Transportation and logistics companies are dealing with many supply chain issues that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also having problems finding qualified truck and delivery drivers. According to a recent report issued by Smart Trucking, there is a shortage of 60,000 drivers in the United States and 90,000 in Canada. And according to the American Trucking Association, this is a problem that has been growing since 2005.
The industry is growing, which is adding more and more jobs to an already critical employment situation. If you are an HR or hiring manager in a transportation or logistics company, you are probably under pressure to find and hire qualified candidates to fill truck and delivery driver positions and run and manage warehouse and shipping operations.
With the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM, you can use skills testing to screen applicants and instantly identify those who are best qualified for all your job roles. You can also assess your current staff to identify skills and knowledge “gaps” and provide them with the training they need to move into these jobs or assume additional responsibilities.
The eSkill Assessment Library contains hundreds of validated job- and subject-based skills tests. Choose pre-prepared skills assessment tests such as Delivery Driver, Forklift Operator, and Logistics Manager. If a skills test does not meet your needs, you can add and delete questions or build your own skills tests by choosing questions from multiple skills tests and adding your own questions.
How Skills Tests Save You Time
When positions remain vacant, it costs you money. While you are not spending money on wages or benefits, the decrease in productivity can leave you with a net loss, which is why reducing time to hire is a common goal among HR leaders.
Traditionally, most HR teams have relied on resumes and applications to evaluate candidates. However, studies show that around 78% of job seekers lie during the hiring process, which means the information applicants provide is often unreliable at best and blatantly misleading at worst.
When you add skills testing to your hiring process, you save hours that you would typically spend reviewing candidates and conducting screening interviews and have quantifiable data that verifies which applicants have the skills that best align with the position. This makes it easier to identify top candidates for each job role. You also avoid the time-consuming process of conducting dozens of screening interviews to weed out unqualified applicants and can focus your efforts on top candidates.
How Skills Tests Help You Avoid Legal Challenges
Recruiters and hiring managers naturally favor candidates with similar backgrounds, such as attending the same university and enjoying the same hobbies. Therefore, unconscious bias is often a problem in hiring. While it is not intentional, it does happen. And if a candidate feels they have been discriminated against for any reason, they can take legal action. This costs you money and wastes staff time, even if the claim is baseless.
Skills tests provide quantifiable data that help you minimize liability. Skills assessment tests also minimize subjective bias because all candidates complete the same assessments, and answers are scored automatically. Any video questions are on-demand, which means applicants listen to the questions and record their answers. There is no direct contact with the hiring team. Some organizations disable the video so hiring team members can evaluate responses without seeing the applicants.
How Skills Assessment Tests Save You Money
A factor that is often overlooked during hiring is that time is money. The more time you spend searching for a candidate, the more resources you commit to the search, which leaves less available for focusing on other parts of your business.
Since open positions cost you money, filling them is your first step toward savings. However, saving money on your hiring process involves more than simply placing a new hire in a position. With skills testing, you can concentrate on placing the RIGHT person in the role. This is important because a bad hire can cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
While skills assessment tests help you find the best possible candidates for your open position, they can also speed up the process dramatically. The eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM also integrates seamlessly with your applicant tracking system (ATS), which means you have a single, easy-to-use system to manage your entire hiring process.
Skills Testing and Retention
Improving employee retention is among the most important reasons to consider skills testing when hiring truck and delivery drivers. Limiting the number of hires you need to make is the key to saving time and money on recruiting. This means you need to improve employee retention, which starts before you hire a new employee.
According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), using skills assessment tests significantly increases employee retention by helping organizations hire candidates with the right skills and who are a good fit for their company culture.
Candidates hired and screened using skills tests were 23% more likely to still work for a company after a year. So, by investing in skills testing, you increase the likelihood that your truck and delivery drivers will be on the road and working for you for years to come.
Are you interested in saving time and money hiring truck and delivery drivers? Request a demo to learn how skills testing helps you find and hire top candidates.