TPN broadens hunt for drivers in national social media recruitment campaign

The Pallet Network (TPN) has thrown its net wide in the hope of attracting more drivers into the sector. Its latest recruitment campaign is using social media to target individuals that may have never considered becoming HGV drivers, such as van drivers, warehouse workers, young drivers, women, ethnic minorities and those that may have lost their jobs in hospitality and retail.

Three days into the campaign the pallet network is reporting that it has attracted a “substantial number of high-quality candidate applications”, including people with Class 1 and Class 2 licences, as well as bus and van drivers.

The network said this week that its recruitment campaign aims to encourage a far broader range of applicants to consider logistics.

MD Mark Kendall, pictured, said: “The driver shortage is a critical problem for the entire logistics industry, as seen in the appeals to government by the various trade bodies.

“We pride ourselves on stepping up and providing solutions for our partners, and we hope this campaign and recruitment mechanism will enable them to attract a wide variety of candidates into their operations.”

The social media campaign will work across several platforms, using advertising and standard posts. Candidates will be reviewed internally and placed with the most suitable partner depot.

Kendall added: “Any operation can poach existing drivers from another operation, but that doesn’t help the industry as a whole. We all have to step up and talk to those groups who could benefit from a career in logistics but do not traditionally think of applying or haven’t considered driving as a potential career.”

The campaign is targeting van drivers, including those in the gig economy, under-represented groups such as women and ethnic minorities, people either employed in, or recently made unemployed, from minimum wage sectors such as hospitality, retail or warehousing, who may want a better paid job and a more flexible career, and young drivers.

Kendall said: “It is our hope that we awaken far more people to the idea of vocational driving as a potential occupation. We will be collating responses centrally and helping them to find the right opportunity within the network. However, I hope this drives a cultural shift and awareness of logistics far beyond our network.

“The best solutions are never selfish solutions. Our ethos is of mutual benefit – every solution we create should benefit everyone involved, and, where possible, it should also benefit the widest number of people. So this is for the benefit of the candidates and our partners, which makes us stronger as a network, but it is also a contribution to the industry at large."