Don’t forget Craigslist when you’re recruiting drivers

Remember Craigslist? If you feel like you’re overspending on driver recruiting, then it’s worth considering Craigslist. The platform isn't as active as it was decades ago, but it’s still an affordable place to recruit a few extra drivers. Craigslist was more popular before the Personals Section was removed in 2018, but the job listings are still active in several industries, especially transportation.

As a digital marketing company, To Exceed has used Craigslist to recruit truck drivers since 2016. Nine years later, To Exceed continues to use Craigslist alongside more popular advertising platforms like Google, Meta, and Indeed.

Craigslist isn't the best recruiting platform for every fleet, but the low posting costs are hard to beat. With the simplicity of posting on Craigslist (compared to managing a PPC budget elsewhere), small fleets can experiment with Craigslist in-house.

Activity on Craigslist job listings

If you check out the Craigslist job listings in your location, you’ll notice that certain industries have more activity than others. General labor, skilled labor, and food/beverage/hospitality are popular job categories. Transportation jobs are the top category in much of the Midwest and rural America.

This national map of job categories was developed for a To Exceed whitepaper. For details about each location, you can access an interactive version.

Nationally, Craigslist is more popular on the East and West Coasts. Bigger cities have more activity than rural areas, and posting in cities costs more. It might cost $35 to post a job in Houston or Central New Jersey (the highest is $75 in San Francisco), but the cost in many smaller towns is only $10 or $15. In general, jobs cost more than any other type of post on Craigslist.

Low-cost locations tend to have less competition from other employers. Though you pay more to post in a big city, your post will get pushed down the page more quickly. Depending on your territory and recruiting goals, it’s usually a good idea to post in a variety of locations.

See also: Improving routes with the data deluge

Platform limitations

Craigslist doesn’t have many bells and whistles. You pay each time you post a job to a location, and that post expires after a month. Unlike Facebook or Google ads, Craigslist doesn’t provide data about your click-through-rate or page views.

You can’t “sponsor” a job post to appear higher in the listings, but you can pay again to repost your ad at the top of the listings.

Anecdotally, To Exceed has found that company driver jobs tend to get more leads than listings for owner-operators.

Tips for posting to Craigslist

Craigslist has a mixed reputation for a reason. Many of the listings look sketchy. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much effort to look more professional than the competition.

• Write a clear posting title and description: Bulleted lists make it easy to find job requirements and benefits.
• Use HTML coding for formatting: Use bold or colored fonts (in moderation) for emphasis and larger font sizes for subheadings. Embed images like your company logo with HTML coding supported by Craigslist.
• Track your own leads: Tracking phone numbers and external landing pages let you measure the impact of your Craigslist campaign.
• Repost in nearby locations: Reposting puts your ad back at the top of local listings, but you can also reach new drivers by posting in different locations.
• Give it a little time: Keep experimenting for two or three months. Month-to-month performance varies unpredictably.

In-house or outsource?

Small fleets don’t need a lot of drivers, but it takes time to code and repost Craigslist ads. If someone in your office already knows HTML coding (or has experience posting Craigslist ads), then you may find it easier to get started. It’s easy to find tips and guides for how to post jobs to Craigslist.

To Exceed offers a Craigslist posting service alongside other options for digital marketing. Outsourcing tends to make sense for midsize and larger fleets. Trucking companies with multiple terminals and broader territories need to post in more locations than a small, local fleet.

Common mistakes on Craigslist

Of course, just because a DIY campaign fails, that doesn’t mean Craigslist isn’t a good match for your company. Look at some of the posts in your area and ask yourself whether you would be tempted to apply. The featured images (and sign-on bonuses) make a difference, but here are some common mistakes to avoid:

• Too little info: Two sentences or one paragraph might feel like enough description for a typical CDL job. Try to think more like a driver (or marketer), going into more detail about the job and its perks.
• Too little editing: Typos, wrong phone numbers, and obvious mistakes make a bad first impression.
• Boring blocks of text: Break up long paragraphs with bulleted lists, images, and HTML formatting. "Too long; didn't read" (TL;DR) kills conversion rates in today’s short-attention-span world.
• Too many emojis: Anything's fine in moderation when you’re competing for attention, but overused CAPSLOCK, exclamation points, emojis, and giant, colorful fonts will look unprofessional.
• Wrong zip code map: Autofill or a zip code typo can make your job look like it’s in a different city (or the wrong side of town). After entering the text for your post, confirm the job location using the zip code, street intersection, or a manual drop pin.

Like any recruiting or marketing strategy, your posts on Craigslist affect your company branding. Making a positive impression on drivers in your region using Craigslist is an excellent way to demonstrate your attention to detail.