rewarded for quantity, not quality of driver. It's the main reason we're running to stand still." That's not a knock against recruiters. They're delivering what we've asked of them.  The good news is that proven tools are now available that empower recruiters to focus as much on quality of driver as quantity. 

  

 A recruiting manager for a major carrier recently shared with us that administering the assessment as the first step in the hiring process makes it possible for their recruiters to re-double their efforts confirming applicant eligibility. Now they only invest their time on high-potential candidates. As a result, they aren't losing drivers 3-weeks after hire because of something they missed in the run up to on-boarding.

  

The JOBehaviors Long Haul Truck Driver Assessment identifies candidates on a 1-star through 5-star ranking. The higher the star-rating the more behaviors they share with high performance drivers. For some carriers it's enough to avoid 1-star drivers. Others have stabilized their workforce and are now focusing on 4-star and 5-star drivers. 

  

At an average cost of $10,000 per lost driver it doesn't take long to realize the benefits of improved hiring methods.  Many carriers are now earmarking a portion of their increased profits for attracting new drivers.  

  

Carriers profitable enough to offer 3% to 5% more than their competitors don't suffer from a shortage of  driver candidates. In fact, great drivers seek them out.

Smart companies will continue to cream the best drivers on the market, hiring only those worthy of their increased pay and/or benefits.  

  

A fast-growing number of carriers are discovering the financial benefits of behavioral assessment. In today's competitive environment all paths to profitability lead to the point of hire.

  

When it comes to meeting your capacity goals will you continue to bail...or plug the hole?