• Employers should help ensure an organization’s safety and security by conducting thorough and in-depth driver interviews.
• Companies should train people in charge of hiring to conduct thorough driver interviews.

Another important information-gathering tool for employers is the in-person driver interview. Even if a motor carrier lacks the resources to conduct comprehensive background investigations on each driver applicant, all organizations possess the internal capabilities to hold personal, face-to-face interviews with each prospective driver.

In today’s environment where everyone must operate with a heightened sense of caution and alertness, the process of hiring drivers, and even non-driving employees, has become critically important to any organization’s safety and security effort.

The problem experienced at many carriers, however, is that many, if not most, driver recruiters, supervisors, and managers have received no formal or specific training on how to conduct a thorough and in-depth driver interview.

Due to the incredibly high level of driver turnover experienced in several segments of the motor carrier industry, many organizations are more concerned with keeping equipment rolling and generating revenue, than about the backgrounds of the drivers hired.

Because of the safety and security risks involved, carriers can no longer afford to be negligent when hiring.

HR topics to review as you hire motor carrier employees: Americans with Disabilities Act and Discrimination .