Driver talks with recruiter on the phone. Off-duty of course! (courtesy Udemy.com)
OTR and Regional Jobs are a-booming! How do you juggle all the offers you’ll be getting while keeping your mental sanity? Get rid of the Post-its napkins and back-of-the-envelope scribbles prepare or prepare to drown get a head start with the top 5 apps to find the best jobs and get hired.
We’ve written a lot about how to prepare for a new truck driving job but truck drivers still tell us that they need more help. And here we come!
What Do Drivers Need When Dealing With Trucking Recruiters?
We did the research and interviewed truck drivers about their three big needs when looking for a job.
It’s unlikely that you’ll be meeting your recruiter in person you’ll most likely get the job and be assigned to a dispatcher. (courtesy fueloyal.com)
ONE: Keep control of your conversations. The most important task is to get the information you need.
And if you’re looking for long-haul jobs you’re going to get a lot of recruiter calls.
Truck drivers need a way to get rid of spammers and filter unwanted calls.
When drivers do get an interesting recruiter on the line they should ask questions record the answers and think over what the recruiters said.
TWO: Discuss with people vested in your success.
Life gets busy and your friends and family may be helping you find the right trucking job. The apps we recommend next will help you share information easily with the people closest to you.
THREE: Stay organized. Keep dedicated resources for dedicated tasks.
Many truckers work for ride-sharing services or have other jobs. Have a separate email address and phone number for your trucking career to keep all the relevant information in one place.
And it’s only temporary once you get the job you won’t need this anymore. You are certainly not going to hop from company to company on a monthly basis are you?
Get the best out of the recruiting experience by striving to be very organized.
What Are the Five Apps You Need to Find the Best Trucking Job?
1. BURNER:
Why You Need It – This app gives you a second number for your phone which you can dispose of at any time – just what we recommended. We have tried a few apps like this but Burner is the one that we liked most.
When you get a call you will see if it’s from your second number. If you feel you are getting too many phone calls from recruiters you can just shut your second number off at any time with “Do Not Disturb” mode. You can also set reminders stop robocalls and telemarketers before they ring your phone set Auto-reply to texts forward calls and/or text to another number back up your contact and texts to Google Spreadsheet.
This app also helps you stay organized because it works with other Google apps on your phone which both help you save your contacts and conversations.
What You Need to Do – Create a new account and a new phone number after you download the app..
2. GMAIL:
Why You Need It – Registering with Gmail gives you a free easy-to-use email address and it also gives you access to the full suite of Google tools. A unique email for trucking ensures recruiters won’t spam your personal email and all your work emails will be in one place.
What You Need to Do – Download the app on your Android or iPhone and that’s it! Everything exists online so you can sign into your new email on any phone and computer. If you have friends/family helping you find a job you can even give them access to your password.
3. GOOGLE SHEETS:
Why You Need It – Spreadsheets. On your phone.
You will receive a lot of calls texts and emails from a number of recruiters so spreadsheets are perfect for keeping things organized and sharing information with your partner or relatives. With Google Sheets and Burner together you can save all your contacts and texts.
You’ll want to import your Burner contacts and create a spreadsheet with them so you can keep track of all the information each recruiter contact gave to you.
What You Need to Do – Make sure to integrate your Google Sheets with your Burner to share all your contacts and conversations in one document. With Burner Sheets and Gmail working together your friends/family can log into your account from anywhere and help you decide from all the recruiters.
Here’s an example of a simple spreadsheet you can create.
4. EVERNOTE:
Why You Need It – Need to make a schedule for yourself? Need to create checklists of questions to ask recruiters? Do you prefer to record audio notes or make handwritten scribbles? Then Evernote is for you.
You can save and record your conversations and ideas and notes in Evernote and everything is instantly searchable! You can also share your notes with others.
These tools help you juggle all the recruiters. And of course Evernote combines with Burner and Google Drive to make this easy.
What You Need to Do – After you download Evernote check out all the features.
This app does a lot so you might want to set aside a few hours to play with all the tools. Of course you’ll also want to combine this app with your Gmail account so you can use Burner Google Sheets and Evernote like a CEO!
5. ENTERTAINMENT:
Why You Need It – When you’re on the job hunt you need to take time for yourself so make sure to have some fun apps to relax or learn some new skills.
What You Need to Do – This is the easy part. If you want to expand your skill set to become more marketable try out apps like Duolingo to learn a second language. This is a favorite of our friend Red Viking Trucker.
You can also try out apps like Audible and Overdrive to listen to audiobooks. Hearing inspirational books is a great motivator while searching for work.
Get started right now with a couple of good recruiting best sellers on Audible that we have handpicked for you –
What Are the Goals of a Truck Driver Looking for a Job?
In order to get the most pay and the routes you want you need keep track of the recruiters you’ve spoken to which company they represent the conversations you’ve had and the details of each offer.
We’ve already written an article about truck driver recruiters and the questions you should ask them. Even with that resource it can be difficult manage all the information about each job which is why you need the above apps.
Tell us what Apps make your life easier when getting a new job!
Have you recently found a truck driving job? Are currently looking? Then let us know on Facebook and Twitter what apps and tools you found helpful.