Our Job Store developers get a lot of questions from clients on how they can get the most out of Tenstreet’s Job Store. Today we’re talking to our lead developer Justin, who has been with Tenstreet since its inception in 2006, about the qualities the most successful client ads have and his recommendations on what clients need to do to get the best results.
How do I select the right vendor for me?
Justin: So, this is an interesting question. In the infancy of Job Store, everybody wanted to know what vendors worked well in certain states, so we added the heat map to help with that. Then we were asked which vendors do well for Owner Operators in those states. Next, we were asked about which do well in those states that also are the cheapest per hire. My suggestion here is to get off that train of thought.
Think about it this way. There is no perfect vendor for your driver requirements. Owner Operators and Company drivers don’t all get together and decide to only visit one job board. We understand what you’re really looking for is some peace of mind that you’re not throwing your money away. And we get it!
Here’s a better question to ask yourself: What is your recruiting capacity?
- If it’s HIGH, try your hand at Subscription Multi-Carrier Services. They generally deliver lots of leads and are geared more towards mid-large clients that have recruiter pools with the time and resources to chase down leads. These services should be approached as “x of y will be interested in my company, but I will need to be able to make lots and lots of timely contacts to make these work.”
- If it’s MODERATE, look at Subscription-Dedicated Leads. These can vary in volume, but it’s a good place to start if you’ve hit your advertising budget and you have the resources to keep up with incoming applications. If you like tracking down leads that are drivers that actually opted into your company’s ad, these have the potential to work really well for you.
- If it’s LIMITED, go for Performance-based Leads. Here you pay for what you receive. These vendors are dedicated to getting you good results, and drivers always see your ad. This is like putting you three steps deep in the recruiting process. Your app volume will likely be lower than one of the two subscription paths, but is great if you have a limited recruiting capacity.
How can I create the best Active Job listing?
Justin: There are four things that I see that make an Active Job successful. Let’s break it down.
1. Titles matter
In Active Jobs, there is a great title primer right above the entry field. Use it as a touchstone and remember it is the first thing your drivers see on your ads at any vendor.
2. Restate the obvious in your Descriptions and Requirements
When drivers are searching your ads it’s not hard for them to lose track of what they searched for or where the job is available. Put your locations, pay info, truck types IN your description. If it’s a Company driver, Owner Operator job, or Local route – state that in the description too. Describe the job, make it fun. It should not be 5 bullet points of dry information.
And remember, wherever your ad is being displayed at, it is in line with a thousand other ones very much like it. It must stand out somehow. Put a quote from one of your existing drivers in there!
3. Check your reporting
After you get an order live, make sure you stay on top of your reporting tab to keep track of how it performs. If you have a Pulse Match ad that’s getting thousands of impressions and no application starts, then you probably need to change the description or title. If you have one ad that does great and a parallel ad that’s floundering, see if you can spot the difference.
Performance Merchants are great places to make adjustments like this and really experiment with what works. In our experience, what works on one platform seems to work on most of them.
4. Don’t be afraid of testing
A particular advantage you have with Performance Merchants is you can try things out on their platforms fairly risk-free. If you want to try two titles and descriptions for the same job, do it. Using two different titles you can sometimes get double exposure on the same platform. You could put up an ad for the “OTR Driver O/O Northeast routes” and also try “Drive Northeast – calling all OTR O/O’s”. Then place these almost parallel to each other and see which performs the best.
Once you find your winner, start applying it to Subscription Vendors and see if it works there too. Subscriptions can take longer to reel in drivers and don’t afford you the flexibility of creative titles and descriptions. Use the Performance Merchants like Pulse to take advantage of The Truckers Report to really feel out the advertising landscape.
Tell me what you’ve learned about location. Where should I place my ads?
Justin: All big, non-trucking-specific subscription services like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Glassdoor are geared toward placing ads for “An Accounting Job in Springfield, Maryland”. They do not have the concept of hiring in all of Maryland. Jobs today instead have areas tied to them. On most platforms, we found the zip code to be the common denominator.
Trucking is generally not-so-specific as the job is not often tied to only one city. Transportation companies regularly try and put ads out for the lower 48 to these subscription services only to find that it doesn’t work like they thought it would, or the cost alone makes it unfeasible. Let’s say a Maryland posting covering the state might have 100 zip codes to post jobs in. At $200/zip/month, that would be a $20,000 ad that would likely come with daily limits (in which they would cycle your ad out after a few applications per day).
Drivers tend to meander over to some of those large non-trucking-specific sites when they start a job search. Think about how they will find you. You may have to get more detailed about your position. Instead of saying you hire in all of Texas, you may need to pick 3-5 zip codes and place ads there. Think Craigslist. When you search for something on Craigslist, you often expand your search radius until you find what you’re looking for, then you determine if that area will work for you. Drivers are very similar in this approach. They know that there may not be a Craigslist entry for their tiny home town, and that they may need to search in the next largest city (like Dallas, Seattle, or San Jose) to find what they are looking for.
Since they charge by the zip, you need to tailor your ad placements to major hubs where you think a driver might search.
Thanks, Justin, for the information!
Justin: You bet. We know we say this a lot, but just as there’s not one magic silver bullet in our book of services that works for everybody, neither is there one merchant that will work for everybody. Instead, keep this information close when using Job Store and when creating your Active Jobs and you’ll reap the most success. As we collect more experience about what works and what doesn’t, we’ll always be sure to let you know. After all, your success is ours.
