You do not have to be a transportation or logistics expert to understand how important truck drivers are to the U.S. economy, especially with all the supply chain issues we are experiencing. If you observe traffic while driving on the highway, you will see many trucks, from local delivery trucks and vans to 18-wheelers hauling loads cross country.
According to the American Trucking Association, there were 3.36 million truck drivers employed in the U.S. in 2020 and 7.65 million people working in jobs related to commercial transportation. Trucks were responsible for transporting over 70% of all domestic freight by weight, moving 10.23 billion tons of cargo.
Experts at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predict that demand for truck and delivery drivers will grow 12% from 2020 to 2030–faster than average compared to all occupations, and there will be about 190,700 openings for truck and delivery drivers each year. This is a problem because there is a shortage of 60,000 drivers in the United States and 90,000 in Canada, a chronic problem that has been growing since 2005.
The competition to hire the best truck drivers is intense because of this labor shortage, and many companies try to attract experienced drivers by offering signing and performance bonuses and other perks. However, there simply are not enough skilled truck and delivery drivers to fill all the available openings.
One of the best ways to recruit and hire top drivers is to use skills assessment tests. By making skills testing a part of your hiring process, you can accurately measure applicants’ knowledge and skills and instantly identify top candidates. This saves you time that you would ordinarily spend reviewing resumes and helps you quickly find the best available drivers to fill your open positions.
An Easy-to-Use Skills Testing Platform
The eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM enables you to incorporate skills tests into your hiring and employee development processes. You have access to a library that contains hundreds of subject- and job-related skills assessment tests such as Delivery Driver, Warehouse Pick and Pack, Forklift Operator, and Warehouse Supervisor.
It is possible to use the assessments as is or add and delete questions to tailor them to each of your job roles. If you prefer, you can build custom skills tests by selecting questions from multiple assessments and adding your own questions. You can easily search skills tests by subject or job to see all the transportation and logistics assessments and those in other categories.
Once applicants complete and submit their assessments, it is easy to sort the results and see who your top candidates are. You can also create easy-to-read reports that provide quantitative data about applicants’ skills and knowledge. These reports show you which skills a candidate has mastered, areas where they require a little more training, and which skills they lack. This helps you predict their success on the job and their ability to build a career in your company.
How Skills Assessment Testing Works for Truck Drivers
While safe driving skills are an essential part of a truck or delivery driver’s job, there are many other skills that you may want to measure depending on the requirements of your job roles.
Questions from the Delivery Driver skills test help you evaluate the applicant’s ability to read maps and use GPS navigation. If drivers are required to complete a lot of paperwork, you can add questions from the Attention to Detail and Data Checking skills tests. If the driver frequently interacts with customers, you should evaluate soft skills such as communication, collaboration, and problem-solving abilities.
Skills Testing Can Help to Increase Diversity
Another benefit of skills tests is that they help you minimize unconscious bias. Subconscious bias and stereotyping make it challenging to judge candidates solely on merit. It is difficult to recognize and usually is not intentional. However, companies must acknowledge it exists and take measures to eliminate it from their hiring process.
Skills testing helps you minimize subjective bias by comparing applicants using quantitative data. This enables you to ensure you are hiring the best candidates while increasing the diversity of your workforce. As a case in point, only 6.2% of truck drivers were women five years ago, but that number should increase as more transportation companies turn to skills testing.
Do you want to learn how skills testing can help you hire better truck drivers? Contact us to request a demo.