As far as technological advances in truck driver recruiting go, Lanefinder is about as exciting as they come.
Lanefinder has recently released a driver and job matching app that removes unnecessary labor while improving the lives of truckers and carriers alike. How does it do that? Let's find out.
Here to tell you about Lanefinder's cutting edge offer is the company’s marketing director, Benjamin Rehmie.
Below, you'll see my questions in heavy bold and Ben's answers comprising the bulk of the text.
Thank you for joining, Ben. Let's start with the most obvious question - What is Lanefinder?
Benjamin: Well, Rick - a bit of background, before I answer that. We started out as recruiters for trucking companies across the country. Screening drivers over the phone, making sure they were qualified for the jobs they were interested in, that sort of thing. Then, if everything sounded good and they were interested, we'd send their details over to the carrier.
We quickly realized that this mode of hiring was outdated and inefficient for both drivers and carriers.
So, we got our heads together and started coming up with an app that would do what we did, but in a way that was faster and better for all parties involved. In this app, drivers would be able set their own preferences, and get matched with jobs that fit the bill of what they’re looking for. And it would remove doubt from the process - ”Am I qualified? Am I not qualified?” and questions like that would go out the window.
It’s only after months and months of hard work and thousands of development hours that Lanefinder in its current form came to be. What we have now is the first true truck driver job matching app that actually works. It’s a massive utility to drivers across the country, and we’re very proud of it.
Lanefinder is available for drivers to download on Google Play and the App store
Drivers set their expectations, experience, enter their zip code and… that’s it. They either find jobs they know they’re qualified for right away, or they wait to get notified by our app when matching jobs become available. It’s a truckload easier than waiting for a phone call, and truckers enjoy it more than having to get on the phone with recruiters and go through a lengthy screening every time.
Lanefinder is clearly a great app for drivers, but what would you say the main benefits are to the carriers that are on Lanefinder?
Benjamin: Well, unlike what you’d expect from many recruiters and job advertising agencies, the drivers that come from Lanefinder are actually specifically interested in the job they apply to. To them, a job isn’t just another thing they click on while browsing job boards, it’s something they know they’re qualified for and something they get invested in.
As far as carriers... what they love about Lanefinder is:
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Candidates are pre-screened and qualified - Lanefinder gathers as much information from the drivers as possible to ensure applications are detailed and relevant. All drivers coming in through Lanefinder are pre-screened and qualified based on the specific hiring requirements of each individual company. That’s why we’re in partnership with YouCruit. Companies set up their hiring requirements and hiring areas there, and we automatically get those details in our system. That way there's no hassle, and nothing needs to get set up twice.
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Candidates are interested in your job - I’ve spoken to enough drivers to know that everyone has their specific needs and preferences. What works for one driver won’t work for another, and a lot of the time the main factors that influence a driver’s decision making aren’t as simple as some carriers may think. When you add all those factors together, the driver’s “perfect job” becomes highly specific. If the driver can look at a job and know that all the boxes are ticked, then you’re gold. As a trucking company, you'll spend less time convincing and explaining, and more time hiring.
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Candidates are always within your hiring area - Another great thing about Lanefinder drivers is that they’ll always be from within your exact hiring area. When you set up your hiring areas on the map within YouCruit, Lanefinder gets all that data, and we only show your jobs to drivers located within the zones you designate. That generally means fewer rejections and less phone time with drivers that you wouldn't be able to hire anyway.
Now, even though screened and qualified drivers are great - we’re not quite “magic” levels of foolproof yet. We can’t guarantee that every single driver applicant will give you the full truth in their applications, so some discrepancies are to be expected. We are also limited in terms of what we can ask and what kind of checks we can run up-front on a driver. Running background checks is still in the hands of the carriers, for example.
Still, the growth we've seen in the past few months has been crazy. We're blowing up, and our account managers are having to schedule calls well over two weeks in advance. So, as for the benefit to carriers, we're clearly doing something right.
You mentioned drivers can express interest in closed jobs. How does that work?
Benjamin: We encourage all of our customers - In fact, we urge them to upload all their jobs to Lanefinder. Doesn’t matter if they’re hiring, or if they’re not. The fact of the matter is, if you can accumulate a steady stream of qualified candidates for a position, even when all your trucks are full… you’re setting yourself up to be in a great spot once you actually do have a truck sitting empty.
The drivers appreciate being the first to know about a position they were interested in, but this system also functions as a sort of insurance policy so you're never blindsided when a driver suddenly quits, or something like that.
Do your customers pay for applicants even when they don’t need them?
Benjamin: Short answer is... no. But here's the beauty of it - listing all of your jobs on Lanefinder and receiving driver applications is completely free. And of course, drivers can apply whenever they feel like it.
If a company has an urgent hiring need, we offer the ability to boost their jobs in the Lanefinder app and grant them additional exposure with something that we call Lanefinder Promote. Lanefinder Promote drives applications faster by encouraging drivers to apply and giving the job more visibility in the app. Customers that order Lanefinder Promote only pay for applications that meet their hiring requirements.
Before we wrap up, here's a tough one for you, Ben. Are there any drawbacks to using Lanefinder?
Benjamin: As I said before, it’s not that we have a “magic” solution. We're absolutely confident that we can provide carriers with the best quality driver leads on the market, but as always it's up to them to contact the drivers in a timely manner, show them respect, as well as care and understanding. Still, we're confindent that Lanefinder will enable carriers to do more hires per application than through any other source.
However, we cannot guarantee speed. Because Lanefinder is organic, the amount of traffic and interest jobs get depends on many things. You likely won’t get hundreds of applications right away. As such, carriers should see Lanefinder as a long-term supplement to their overall recruitment strategy and as an insurance policy to make sure they always have a great driver to call when they need to. As I said earlier, we prioritize quality over speed.
For more urgent hiring needs, using the other tools within YouCruit will provide faster results. Any drivers that come in through those methods will be prompted to complete a screening within Lanefinder - and that service is on the house as a perk of our partnership. So, you get candidates, and get the pre-screening thrown in for free.
And let’s not forget… How much attention a job gets depends on how competitive it is. Carriers need to make sure their job is competitive within their area, otherwise they’re unlikely to win drivers over. For that, we recommend all our customers to visit the Lanefinder website and enter their hiring zip code to see what other opportunities are available, and adjust their pay and offering to match that.
So, in other words… if your job is good as is, Lanefinder will get you great results given you have a bit of time to wait.
More from Lanefinder, and some closing thoughts
Here's a video of the man himself - Benjamin Rehmie, goofing off at MATS 2019. Follow Lanefinder on YouTube for more content from them.
That's all, folks. Personally, I think Lanefinder is one of the most exciting innovations in the trucking world, and I'm thrilled to see where the future takes it.
In these unpredicatable times, carriers need to re-evaluate their current modes of recruitment more than ever. Having a whole recruitment department to call unqualified leads and waste time on subpar applications is looking less and less wise as the industry gets more competitive and reliant on good technology to stay ahead of the curve.
The impact of new and revolutionary technologies is yet to be felt on a grand scale, but the beginnings are already showing great promise. Companies like Lanefinder, that lead the way in simplifying recruitment, allowing companies to post their jobs for free, with a fair and transparent pricing model for promoting / boosting jobs... That's the future I want to see, and the future this industry sorely needs.