From criteria to contract: A comprehensive approach to attracting talent

Introduction

Hiring within the trucking industry is often challenging. Driver shortages, seasonal fluctuations, and high turnover all lead to challenges finding and keeping the right people. By implementing a strong, repeatable approach, companies can attract better qualified candidates and make the experience more enjoyable for everyone involved.

This guide is designed to help trucking company owners, managers, and HR professionals take control of recruitment. It’s about moving from “filling a seat” to building a workforce that’s safe and reliable, and set up for success. Whether you’re hiring drivers, dispatchers, or support staff, the steps we cover will help you make decisions that create a better experience for candidates and your team.

At its core, good recruitment is about preparation, clarity, and consistency. Understanding your business trends and workforce needs will allow you to structure your hiring process so you can proactively improve your hiring outcomes.

Purpose of this guide

In this guide you will find:

• Tips to anticipate turnover, manage seasonality, and identify labour gaps
• Advice on how to make your recruitment process stand out
• Strategies to more effectively define job criteria, assess candidates, and run background checks
• Tactics to navigate legal considerations

Taking a proactive approach to workforce planning

Good recruitment starts before the request for a hire is made. Thoughtful consideration and anticipation of your workforce needs will allow you to proactively address future and ongoing needs. Below are a few key ways to anticipate workforce changes.

TURNOVER TRENDS

Understanding your turnover data will allow you to better anticipate if there are trends to be aware of.

• Which roles experience the most turnover?
• Are you losing people more frequently at different times in the year?
• Are there specific events that lead to turnover (e.g., route changes)?
• Are there patterns to when people leave during their time with the company (after e.g. 18 months)?
• Do exit interviews provide insights into when and why people are leaving?

LABOUR GAPS

As your business grows and changes, the skills and capabilities within your team might also evolve. Stay ahead by knowing your labour gaps.

• Are there positions that are consistently hard to fill or stay vacant longer than others?
• Do you have enough employees with required certifications, licences, or specialized skills?
• Are there technological changes, new equipment, or compliance requirements that demand different skills?
• Are there skills shortages affecting productivity or safety?
• Are there upcoming retirements, promotions, or transfers that will create vacancies?
• Are there specific geographic areas where staffing is more difficult?
• Are there gaps in non-driving roles that indirectly affect driver performance (e.g., maintenance, scheduling)?

SEASONAL FORECASTING

Many businesses have seasonal ups and downs. Understanding these fluctuations in workload can allow you to plan your recruitment and staffing efforts ahead of peak periods.

• Are there predictable times of the year when demand for drivers or support staff increases?
• Have you tracked past seasonal spikes in workload, deliveries, or overtime hours?
• Are there patterns in driver availability or leave requests that coincide with specific months or seasons?
• How do weather conditions or seasonal traffic affect staffing needs?

ANTICIPATED BUSINESS NEEDS

• Are there specific customers or contracts that bring cyclical increases in workload?
• Are there upcoming contracts, expansions, or new routes that will require additional staff?
• Do you have projects in the pipeline that require specialized skills, such as hazmat, oversized loads, or refrigerated transport?
• How might business growth or changes in service offerings affect your staffing mix in the next six to 12 months?

Continuous recruitment efforts

If you’re taking a proactive approach to recruitment, and implementing ways to anticipate workforce gaps, you’ll want to address those gaps through proactive recruitment efforts.

These practices can help:

• Formulate your unique Employee Value Proposition. Why is your company a great workplace? What benefits do you offer, and who do those benefits appeal to?
• Create a recruitment calendar so you can visualize when activity levels are highest. Plan your own team’s time and efforts around those demands.
• Establish a Careers page on your website and provide a way for candidates to proactively apply to your key roles through an open application.
• Implement an optional applicant tracking system (ATS) to better manage your talent pipeline. An ATS is software used to manage and organize the recruitment process starting with posting the job ad, collecting applications, screening candidates, tracking their progress through each stage of the hiring process, and maintaining records for compliance and reporting. Common examples of this software include Bamboo HR, Zoho Recruit, and Jazz HR.
• If an ATS isn’t practical for your operation, you can manage recruitment using tools such as a shared email inbox, spreadsheets, or fillable application forms to track applicants, interview notes, and hiring decisions. Consistency and documentation are more important than the software used.
• Proactively promote your company by attending job fairs, community events, or industry networking opportunities.
• Formalize a stay-in-touch program for ideal candidates that you want to hire at a future time — this could be a monthly newsletter or even just a diarized schedule for outreach.
• Establish relationships with local driving schools and/or colleges. Conduct information sessions with their students about what it’s like to work at your company, or create a scholarship fund to generate interest in your organization.
• Be active on social media. Highlight what it’s like to work at your company. Engage with your audience and invite potential candidates to follow your pages.
• Train key members of the team on what to look for in a skilled candidate, and encourage them to keep their eyes open for strong talent.
• Provide drivers with a recruitment tool kit (with information about the company) that they can give to others they know and meet along their routes. Take this one step further and create an Ambassadors’ Club, where drivers who successfully attract the most qualified and hired candidates receive recognition and/or a bonus.
• Utilize past employees, especially those who left on positive terms, as a referral source. Find opportunities to stay in touch so that they feel proud to connect you to candidates.
• Consider providing feedback to candidates who apply to jobs or go through the interview process. Though they might not be successful today, they may be someone you want to hire tomorrow.
• Track and measure the most successful candidate sources.

The candidate experience

Recruitment is a two-way street. Just like you’re evaluating whether a candidate is right for your company, they’re evaluating you. The candidate experience frames the applicant’s first impressions of your company. A positive experience can help build excitement in the role, while a poor one can damage your reputation and have good candidates walking away.

Some of the critical factors that shape the candidate experience include the following:

• Application process: Is your process mobile-friendly and inclusive, especially for drivers who may not always be at a computer?
• Communication and transparency: Do candidates know their application has been received, what the timeline looks like, and whether they’ve been selected to move forward?
• Company information: Can applicants clearly see who you are, what you stand for, and what makes your company a good place to work?
• Clear job expectations: Does the job description outline duties, requirements, and expectations in a way that helps candidates self-assess their fit?
• Timeliness: Are applications and inquiries acknowledged and responded to within a reasonable time frame?

• Interview experience: Are interviews respectful, well organized, and consistent? Do candidates leave feeling heard and valued?
• Candidate follow-up: Even if someone isn’t selected, do they walk away with a positive impression of your company because they were treated respectfully?

Recruitment process

Defining the job criteria

Every successful hire starts with a clear understanding of the role. Accurately defining the job criteria provides the foundation for the entire recruitment process — from crafting accurate job postings to assessing candidates fairly and consistently. For employers, this ensures you’re targeting the right skills, experience, and certifications. For candidates, this offers clarity on job expectations to help them determine if the role aligns with their experience and career goals.

Identify what the current incumbent brings that you can’t live without. Also consider the bigger picture — is there a key requirement missing within the team or organization? Is there a skill you already have a lot of capability within? Understanding these factors will better allow you to prioritize candidates throughout the process.

These are key considerations when defining the job criteria:

• Job-specific licences or certifications
• Education
• Past experience
• Required skills and competencies
• Hours of work
• Physical demands
• Travel requirements
• Safety and compliance requirements
• Technology requirements
• Language requirements
• Key role requirements

Candidate attraction

The company’s goal in the attraction process is to acquire a large pool of qualified candidates so they can seamlessly fill vacancies. Strong candidate attraction practices allow for success with current and future workforce demand. From a candidate’s perspective, this is an opportunity to understand a role, a company, and the impact of both on their professional and personal desires. Companies that want to attract the best talent must focus on how they can stand out in the market.

INCREASING YOUR CANDIDATE POOL

Focus on quantity and quality of applicants when you are actively recruiting for a specific role. While it’s great to have a lot of people apply, what matters most is that the right people apply.

Here are some ways you can better target your efforts so that you increase your candidate pool with quality candidates:

• Maximize your SEO: Make sure job seekers can find your posting easily. Include the job location, use standard job titles that are widely recognized (not internal ones), and highlight key tasks and certifications.
• Leverage Google or social media ads: Set up targeted ads using key words relevant to the role. This ensures your posting shows up at the top when job seekers search online, increasing visibility.
• Stick to good old-fashioned advertising: Don’t overlook traditional methods. Some effective spots include online job boards, Kijiji, radio, local sports arenas and community centres, Facebook and Instagram, podcasts, TV, and even supermarket bulletin boards.
• Expand your recruitment channels: Post on trucking-specific job boards, forums, and driver communities. Attend local job fairs, industry events, and career days at schools or training programs.
• Tap into employee referrals: Your current staff are often your best recruiters. Offer referral bonuses or recognition to encourage them to share opportunities within their networks.
• Re-engage past applicants: Keep a database of candidates who applied before but weren’t selected. Reach out when new roles open; they may be a better fit now.

EFFECTIVE JOB POSTINGS

Candidates are selective in their job search. They want to know that the position and the company meet their personal and professional needs. By creating job postings that speak to the benefits of your organization and the position, you will attract candidates who feel more connected to, and excited by, the opportunity.

Following are some examples of what a job posting should include:

• The organization’s values
• Company benefits, perks, and features that make your business unique
• Hours of work and scheduling
• Job responsibilities and tasks
• Expectations of education and experience
• Training and development opportunities
• What to expect in the role

Candidate assessment

After you’ve established a strong applicant pool, it’s time to identify who fits best with the needs of the role and your company. Taking the time to thoughtfully consider what’s most important for success in the role helps ensure you hire not only for technical ability, but also for long-term success. For candidates, this stage is equally important as it’s their chance to showcase their skills, experience, and fit.

Prescreening

Prescreening involves an initial assessment of whether the core criteria of the job are met. This is a critical stage within the recruitment process and your opportunity to filter out unqualified candidates early. There are several ways to effectively prescreen candidates; you may choose to use some or all of them.

• Application/résumé filtering: Often built within an ATS, this process allows you to filter résumés based on key words or specific criteria. If you do not have an ATS, this can be done through a manual résumé screening process or by using other AI tools to help.
• Online questionnaires/screening surveys: These provide an opportunity to have applicants answer key questions regarding their skills, qualifications, and interests. They act as a quick screening tool and provide additional insight into the candidate’s interest in the role.
• Phone screening: Typically the first contact you will have with an applicant, the phone screen allows for a quick review of the “knock-out” criteria for a role. For example, licence and certification requirements, hours of work, availability, and compensation expectations. In addition, consider key criteria such as lifting requirements and route assignments (e.g., U.S. travel).
• Video screening: This is an opportunity to assess the candidate’s skills and experience in more detail, through either a prerecorded video or a prearranged video call.
• Automated skills/knowledge tests: Especially beneficial for positions where job-specific knowledge can be tested, these tests allow you to focus efforts within the recruitment process on the applicants with the best experience and abilities. Examples might include a safety test, maintenance knowledge, typing skills, etc.

Structured Interviews

Structured interviews are one of the most reliable ways to evaluate candidates fairly and consistently. Unlike informal conversations, a structured approach ensures every applicant is asked the same core questions, making it easier to compare responses and reduce bias. In the trucking industry, this is especially important when hiring for safety-sensitive roles where judgment, compliance, and professionalism are non-negotiable.

A well-structured interview starts with quality interview questions. Formulating questions using all of the following techniques will lead to better responses and a more thorough understanding of the candidate’s capabilities.

• Behavioural: Geared to gain an understanding of the candidate’s actual performance. For example, “Tell me about a time when…”
• Situational: Geared to understand a candidate’s ability to apply their knowledge in real time. For example, “Share how you would respond to XYZ…”
• Technical: Used to understand a candidate’s knowledge of specific processes or techniques. For example, “How would you solve/fix/implement X…”

PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTS

Pre-employment testing is an opportunity to further validate the candidate’s skills, capabilities, and fit. There are several pre-employment assessments that can be implemented. Assessments should be selected and implemented based on the role you’re hiring for.

Once an assessment is implemented within the process, it’s important that it is applied fairly. For example, it is not recommended to assess only one of two final candidates. However, it is acceptable to say that only the final two candidates will receive the assessment. In addition, ensure implemented assessments have strong validation and credibility, and have been assessed for inclusivity.

Examples of pre-employment assessments:

• Skills tests
• Aptitude tests
• Psychometric assessments
• Personality tests
• Emotional intelligence assessments
• Cultural fit assessments
• Physical abilities tests

Standardized evaluation criteria

An effective way to ensure consistency in how candidates are evaluated, and to help minimize bias, is to use standardized evaluation criteria. This is typically done with the introduction of a hiring rubric. Here is THRC’s Sample Rubric[E2] . It is typically created alongside the interview guides, and it includes a summary of the selection criteria, weighted by importance.

A hiring rubric doesn’t need to be complex. A simple rating scale (e.g., meets/partially meets/does not meet requirements) can help you document decisions and explain them if questions arise later.

Below are some items to include in the hiring rubric:

• Minimum qualifications, including licences and certifications
• Assessment of skills, attitudes, and experience
• Alignment of personal motivations and values

References and background checks

Hiring decisions carry risk, and references and background checks can help to minimize that risk. They provide confirmation of the skills, experience, and character a candidate has presented throughout the process. While sometimes viewed as a final box to tick, this stage ultimately protects your company from unknown information.

TYPES OF BACKGROUND CHECKS

Background checks will help confirm critical aspects of a candidate’s background so you can make evidence-based, confident hiring decisions that protect your business. It is important that these background checks are not consistently applied across positions, but rather that discernment is applied to select the appropriate checks to be conducted for each role. Some of the background checks to consider within the trucking industry include the following:

• Driver’s abstract: A record of the individual’s driving history is important to ensure drivers meet insurance and safety requirements.
• Criminal record check: Identifying any past criminal convictions is especially relevant for cross-border drivers (due to U.S. entry restrictions) and roles involving high-value cargo.
• Employment verification: This confirms past employment dates and titles, helping to identify any inconsistencies in work history.
• Education and certification verification: It’s important to verify any job-specific training requirements.
• Credit check: This is less common for drivers, but it could be important for positions with a high degree of financial responsibility.
• Drug and alcohol testing: This testing is sometimes applied for safety-sensitive roles, such as drivers. Caution: This practice may not comply with human rights and privacy legislation in all provinces.
• Cross-border clearance: This may be required and/or beneficial to confirm participation in cross-border programs like FAST (Free and Secure Trade) for drivers.

REFERENCE CHECK BEST PRACTICES

Reference checks, when done well, can provide valuable insight into the candidate that you’re looking to hire. Here are some tips on how to conduct reference checks in a meaningful way:

• Set clear parameters: Ask candidates for references who are most relevant, such as past managers from specific companies or roles within the last two years.
• Prepare questions in advance: At a minimum, confirm job titles, responsibilities, and rehire eligibility.
• Go beyond the basics: Probe into performance areas like attendance, attitude, and safety practices, which are critical for success.
• Ask open-ended questions: Frame questions to encourage detail. For example, “Can you describe how [candidate’s name] adhered to safety protocols?”
• Keep good records: Document whom you spoke with, when, and what was shared for consistency and compliance.

The offer

The offer is the point in the process where the candidate decides whether or not to officially join your team. Beyond salary, candidates consider the total package: benefits, schedule, and growth opportunities, as well as how the role fits their lifestyle. If you have done your job well to this point, the offer should be an opportunity to confirm these details, not to share them for the first time. It is also an important moment to establish the employment terms through a well-crafted employment agreement.

Here are some key considerations for what to do and not to do during the offer stage:

Do

Don’t

Act quickly: Once you’ve chosen a candidate, extend the offer promptly to avoid losing them to competitors. Put it in writing: Clearly outline key employment criteria. Have a lawyer draft a legally compliant employment agreement for you so that you minimize future risks. Be transparent: Include details on overtime, shift schedules, travel expectations, and other realities of the job. Highlight total compensation: Emphasize not only pay but also benefits and perks (both cash and non-cash). Allow room for discussion: Be open to reasonable negotiation, especially around start dates or scheduling. Know in advance what’s negotiable and what’s not. Set the tone for onboarding: Use the offer to show excitement about the individual joining and outline next steps (e.g., orientation, training). Include a decision date: Give the candidate, at minimum, five days to decide on the offer, but restrict the decision-making period to no more than 10 days.

Immediately reject backup candidates: Keep secondary candidates warm through the offer and negotiation stage, unless you know for sure they aren’t a good fit. Rely only on verbal offers: A verbal offer is a binding offer. Communicate that an offer is coming, but don’t verbally contract yourself into any details. Forget the candidate’s perspective: Treat the offer as a two-way decision; remember, they’re also evaluating you. It is unreasonable to assume that the candidate can’t, or won’t, make any counteroffer demands. Ignore professionalism: Don’t make the offer feel rushed, generic, or impersonal. A thoughtful, well-prepared offer builds commitment. Ghost unsuccessful candidates: This is key for your business reputation, but it is also becoming law in many provinces. Make sure to inform unsuccessful candidates of their status.

Recruitment success measures

Measuring how well your recruitment process is working is just as important as carrying it out. Without clear success measures, it’s difficult to know what’s effective and what needs improvement, and whether you’re getting the return on investment (ROI) from your efforts. Tracking recruitment Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) helps you spot bottlenecks, strengthen the candidate experience, and ensure your hiring practices support long-term retention.

In the trucking industry, where turnover can be high and competition for talent is strong, having data-driven insights allows you to stay proactive instead of reactive. By keeping an eye on the right numbers, you’ll be better equipped to fill roles quickly, improve the quality of hires, and build a workforce that sticks.

KEY SUCCESS MEASURES/KPIs

The following are key measures that trucking companies can consider using to see what’s working, where candidates may be dropping off, and how to get better results over time:

Reach and candidate pool

• Applicants per job posting: Shows how many people are applying for each role in order to demonstrate the breadth and reach of your advertising efforts.
• Qualified candidates per job posting: Highlights how many of the applicants that apply are truly qualified, so you know if your outreach efforts are attracting the right people or just more people.
• Candidate source: Indicates where candidates are finding your jobs (job boards, referrals, social media, schools, ads, etc.) and helps identify the best-performing channels.
• Application completion rate: Demonstrates how many candidates finish the application process. A low rate may mean the process is too long or confusing. Knowing where candidates drop off allows you to improve the experience and capture more applicants.

Efficiency and process speed

• Time to hire: Captures the total time it takes from requisition approval to an accepted offer so you can determine if, and where, bottlenecks in the process exist.
• Interview-to-offer ratio: Indicates the number of candidates you interview before making one hire. If the ratio is too high, your screening process may need refining, or you need to enhance the candidate quality.
• Offer acceptance rate: Demonstrates the percentage of candidates that accept offers.

Quality and retention

• Quality of hire: Measures how candidates are performing based on key criteria such as productivity, attendance, safety adherence, and cultural fit so that you can understand if the recruitment process is bringing in the right people.
• New hire retention rate: Especially important in trucking, where early turnover is common, this helps indicate whether new hires stay past the probationary period and whether onboarding is effective. It can be done at 90 days and at one year.

Cost and investment

• Cost per hire: Measures the total cost of bringing in a new employee (ads, recruiter fees, testing, background checks, etc.) divided by the number of hires so you can monitor ROI and optimize budgets.