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Troy: Alright, hello and welcome truckers, the date is June 5th and you’re listening to the 31st episode of Big Rig Banter. Lenay, how are you doing today?
Lenay: I’m good Troy, how are you?
Troy: I’m doing pretty good. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a long time, you’ve been traveling around the world pretty much.
Lenay: Yeah, across the country anyway. I was in Utah, Pittsburgh, New York. So anyway, I guess like the past two weeks I’ve been gone so it feels good to be back.
Troy: What did you bring back for a souvenir for me?
Lenay: Well, I did bring you those cookies from the airplane that you threw in the trashcan, so.
Troy: Wow, how thoughtful of you to bring back cookies that you were given on a flight.
Lenay: Because you were like “Oh, these cookies are so good” because we have them here in the office and then I bring them back for you and you’re like “I never had these cookies before” and throw them in the trashcan.
Troy: That was very thoughtful of you, thank you Lenay.
Lenay: Yeah, yeah. Always thinking of you.
Troy: Yeah, thank you. But truckers, today we have an exciting episode on tap for you. We’re highlighting some of the job boards in the industry. As most of you know, our parent company is AllTruckJobs.com, which is a job board and helps truckers find the ideal assignment but we do have some other job boards in the industry and we wanted to spread the love a little, kind of highlight those that are out there. Even if you don’t decide to use AllTruckJobs, we still want you to find the best job possible and that’s why we are gonna bring a bunch of job boards on the show, including a representative from AllTruckJobs to kind of talk about some tips for drivers maybe looking to find their next job.
Lenay: Yeah, we know that a job hunt can be really overwhelming, getting your resume ready and trying to pick how to apply for jobs. So, each of the job boards we talked to have a little bit of a special niche aside from being focused just on trucking. Some of them focus on specific driver types, they might be better for long haul versus local. So yeah, I think that you guys will gain a lot of insight from this and really be able to help you streamline your job search.
Troy: Yeah so Lenay why don’t we jump right into things. I spoke to three different representatives from job boards and we’re gonna start with the first one and that’s CDLJobs.com. Let’s hear what Darin Williams, the CEO and founder of the company, had to say.
Darin: Hi, my name again is Darin Williams, I am the president of CDLJobs.com. CDLJobs.com is a website that I started in the fall of 1999, so we are sneaking up on our 20th anniversary.
Troy: Wow.
Darin: Yeah, I’m only 22 years old, that’s the crazy part. Prior to starting CDLJobs.com I served as the director of recruiting at Heartland Express for about 10 years, so it gave me a fantastic background to kind of get into this not only industry but this niche market in the industry. And it kind of was spawned from the idea that there had to be a better way of doing things and that was kind of at the outset of the internet so we were one of the first to get going in this market. It kinda let us do a lot of the exploratory stuff, to make a lot of mistakes that others didn’t have to make and it provided another avenue for trucking companies as opposed to just using newspapers and magazines, which is now basically you know kind of gone by the wayside for the most part. CDLJobs.com does things maybe a little differently than anybody else in the fact that what we do is run on a platform of what’s called a match driver lead. And what that means to any driver that’s out there is they can go on there and research any number of different trucking companies or jobs without submitting any information at all. All the information is there for you to see, all the jobs are there for you to see. Once you find something or a carrier that you like, you can submit some real basic information to them and select which carriers are going to get that information. We’ve got roughly between 90-100 carriers on the site at any given time right now. You can choose to select all of them if you wish, what we found on average is that most guys are hitting about 7/8 different trucking companies that they want to take a look at and once that information can get submitted, not only does it only go to those carriers, but it only goes to the carriers for whom you qualify. So, if they need two years’ experience and you’ve only got one year experience, they’re not going to get that information so they’re not going to be bothering you with a phone call just to tell you can’t, you know that you didn’t qualify. So you get to choose who you send it to and for who you qualify for is gonna get that information. This kind of cuts down on some of the hussle and the hassle of all the phone calls you might get with some other websites and I’m not talking about some of the websites we’re talking with here, but there’s some free ones out there that everybody knows about and we can all, without naming names, you’re gonna get a bunch of phone calls on those and you know I kinda would recommend kinda staying with trucking specific websites like the people that you’ve been talking with, Troy.
Troy: For sure. And you know, what are some tips for drivers looking for jobs? You know, regardless of what job board or platform they use, I’m sure our listeners could use some job-hunting tips for sure. We’ve heard things like making sure your resume is completely filled out and making sure you have all of the information correct and things like that.
Darin: Yeah, correct information is a big thing. That’s gonna cut down on a lot of time on your own back end without having to re-do questions and you know if you mislead somebody on the front end it’s gonna come back and bite you so try to be as upfront as you possibly can and a big thing that I would talk about is make sure you’re using a secure site. If you go in and you kinda check the toolbar, the URL toolbar at the top when you type in a website such as CDLJobs.com, you wanna make sure that it has the https in front of it. That S signifies the security of the site, you don’t wanna be submitting information on a site that doesn’t have that S and it’s not anymore straight forward than that.
Troy: Well again Darin, I thank you for stopping by. Is there anything else you think is important to mention?
Darin: No, I’ll tell you what I just say you know make sure everybody’s doing their research. We’re kind of going into the summer here where it’s maybe a little bit of an uncertain trade market, nobody’s really sure what might happen this summer, so if you’re going to be making a choice, or a decision, make sure you’re making the right choice and do as much research as you can before submitting that application.
Lenay: Alright, up next, we’re going to listen to Troy chat with Ray James from Gary’s Job Board.
Ray: Okay so cool, we’re garysjobboard.com. We’ve been around since 2014. Prior to that, we were a truck driving school and we kept getting companies asking us for drivers, so we finally put a job board together and it worked out so well that we just turned it into an official job board. What it does, it gives the drivers a portal to go to so they can manage preferences and add a job application that they can use over and over again to apply to jobs. An advanced job search lets them set a status where if they need a job now versus I already got a job don’t bug me, that kinda stuff. And what the job board helps with is, we’re kind of like the middlemen, we kinda match the drivers to the job, so there’s no thousand phone calls a day, which is a big problem. And they only see jobs that they match and qualify for and that are close to them as well. So, it’s a pretty neat system.
Troy: Awesome, and so what are some tips that you maybe would give drivers looking for jobs, you know regardless of what job board they decide to use, I’m sure that’s definitely a difficult thing a lot of truckers out there are dealing with.
Ray: Yeah so two big tips I would always suggest is one to make sure that you have a complete application info so that when you apply that company can qualify you as a driver and as fast as possible to where they can get everything started as fast as possible and my other tips would to be to always follow up. Keep bugging them and that puts you always at the top of their list.
Troy: And What’s it like seeing the relationship between you know obviously these truckers looking for jobs and then you have the recruiters and the job boards out there obviously with the internet there’s almost unlimited options for truckers, whether it’s different job boards, different job assignments, things like that, what’s it like, how do you kind of navigate through those waters?
Ray: Yeah so, what I’d say to that is that it is hard for drivers to find jobs but it’s also hard for companies to find drivers so you want to find a height that’s dedicated to bring both of those together on a full-time basis where you have to show up and you know be part of the system and let them get matched together and so instead of like every once in a while you needed to hunt for a job or driver then we’re constantly you know companies like that we’re constantly doing that that’s our 24/7 job is to bring those two together and that’s why it’s good to use to have a relationship with a recruiter like that.
Troy: And is there anything else you’d like to add Ray? I know our listeners are a lot of them are on the job hunt so I know they could use any help possible any insider knowledge you might have.
Ray: Yeah, really just you know keep an eye out there and try and check us out at garysjobboard.com and just good luck and I wish you the best.
Troy: Awesome, well thank you once again, that’s Ray James from Gary’s Job Board, Ray thank you so much.
Ray: Thank you.
Troy: And a big thanks to Ray James. Last but not least let’s hear from Kelsey, she’s an account manager right here at AllTruckJobs.com and she’s gonna provide some more tips and tricks for you truckers looking to find your next job.
Kelsey: Hi guys, Kelsey here. I am an account manager here at AllTruckJobs, in my day to day I’m working directly with the trucking companies that we partner with on our site and I’m kind of helping them find great drivers like you guys to fill their open positions.
Troy: And how does the AllTruckJobs platform work and how did job hunters benefit from it?
Kelsey: Yeah so, AllTruckJobs offers a lot of great resources to drivers, mainly, of course, being able to filter through and apply directly to specific jobs that you would be interested in, so we have some great filtering options to really narrow down your search to find positions that really fit your needs but if you’re not totally sure what you’re looking for right now you also have the ability to submit more general applications on the site, it’s a pretty simple process. We make it easy, it’s a three-step application but we will match you directly with companies that you qualify for. So we don’t wanna waste your time, we want to make sure we’re putting you in front of the right eyes and that’s also something that you have the choice on, so when you complete our application, you can actually choose which carriers that you’ve qualified for that you want to send your application to.
Troy: And what are some tips for drivers looking for jobs? We have a bunch of different jobs boards coming on the show today, what are some maybe tips you can provide regardless of what job board they eventually do choose?
Kelsey: Yeah, so my biggest tip is to double and triple-check the information that you’re submitting. Definitely, want to make sure that everything you plug into your application is accurate, most specifically your phone number and email address just so that the carriers that you’re applying to don’t have any trouble getting in touch with you guys would also encourage keeping an open mind whenever you do start talking directly to any of the companies you’ve applied to.
Troy: And why is this relationship between truckers and whether they’re recruiters or job boards so important you know, obviously over the next years with internet popping up there’s all kinds of different job boards and availability out there. What’s it like seeing that relationship?
Kelsey: Yeah, so I think it’s pretty cool, you know I’ve been working here for about three years now so I’ve really kind of seen things evolve throughout the industry and I think more than ever now companies are really trying to build great relationships with their drivers and also the drivers that they’re looking to recruit you know they’re looking for qualified drivers but they also want to keep you guys on board and make sure that you’re happy with their companies so that’s definitely something that’s been awesome to see you know over the years.
Troy: Awesome Kelsey, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Kelsey: Nope, I think that’s everything.
Lenay: Those interviews were great, and I just want to give a special thanks to Troy for doing all of those while I was busy running around the country on vacation.
Troy: Of course, well Lenay you weren’t just putting your feet in the sand the whole time. Lenay actually wrote this awesome recap to these interviews, so if you missed anything, wanna see it written down, feel free to check out that blog but Lenay I know you’re going to go over a few bullet points before we wrap things up.
Lenay: Yeah, I have a blog live right now on AllTruckJobs.com, it’s basically summarizing five tips for how to submit your resume out there so the number one make sure your application is filled out properly, number 2 make sure everything is accurate and you know I mean if you kind of exaggerate it might come back to bite you in the ass later so just kind of make sure that all of your information is honest, number three use a reliable website, so you want to make sure the web browser you’re using is secure and you’re not just putting your information out there to anybody, number four do your research, have an idea of what kind of trucking job you’re looking for maybe the driver type the freight type, if you want to be long haul or if you want to stay local, and number five, which is critical is to follow up with these trucking companies, make sure you keep calling them back, checking in, make sure you see if they’re still hiring.
Troy: Awesome and once again folks if you like what you hear feel free to leave us a review on iTunes and if you do have any more questions about the job search feel free to reach out to us on Twitter using the #BigRigBanter. You know, Lenay and I will be happy to walk you through things and kind of provide our take on things and give you some advice.
Lenay: Absolutely.
Troy: But again, once again, I’m Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And this has been Big Rig Banter.
Music – Thanks for tuning into another edition of BigRigBanter. For your next job check out AllTruckJobs.com, the premier online source for finding the best driver jobs in the country. Browse hundreds of positions by freight or driver type to get back on the road with confidence. Click subscribe to keep the conversations coming until next time on BigRigBanter.
