Recruiter Responsiveness

Recruiter's job is to get YOU in the truck so they get paid. Remember most don't know or care about the job you are going to do. Unless they have worked for that company before. Either way do your research before filling out an application. Fuel stop interviews are a good source of information, to anyone either driver needing training or experienced drivers...

Just a survey, not a lot of discussion needed. How responsive where the recruiters you interacted with? I have been dealing with 3 from separate companies. 1 had responded via phone and email in less than 3 hours or the following morning. Another has taken a week at a time to respond. Another has yest to respond after 3 weeks and 3 messages left to their voice mail and 2 emails to the company orgbox. I don't want to drop a dime on company names, but after reading a bunch of forums here about recruiters, the one who makes an effort towards me is likely to get my nod. At what point have you "cut bait" and moved on?

There is one thing you don't want to do as you are trying to reach out to recruiters and make a choice on which company to start with. Don't equate your recruiter's performance with the quality of the company for which they work. There are both good and bad recruiters. There are new and experienced recruiters. You have no way of knowing which one you are dealing with. You may get a recruiter who is just being trained. They may not be so great at their job yet. It is a huge mistake to equate your experience with a recruiter to your possible experience at a particular trucking company. Once you are signed up you will never have any more contact with that recruiter.

For those of you struggling with your experience with recruiters, here's a great article for you to consider...

The Biggest Mistake Drivers Make When Speaking To Recruiters

This right here! ^^^^^ +100 to the power of 1,000.

I was going to add that recruiters are employees just like the rest of the world... some are very attentive and good at their jobs... others, not so much. They may hate what they do and are just doing enough to skate by and keep their job until something better comes along. Still others yet, may be average and are just overwhelmed with the demands of their position and particular company.

A quick example for you. There are a couple of companies that are frequently spoken of with high regard in the trucking industry (I won't name names, you know who they are). Imagine that these companies receive a ton of calls and inquiries for jobs because lots of people really want to work for them. It's easy to imagine that as a recruiter for one of these companies, you will be constantly overwhelmed each day with calls, voice messages, emails, applications, etc. all vying for your attention during every minute of the work day. Returning calls and emails falls to the back burner because the live calls are the most urgent and easiest to deal with in the moment.

Anyway, I got a bit sidetracked there... what I'm trying to say is that if we equate the quality of the company with the responsiveness of the recruiter, then we could very well be calling a great company a bad one simply because their recruiters are overwhelmed and trying to keep up with their workload on a daily basis.

Nowhere have I seen an asking of these credentials for an initial inquiry for employment.

You wont! It will just put you in a better position. The recruiters are fielding calls all day, everyday from people just poking around. Some serious people can get overlooked in crowd. Once you have passed the DOT physical and obtained your permit you’re on their radar

I never thought about that. Points well taken.

There is one thing you don't want to do as you are trying to reach out to recruiters and make a choice on which company to start with. Don't equate your recruiter's performance with the quality of the company for which they work. There are both good and bad recruiters. There are new and experienced recruiters. You have no way of knowing which one you are dealing with. You may get a recruiter who is just being trained. They may not be so great at their job yet. It is a huge mistake to equate your experience with a recruiter to your possible experience at a particular trucking company. Once you are signed up you will never have any more contact with that recruiter.

For those of you struggling with your experience with recruiters, here's a great article for you to consider...

The Biggest Mistake Drivers Make When Speaking To Recruiters

Well sir, I do have a instilled distrust of recruiters lol! But they are there for a reason. It's still incumbent on the recruit to do their research. I knew a lot of "hospitality management" folks in the military who where mad when they found out they where headed to the chow hall to be a cook.

I knew a lot of "hospitality management" folks in the military who where mad when they found out they where headed to the chow hall to be a cook.

LOL, I'm curious about what it was they had in mind when they signed up? Did they think they would be learning how to operate a world-class resort while getting first-hand experience running the onsite Ritz Carlton at their local military base? I wonder if those same folks would have had similar mis-conceptions about trucking if they were signing up for a truck driving academy?

There is one thing you don't want to do as you are trying to reach out to recruiters and make a choice on which company to start with. Don't equate your recruiter's performance with the quality of the company for which they work. There are both good and bad recruiters. There are new and experienced recruiters. You have no way of knowing which one you are dealing with. You may get a recruiter who is just being trained. They may not be so great at their job yet. It is a huge mistake to equate your experience with a recruiter to your possible experience at a particular trucking company. Once you are signed up you will never have any more contact with that recruiter.

For those of you struggling with your experience with recruiters, here's a great article for you to consider...

The Biggest Mistake Drivers Make When Speaking To Recruiters

i agree 100%. i was very skeptical on 2 companies at first till i called back and got someone else. Theyre now 2 of my top 3, and 1 of them is the one im actively pursuing.

Just a survey, not a lot of discussion needed. How responsive where the recruiters you interacted with? I have been dealing with 3 from separate companies. 1 had responded via phone and email in less than 3 hours or the following morning. Another has taken a week at a time to respond. Another has yest to respond after 3 weeks and 3 messages left to their voice mail and 2 emails to the company orgbox. I don't want to drop a dime on company names, but after reading a bunch of forums here about recruiters, the one who makes an effort towards me is likely to get my nod. At what point have you "cut bait" and moved on?

Im a little ahead of the curve as i have a CDL already and many dont have that luxury and have to do it with the company they work for. In the past week or so I've talked to recruiters from a bunch of companies, and had no issues getting a call back within the next day. BUT since you dont have a permit or med card yet...i would DEFINITELY get that first as just getting those i was getting many more calls back for CDL schools. That was my big hurdle till i got that. Then doors opened a lot more just for schools. So im sure its even more important for companies. Especially since you MUST have a permit and med card to even drive a semi

In case you want to know the Post-CDL recruitment outlook..... ive applied to a LOT of companies, and The ONLY companies I seemed to have any issue getting answers out of was Sygma... they wanted to send an email rather than talk first, and didn't give any pay/hometime info till I called their recruiters direct line that was on the email. And also Swift... with them it took 3 days of phone tag to get a call back and had to kinda pry about hometime and pay, and exactly what I would be doing on the job. (was a Dollar account that has high turnover so idk if they didnt want to reveal that or what.

When I applied through this site a few years AGO in less than a hour I had some responses, within a few I had multiple. Remember a recruiter may only show interest in you if you fill a need they have, such as living in a certain area, having a certain number of years of experience if they have a training back log, willing to pull certain kinds of freight.

It has been odd to me for sure. Maybe I'm still ingrained with my military mindset. I have the skills, learned them a long time ago. I had to to go back to active duty after hauling aggregate for some 7 yrs. Always maintained my CDL and carried a TS/SCI and have broad experiences and a mental toolkit that has propelled me to mission accomplishment. Before I toot my horn to loudly.... am I rusty? Sure! Has the tech moved on with out me? DEFINITELY! Is there anything that could be tossed at me that I can't overcome? my mindset says no. Even today I was taking stock of my skills and just in driving, I realized I never had to back up to a dock. It's those subtle things that I can't wait to master. One thing is certain, the driver Pulse website makes it damn near impossible to highlight how much I have in my inventory. But I took a spot with Pride and I was curious if others had similar experiences with recruiting. I can't express how much I appreciate your inputs.

LOL, I'm curious about what it was they had in mind when they signed up?

Well military recruiters have a bad rep for a reason too. Probably for the same reasons as any driver recruiter. But someone once told me that if someone is trying to convince you of something, they believe you are dumb enough to believe what is being said. So yeah, I'm a skeptic.