7 Reasons Your Recruitment Calls Are Failing
(And How Smart Companies Fixed It)

Let me ask you something: if your trucks only reached their destination 45% of the time, would you call that acceptable? Of course not. Yet most trucking companies accept that their recruitment efforts only achieve 40-50% contact rates, meaning more than half of their outreach efforts produce absolutely nothing.

Think about that for a moment. Your recruiters are spending 60% of their time on activities that generate zero results. That's not recruitment – that's expensive busywork disguised as productivity. And while you're celebrating a 45% contact rate, your competitors who've figured out automation are achieving much higher success rates with less effort.

The brutal truth is that manual recruitment processes aren't just inefficient – they're designed to fail in today's market. Drivers have changed how they communicate, but most companies are still using recruitment strategies from 2010. It's like trying to navigate with a paper map while everyone else is using GPS.

The Real Cost of 50% Failure

When we say manual recruitment achieves 40-50% contact rates, what does that actually mean for your operation? Let's break down the math, because understanding the true cost of this inefficiency is the first step to fixing it.

If your recruiter makes 100 calls per day and achieves a 45% contact rate, that means 55 calls produced nothing. Zero. Complete waste of time and money. If that recruiter is paid $20 per hour and spends 8 hours making calls, you just paid $88 for 55 failed attempts. That's $1.60 per failed call, every single day.

But the real cost goes deeper than wasted salary. Those 55 failed calls represent 55 potential drivers who might have been interested but never got the chance to hear your opportunity. Some of them probably answered calls from your competitors instead. Some of them took jobs with companies that reached them at the right time, in the right way.

The opportunity cost of 50% failure rates compounds over time. Every day you don't reach a qualified driver is another day they might accept an offer elsewhere. Every week your trucks sit empty because your recruitment process is fundamentally broken is revenue that's gone forever.

Why Manual Processes Fail

The problem isn't that your recruiters aren't working hard enough. The problem is that manual recruitment processes are fighting against basic human behavior and modern communication patterns. Here's why they're doomed to fail:

Timing Mismatch Your recruiters work 9-to-5. Drivers work all hours, often with unpredictable schedules. When your recruiter calls at 2 PM on a Tuesday, that driver might be navigating through downtown traffic, dealing with a difficult customer, or trying to find parking. They're not going to answer an unknown number during those moments.

Even when drivers have headsets and can technically answer while driving, they're not in the right mindset for a recruitment conversation. They're focused on safety, navigation, and getting their load delivered on time. A recruitment call during driving hours is an interruption, not an opportunity.

Communication Preferences Drivers, especially younger ones, prefer text-based communication for initial contact. They want to see who's calling and why before they commit to a conversation. A random phone call from an unknown number feels like spam, even when it's a legitimate job opportunity.

Manual processes can't adapt to these preferences. Your recruiter can't send a personalized text message to 100 prospects explaining who they are and why they're calling. They can't schedule callbacks for when drivers are actually available to talk. They're stuck with the spray-and-pray approach of dialing numbers and hoping someone answers.

Inconsistent Follow-up Manual processes rely on human memory and organization for follow-up. Recruiters get busy, forget to call back, or lose track of where they left off with each prospect. Meanwhile, automated systems never forget, never get distracted, and never fail to follow up at the right time.

No Personalization at Scale Good recruitment requires personalization, but manual processes can't deliver personalization at scale. Your recruiter can't research every prospect's background, preferences, and situation before making a call. They're forced to use generic scripts that don't resonate with individual drivers.

The Automation Advantage

Here's where smart companies are gaining massive competitive advantages. Instead of accepting 40-50% contact rates as inevitable, they're using automation to eliminate the fundamental problems with manual recruitment.

Automated systems don't just make more outreach faster – they make smarter contact attempts. They can send initial text messages that explain who's calling and why, making drivers more likely to answer when the call comes. They can schedule callbacks for times when drivers are actually available to talk. They can follow up consistently without human error or forgetfulness.

Most importantly, automation eliminates the desperation factor that leads to poor hiring decisions. When your manual process is failing to reach enough candidates, you start lowering standards just to fill seats. When automation helps you reach more qualified candidates, you can afford to be selective and hire drivers who are actually good fits for your operation.

The math is compelling. If automation helps you improve contact rates from 45% to 70%, you're suddenly reaching 56% more potential candidates with the same effort. That's not just an improvement – it's a transformation of your entire recruitment capability.

The Competitive Reality

While some companies are still accepting 40-50% contact rates as "just how recruitment works," others are using technology to gain significant advantages. They're not just reaching more candidates – they're reaching better candidates at times when those candidates are ready to have meaningful conversations.

These companies can afford to be more selective because they're not constantly in crisis mode. They can build relationships with drivers instead of just trying to fill immediate openings. They can provide better candidate experiences because they're not rushing through conversations with the few people who happened to answer their calls.

The gap between companies that solve the contact rate problem and those that don't is widening every month. The question is which side of that gap you want to be on

The Hidden Productivity Drain

Beyond the obvious waste of failed calls, low contact rates create hidden productivity drains throughout your organization. When recruiters spend most of their time on activities that produce no results, they become frustrated and burned out. Good recruiters leave for companies with better systems, and you're left training new people who will face the same broken processes.

Low contact rates also create artificial urgency that leads to poor decision-making. When you finally do reach someone, there's pressure to move fast because you know how hard it was to make that contact. This leads to skipping important vetting steps, overlooking red flags, and hiring drivers who don't work out.

Meanwhile, your competitors with better contact rates can take their time, ask better questions, and make more informed hiring decisions. They're building stronger teams while you're just trying to fill seats.

The Technology Solution

The technology to solve contact rate problems exists today. Automated systems can handle initial outreach, schedule appointments when drivers are available, and ensure consistent follow-up without human error. They can personalize communications at scale and adapt to individual driver preferences.

But the real value isn't just in the technology – it's in the strategic advantage it provides. When you can reach more of your prospects without manual effort, you're not just more efficient. You're more selective, more strategic, and more competitive.

Companies that implement these solutions don't just save time on recruitment – they transform their entire hiring process from a constant crisis into a strategic advantage. They build better teams, provide better service, and grow faster than competitors who are still stuck with manual processes.

We’ve pre-built an automated and effective outreach process in our tool called ALIS - Click here to schedule a time to learn how much time it could save you.