Her name is “Laine,” and she sounds nice. She responded quickly to that online contact form you sent in, and she seems really interested in bringing you on board at her company. She’s knowledgeable, too. Judging by the questions she asks and the comments she makes, it’s obvious she’s no rookie to the trucking industry.
She’s also a robot. She doesn’t have a human-looking form, like M3GAN from the movie of the same name or a “fembot” from the Austin Powers movie series. In fact, she only exists as a program in a carrier’s computer system. Thanks to AI (artificial intelligence), however, she could be the next company recruiter you talk to.
Laine has a list of questions that to ask each potential hire — but the way she presents them, it doesn’t seem like a list. It’s more like a conversation. If you ask a question, she’ll provide an answer and then tactfully circle back to what she’s programmed to find out.
Like any good recruiter, she wants to know about your driving record, your experience level and your work history. She also knows how to ask about your route and schedule preferences, how often you’d like to be home and what kind of truck you prefer. Since she’s programmable, her repertoire can be adapted to find out what each carrier who uses her wants to know, such as whether you have tanker experience or are familiar with hauling steel coils.
“Laine” is only a name assigned to one potential persona of the program. When your phone rings, it might be “Larry” or any other name selected by the customer using the AI service. Carriers can select a name, a voice and other characteristics, depending on their needs. Questions about particular types of cargo, equipment or anything else can be programmed in.
Ricardo Saavedra, co-founder of CAYU Technologies, explains.
“Basically, (you can) configure different AI agents, and we allow our customers to create new agents, giving them the guidelines,” he said. “There are different voice options, like three male voices and then three female voices.”
Streamlining the recruiting process
But talking to prospective drivers is only the beginning of what Laine can do. She keeps a checklist for each candidate, providing a list of qualifications to recruiting departments along with a checklist of background checks to perform.
Just as a human recruiter or their staff might order driving records, employment history, PSP report, Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse inquiries and more, Laine can track what’s been ordered, what’s been received, as well as what shouldn’t be ordered based on your answers. For example, if the carrier allows two traffic violations in the past three years and you disclose that you’ve had four, there’s no point in spending money to order your motor vehicle report (MVR).
Asking pre-programmed questions isn’t all Laine can do.
“You can give her some of the guidelines for the interview. She can ask very specific questions, but she can be dynamic, reading the resume of the candidate and matching it to the provided job description,” Saavedra said.
The program can provide details based on information the applicant provides. For example, if you recorded “not enough home time” as the reason for leaving your last job, Laine can explain the carrier’s home time policies, clearing up a potential issue before it starts.
Laine can also help a carrier decide who gets called. If the call list was derived from quick-apply forms, she can be programmed to look for specific items a carrier is looking for, such as experience in driving the Northeast or hauling paper rolls.
Why is she calling me?
It’s important, however, that applicants know how Laine gets their number. Quick-apply forms are not always what they seem. If you think it’s a convenient way to let a carrier know you’re interested without going the whole formal application route, you’re right — except that your application rarely goes to one carrier.
Driver recruiting websites often use slogans such as, “Let us find the right job for you,” but that’s not always their purpose. Sometimes, they also make money by selling your information to others. Some allow you to choose who gets your application, but some forward it to anyone that’s willing to pay for a list of applicant phone numbers and email addresses. Others might compile a contact list that’s sold separately to carriers or anyone else who is willing to pay for it.
If you’re getting inquiries from carriers you don’t remember contacting (and maybe have never even heard of), it’s very likely due to a contact or quick-apply form you submitted days, weeks, months or maybe even years ago.
This is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it could help you land a great job!
If you’re hired, however, the quick-apply form doesn’t satisfy DOT requirements for the qualifications file carriers are required to keep for each employee. Sooner or later, you’ll be completing — or at least signing — a full application.
Another potential issue could arise if your current carrier finds out you’re job shopping. That can happen when your carrier purchases contact lists that you never intended for them to see.
Benefits of AI recruiters
Still, completing a quick-apply form is a great way to get your name and qualifications out to multiple carriers. Highly qualified candidates can have the opportunity to compare offers from multiple carriers, determining the best fit. Candidates with records that make them harder to place can benefit from exposure to more potential employers with varied hiring qualifications.
The cost to the carrier of using an AI program such as Laine can be offset by savings in other areas.
Obviously, a recruiter’s salary and the cost of benefits are saved, as is the expense of providing furniture, phone and internet service, etc.
But the cost of background reports can easily climb into the hundreds, good recruiters ask the right questions to determine if an investment in background reports is warranted. And, she works round-the clock and on weekends, too. An application entered on Saturday afternoon can get a call back within minutes.
“We’re providing more tools to carriers,” Saavedra said. “More than cost saving is faster hiring, better conversion.”
Carriers spend a lot for advertising, and AI recruiters like Laine can help them get the best applicants for the money spent.
And don’t forget, Laine’s a great conversationalist!
Cliff Abbott is an experienced commercial vehicle driver and owner-operator who still holds a CDL in his home state of Alabama. In nearly 40 years in trucking, he’s been an instructor and trainer and has managed safety and recruiting operations for several carriers. Having never lost his love of the road, Cliff has written a book and hundreds of songs and has been writing for The Trucker for more than a decade.
