By Al Muskewitz
 
The recruiting team at DART Transit had been looking for ways to streamline its driver orientation program. They were rolling it out slowly, then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the team decided there was no time like the present.

DART’s fast-track orientation has reduced an in-house process that had taken as many as three days down to a couple of hours, getting more qualified drivers on the road quicker, allowing them to become more productive for themselves and the carrier faster than ever before. 
 
And in this coronavirus-era age of social distancing, it just might become the standard industry practice.

Where once DART had to reserve a block of days in the middle of the week for orientation classes of 40-50 drivers, now it can seat them any day of the week Monday through Friday.

“We knew bringing a driver into our building for the three-day orientation that we used to do is just not all that advantageous with everything that’s going on,” DART director of recruiting Adam Williams told Wright Media. “We’ve significantly pared it down.
 
“We were working to take it to a two-day orientation and that was about the time all of this hit, and that’s when we really accelerated this. We were working to shorten it. Coronavirus definitely accelerated this.”
 
Much of the preliminary work, of course, is done before a driver even gets to the facility, so no element of the hiring process is lost or overlooked in the expedited approach.
 
Once the recruiter gets a driver's application, he checks credentials – six months of verified experience for a company driver, 12 months for lease drivers – runs the necessary background reports, schedules an off-site physical and drug screen at one of the 200-some associated clinics, then sets up travel arrangements for the on-site requirements.
 
All of the education elements that used to take place on site have been transferred online to the LUMA adult learning platform. Accommodations are made for the less tech-savvy drivers to complete the online learning during their on-site visit, which doesn’t add much time to the process – and in this industry, time is money.
 
When the drivers do arrive at any of DART’s three operations centers – Eagan, Minn.; Ellenwood, Ga.; and Lancaster, Texas – they’ll do a road test, get introduced to an operations leader, meet with safety managers, sign some paperwork and then get on the road.
 
“That’s one of the things I make sure I have the recruiters telling these drivers,” Williams said. “A lot of drivers we talk to, a decent amount of them are currently working. One of the biggest things I’ve seen in the recruiting aspect is when drivers go ahead and leave a company they really have potentially a two- or three-week period where they’re out of pay.
 
“Now, this can be a very smooth transition where a driver is not going to lose much because everything we need them to accomplish they can do before they even step in our building. The big thing they do once they get here is the road test and after that it’s all dotting I’s and crossing T’s.”
 
In the first three weeks of its virtual orientation, DART has seated 70 new drivers.
 
“Once they come into our building there’s a very high success rate,” Williams said.
 
Of course, there’s a lot to be said about face-to-face contact, but DART doesn’t just leave its charges on their own after they leave the yard. During the first six weeks on the job company officials do weekly check-ins with the new drivers to make sure they don’t feel isolated.
 
In this time when getting essential goods to store shelves is critical, it’s more important than ever to get qualified drivers out on the road quickly.
 
One of DART’s biggest customers is a major producer of household goods, so there’s a very good freight base in the current situation to keep its 1,450 dry van company drivers and independent contractors on the road providing for their families.
 
“That’s really where I feel DART’s going to be able to help separate themselves,” Williams said. “We are in a very fortunate situation right now when you take a look at what’s going on with this country and the world in general. Anybody who’s with DART Transit, they’re able to continually work and make a good paycheck. It’s not affecting us nearly as much as other carriers.”

Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com

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