Hire Truckers Podcast

00:00 - 00:17
Aaron Craddock: Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast where we interview experts in driver recruiting. We provide industry insights, marketing trends, and motivation to help you level up your recruiting game. Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Craddock. And today, we're diving into a fun subject.

00:17 - 00:43
Aaron Craddock: So it's it's on AI. And so it's how AI is reshaping the driver recruiting and where smart fleets are investing now. So that's what we're diving in today to so we'll cover just different things we're leveraging as a team at TruckingClicks and Hire Truckers, things I'm hearing just from recruiting directors around the country, different fleet executives I'm talking to, different technology companies in the space. Yeah. Just sharing some of I'm learning.

00:43 - 01:07
Aaron Craddock: What tools are working? Is AI really important? Things like that. So, AI is changing everything, including how we recruit drivers, and it's happening faster than most fleets are ready for. This might be the biggest shift we've seen in driver recruitment in over a decade, and I I really do believe that, of all the things that that we've seen just last few years, like, this is bigger.

01:07 - 01:38
Aaron Craddock: It just changes every facet of businesses and specifically truck driver recruitment. So today, I'm gonna walk through how AI is already reshaping the recruiting landscape. If you haven't noticed yet, it already is. And and then where it's headed next and how we're thinking about it at Trucking Clicks and Hire Truckers than just inside our team and just how you don't get left behind. That's, I guess, what we wanna make sure you guys as recruiting directors around the country just don't get left behind.

01:38 - 01:59
Aaron Craddock: And so the big picture. So why this matters right now? Just recruiting is especially vulnerable to disruption. So let me say that again. So truck driver recruitment is especially vulnerable to disruption, and that's because it's high volume, number one, data driven, number two, and time sensitive, number three.

01:59 - 02:19
Aaron Craddock: So because you have all three of those elements, like AI is gonna change change the game with driver recruiting. So fleets that adapt it now, like, more quickly, I think it's a speed to adoption race right now. Literally, every day counts. They're gonna cut cost per hire. They're gonna improve speed to hire, and they're gonna build brand trust faster.

02:19 - 02:57
Aaron Craddock: And so I wanna go into next, like, three ways that AI are is already changing driver recruiting. So number one is smarter targeting. And so we've seen for several years now, like, Google's had AI built into search and display marketing and different bidding algorithms and things like that. But it's just getting better just with direct AI products like Med Advantage Plus, and then tools like copy..ai help with copy testing and and audience testing. And so at the end of the day, better targeting equals better lead quality.

02:57 - 03:42
Aaron Craddock: And I I think I think targeting is a piece of it, but I'm actually gonna touch on something later that's even more powerful. So second, just faster lead response. And so I think everybody thinks about AI already in this context, but it's things like structurally chat GPT driven bots and tools like Drift or just helping recruiters follow-up in seconds, not hours. And so how do we leverage the myriad of different tools and follow-up more quickly in a more personalized way. And so right now, we just see, you know, twenty four seven qualification and leads being routed and followed up with in a very specific individualized approach, and that's just reducing lead waste.

03:42 - 04:45
Aaron Craddock: And so so at the end of the day, like, if we if leads can, you know, follow-up with drivers that are actually wanting to work there and consistently get back to them in a meaningful way, leveraging this technology, that's gonna reduce waste and then and just provide efficiencies. And it's still for many fleets, still a tough market in terms of profitability from different, fleet owners I'm talking to, and I'm specifically talking mainly with just larger fleets around the country. And so every dollar that we can have in terms of efficiency, leveraging technology, and and then also just focusing on the individual driver and giving them an incredible experience, it's just a win win win for everybody. And so and then lastly, one of the one of the ones I'm most excited about that AI just it's already changing things is on the content and branding, at scale. And so this is you can take one piece of long form content that's specific to your company, and then you can use tools like Descript to create shorts for it, as far as for organic marketing.

04:45 - 05:29
Aaron Craddock: Same thing for ads. And we're just able to create higher quality, higher volume of very specific content, then also, you know, taking video and having it the, like, generate articles from the video, like, reverse too. And that's one thing that just personal story that we're doing already in terms of, like, written content is we are taking just our podcasts and and using different AI tools to generate specific articles from the podcast. And so it's not your generic AI content. I can and you can go to the Hire Truckers blog to see some of these, some of these articles that are just AI inspired and AI assisted.

05:29 - 05:53
Aaron Craddock: They're not completely AI generated. But, yeah, we're just how do you use AI as a tool to move faster and to create a higher quality content? Like and that that's just on the organic side, and we offer that, some different variations of that for our fleets as well. And then, also just video. And so I don't know if you guys have played around with VEO three or or I think it's runway gen three now.

05:53 - 06:15
Aaron Craddock: You know, just using text to video generation. We've all seen those those selfie videos on on X or your favorite platform. And, yeah, it's just cool what you can generate now. Yesterday, I saw this Nike commercial that a guy came up with and generated completely. That one was using mainly mid journey and then and then a little bit of, runway gen three.

06:15 - 06:30
Aaron Craddock: And, yeah. So just creating things. Like, right now, I can turn this into a baby talking to you guys, and then that's just insane. So there's the little, you know, viral things. But, again, those can have add value if deployed properly.

06:30 - 07:02
Aaron Craddock: And then, yeah, there's just the fact that previously, a lot of those things would have cost, you know, tens of thousands of dollars to produce the volume that people are churning out, if not more, and people are producing a higher quality more quickly, and it's only gonna get better. And so if you haven't played with these tools yet, you need to be playing with them or rely on a partner like us to to share different ideas and different things that are working. Now let's take a minute to thank today's sponsor. Do you hire truck drivers in hard to fill areas, or do you need help creating efficiency in your recruiting department? You're not alone.

07:03 - 07:28
Aaron Craddock: With fifty plus years experience, TruckingClicks specializes in data driven strategies, industry leading customer experience, and custom solutions that'll get you to your goal. TruckingClicks is your go to place for high quality direct leads at scale. Visit truckingclicks.com or call (512) 982-0816 today. Next, what's becoming outdated? And so, like, manual lead review.

07:28 - 07:56
Aaron Craddock: And so just, you know, getting in there and selecting, classifying things manually, like, just how how can we continue to leverage AI better to improve that. Next is job board dependency, with no funnel strategy. So just throwing your money at a job board, but not not really being able to nurture the leads yourself. And now the next thing is, like, waiting hours and days to contact your driver. Like, that is no more.

07:56 - 08:45
Aaron Craddock: Like, why should we wait to follow-up when we can have AI doing it while we sleep in a personalized way? And then old dated, say, CRMs that don't connect and automate. Like, everything's gonna have to be connected and automated, and there may be a lot of disruption in the software side of the space and and different CRMs and ATSs that people are are leveraging just who can implement AI, connect things in a smart way, and then how do we bolt on different things and different set of systems and different tools in a way that really helps recruiting departments. So the industry is moving towards an always on AI assisted recruiting from first touch to hire, and it's creating a new level of efficiency and personalization that's never been here before. And so, again, like, that's where we're going.

08:46 - 09:02
Aaron Craddock: And if you're not testing these things, implementing, like, you're gonna be left behind. Next, where we're investing. So a lot of people have asked like, hey, Aaron. Where are you investing as a team? Like, what tools?

09:02 - 09:28
Aaron Craddock: What technology? What are you putting your focus on? And so first is just our AI tool stack. And so how do we integrate different CRMs with Tenth Street and and improve just lead automation and different applicant tracking system utilization just on like, from campaign to a full application. So really continuing to invest there and help help the fleets we partner with.

09:28 - 09:59
Aaron Craddock: AI chat, you know, it's something that's been around for a while. Just AI chatbots on landing pages and integrated with different job sites like our truckers.com. And, yeah, we're just continuing to play with this and, like, see it get better. Just how can AI help the full application process. Like, if someone as someone has questions about starting with do you hire in my ZIP code that we see where people just drivers just paste their ZIP code, all the way to more complex questions about the job.

09:59 - 10:27
Aaron Craddock: So how do we and it's cool that because we own, like, a lot of the job data is, you know, posted on sites that we own. Like, we're able to to use that to generate good responses, like, from the AI. Like, it because it's all about what you enter in inject to that chatbot with and how you train it on specific fleet data. And, and so, yeah, AI chat, we're investing in that. Continue it.

10:27 - 10:45
Aaron Craddock: You know? Some people want us testing different dialects. Some people want us testing, really, we're just we're just being as we have been since the beginning of of starting Trucking Glicks and then launching hiretruckers.com. Like, we're just led by what people people are like, whether they're a client or not. They're like, hey.

10:45 - 11:00
Aaron Craddock: We have this problem. We have this pain point. Can you we're becoming known as a team that can take those problems or ideas and make them a reality. And so that's that's really what we wanna do. I want you to come as a recruiting director, as a president of a company, and be like, hey.

11:00 - 11:17
Aaron Craddock: Here's the specific challenge I'm having. How can we deploy AI or improve our overall marketing strategy and paid ads to reach that goal? And that goal may be fewer leads. That goal may be more hires. That goal may be better brand reputation.

11:17 - 11:35
Aaron Craddock: Hey. Like, these AI tools can help with all that. And it's just how do you have them assist you, not replace you? And, and then, yeah, leveraging other tools like Zapier and mig.com to connect lead flows in real time. We're investing just in content systems.

11:35 - 12:15
Aaron Craddock: So how do we take, like I said earlier, long form video content and make that into short form, like, viral clips, or how do we make that into written posts for ads? Like, how do we take that messaging that's resonating? Like, how do we take driver reviews from a deep research case study and then implement those into a content strategy based on targeting different driver personas. And so I think it's gonna be less audience centric, and then I think that's gonna matter less as these AI algorithms improve on where they put your ad. I think it's gonna be more message driven.

12:15 - 12:41
Aaron Craddock: So how is your message resonating with the right driver? And so we're we're implementing just ad testing and content and word messaging strategies more than we ever have. And that's just because we have the tools to do it now, and it there's a proliferation of just more content. And so what's gonna matter is better content. And so that's where that's where we're investing and embedding.

12:41 - 13:07
Aaron Craddock: And then next is just we're investing as a in a team as a team in leadership development. And so we do a book club. I've mentioned it a few times, on LinkedIn if you follow me there. The the latest book that we did as a team is high road leadership. And so I'd I had had the pleasure of spending some time with John Maxwell last year, and he specifically challenged all the leaders in the room to have their teams read high road leadership.

13:07 - 13:39
Aaron Craddock: And just in in such a divisive age, it's just cool if we apply those principles, how we can have differing opinions and and lead in the midst of that and just be curious about other perspectives when they like, we don't have to all be divided. So I really enjoyed that. And how how does the book club play into how we're investing as a team? Well, right now, like, three out of the last five books that our team voted on as the next book club were all AI AI driven. And so I'm gonna look it up real quick.

13:39 - 14:10
Aaron Craddock: But, yeah, the current book we're doing is super agency, and that's by Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato. So I listened to it in the first week, when we said we were gonna discuss it, and then now I'm going back chapter by chapter. And then we meet weekly as a team and just switch every week who's leading the chapter. And so we'll have someone just facilitate a thirty minute conversation. And, like, I had the pleasure of leading this last week and facilitating that conversation with the team and, you know, ask questions about where do you see the industry going.

14:10 - 14:33
Aaron Craddock: And, honestly, that's that's what made me wanna do this this show today, as as you guys have asked for some some more solo episodes. So this is where I see it going. And so I think everybody has an emphasis on AI. Right? So if you do what all your peers are doing, then that's just status quo.

14:33 - 14:46
Aaron Craddock: Right? You're just average. And so we're thinking critically as a team, like, how do we do more faster? And with AI, not just talk about it, implement it, test things, fail, fail fast. And, yeah, there's just a new tool to test every day.

14:46 - 15:13
Aaron Craddock: It's a little bit overwhelming. So now we're having to have AI summarize the AI videos to then give us different recommendations on what we should test. And so, yeah, so if you're not not reading about AI and the newest AI books, I would encourage you to do that. It's it it just reshapes how we think about work, teams, innovation, and trucking. And this this is an industry like truck driver recruitment marketing.

15:13 - 15:24
Aaron Craddock: AI is gonna hit hard and fast. Like, everything that we know today, gone. Different. Everything's gotta change. Otherwise, we're not doing our jobs.

15:24 - 15:50
Aaron Craddock: And so how do we become the most valuable company in this space relative to AI, and that's where I think we we just come alongside fleets. Like, we're becoming more and more known for just, hey. Here's my problem, and then we're like, okay. Well, here's how you improve improve that, leveraging these different tools. And and then we also just enjoy hearing your ideas.

15:50 - 16:39
Aaron Craddock: Like, a lot of the ideas we've gotten have come from our fleet partner partners or talking to different fleet executives, directors recruiting in the space. One thing that we did, I had heard deployed in a different industry was these, like, $25,000 deep research marketing case studies. So previously, this would've talked then $25,000 to outsource, but insights around driver segments, personas, what's the competitor's digital footprint, like, what creatives are converting, what driver personas should you go after based on your competition and where you're hiring. And then anyway, so I was able to or as a team, we were able to come up with a really good prompt for these deep research marketing case studies. And so we can do this for any fleet.

16:39 - 17:05
Aaron Craddock: So if you if you want one of these, just reach out to me because we've done we've done the hard work. And so, yeah, what it spits out is a 60 page or so deep dive marketing case study telling, like, here are the driver segments you should go on. Here here are what your competitors are doing. Here is a five week content plan for you to go after this specific segment. Here's how you can update your paid ads.

17:05 - 17:28
Aaron Craddock: Here's where I would the different buckets I would loop your marketing dollars into. I would spend x amount of dollars on Facebook because this audience is here. I'd spend x amount of dollars here. Just just different directional recommendations. And not only did I get that back faster, like, completed that in a day from inception, and now we can do it in matter of minutes, because we have those prompts.

17:28 - 17:47
Aaron Craddock: The quality of it is just insane. I think it it looked at 90 different sources and pulled just driver reviews specifically. I was just amazed at how it pulled driver reviews from everywhere and just said, hey. Here are the pain points. Here's how you overcome those.

17:47 - 18:05
Aaron Craddock: Here's the message you wanna lead with. Here's where you're winning relative to your peers in this specific driver type. This stuff is just powerful. And, again, if I can help you guys with any of that, just shoot shoot me a DM, and I'm happy to do that do that for free whether or not you're a client. And, yeah, this is just a shift.

18:05 - 18:30
Aaron Craddock: It's not about saving time as much as just unlocking a new way of thinking. Like, we have to rethink the way we show up to our jobs on a daily basis. Otherwise, you we'll just get left behind. I I like seasons of disruption just as a builder, and so I'm excited about this. And so what can you do as a head of a driver recruiting company?

18:30 - 18:57
Aaron Craddock: I mean, mean, as a head of a fleet and as a director of recruiting, as a recruiter, anyone that's listening to this, and I know that that's kind of primarily our audiences, play around with the different tools. Like, play around with ChatGPT, train it on everything that you know. Like, play around with Gemini and Grok and all the different AI and language models to just stay on the cutting edge. Just experiment with AI. And I would say daily.

18:57 - 19:11
Aaron Craddock: Like, just make it a daily habit. Like, it's a daily habit for me. It's probably 20 different queries, on a given day and projects I'm working on. And so next is just upgrade your system. Not everything has to be new, but it all has to be connected.

19:11 - 19:35
Aaron Craddock: So how do you, in a really smart way, connect the data and the systems? And then next is build your content muscle. And so we need to use short form content to tell stories and and just start start small with that and stay consistent. So those are three things. Experiment with AI daily, upgrade your systems and connection of data, and then build your content muscle.

19:36 - 20:14
Aaron Craddock: And then some final thoughts is we're just now scratching the surface of what's possible. And so AI won't replace all recruiters, but recruiters and fleets that learn to use it will outperform those who don't. If this sparks some ideas, share this episode with, other VPs or recruiting or fleet owners that you know. Shoot me a message if you wanna talk about modernizing your recruitment strategy, or just tell me what tools tools you're using. Just our team loves hearing what other people are using and testing, and so please shoot that my way.

20:14 - 20:30
Aaron Craddock: And so, yeah, as an industry, let's not let's not be stale. Let's keep innovating. Let's lead the change, and let's keep building systems that scale. Anyway, that's, Aaron Craddock with the Hire Truckers podcast. I really appreciate you joining me today.

20:30 - 20:46
Aaron Craddock: If you enjoyed these solo episodes, just let me know. Thanks. Thank you for joining us today. Our goal with the Hire Truckers podcast is to provide industry insights, marketing trends, and motivation to level up your recruiting game. If we added value, take a few seconds to share this with your network.

20:46 - 20:47
Aaron Craddock: Have a great week.