Web-based recruiting efforts lead to increased numbers of candidates, but without a means of determining the quality of the applicant there's little difference between a stack of paper resumes piling up on your desk and those filling your inbox.

  

Job-specific online assessment provides an effective way to harness the power of the internet to increase numbers while at the same time identify high quality driver candidates among the multitudes applying.

  

A client recently shared that before implementing our online assessment he routinely received 50 applications from his online job postings for each driver hired. His staff would then spend:

• 5-minutes reviewing each resume (4 hours). 
• Conduct a 30-minute phone interview with the 25 candidates who appeared the strongest (12 1/2 hours).  
• Spent up to an hour with each of the final ten candidates after extensive background checks (10 hours).
• Made final selection.
• Repeat process within 90-days for 75% of new drivers hired.

The total administrative time spent to fill one position (not including background checks): 26 1/2 hours (how many administrative hours does your company spend on each new hire?).

  

Former chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association, Ray Haight, recently shared that the advertising costs alone average $2,400 per driver hired. When coupled with the administrative time, background checks, resulting accidents, lost opportunity, etc. it's easy to see how replacement costs easily exceed $5,000 per driver, with many experts estimating the true costs are closer to $10,000. Multiply by the number of drivers you're replacing each year and the costs are staggering.

  

Even with these costs our client said he would be happy to make the investment if his strategy worked. Unfortunately his turnover remained stubbornly close to 100%.

  

Compare the above scenario with his new approach:  

• Place a link to the driver assessment directly into his web posting (leads can now be tracked to determine the most effective recruiting sites).  
• Candidates complete a 12-minute assessment. 
• Results are instantly received via email.  
• Focus on 3-star, 4-star and 5-star driver candidates (safe, reliable, customer focused). 
• Cut his number of interviews to fill a driver position to three (not a misprint). 

As important, he's reported that the new hires are staying put, are safe, and display great customer service. 

  

Total time invested per hire incorporating online assessment: 

  

He's also reported that rather than constantly running new ads they review the list of candidates who passed the assessment and schedule interviews. 

  

Since the assessment is job-specific, objective, and predictive of future performance, it is highly recommended that it be administered as the first step in the hiring process. Links to the assessment are easily embedded in all web-based recruiting sites and/or social media making it possible to cast as wide a net as possible. 

  

Most carriers don't need to increase the number applicants per hire, they need to uncover the hidden value of the candidates they're currently generating.