CDLConnect Pro Case Study:
How a Carrier Reduced Recruiting Costs 17% and Increased Driver Hires by 145%
Overview
A carrier with a 90-year legacy on the road faced a familiar challenge: rising recruiting costs and limited visibility into where their driver recruiting budget was going. Despite a mix of in-house recruiters and agency support, driver flow was inconsistent, the hiring funnel lacked transparency, and trust in the process had begun to erode across recruiting and operations teams.
The carrier turned to CDLConnect Pro to centralize driver analytics, pinpoint bottlenecks, and create a predictable, high-performing driver pipeline. The result was one of the most dramatic performance turnarounds in our experience.
The Challenge
Even with decades of experience and strong branding, the carrier struggled with:
- Rising recruiting costs with no single source showing the exact reason for driver attribution
- A workflow spread across multiple tools, sources, and teams
- Unclear reasons behind driver drop-off
- Diminishing trust in hiring data
- Operational pressure to fill trucks and reduce empty-seat timeframes
CDLConnect Pro
CDLConnect Pro brought every driver, every data point, and every workflow into a single, connected view. With unified tracking and automated follow-up, the carrier could finally see:
- Which sources delivered quality driver applicants
- Exactly where drivers were dropping off in the process
- How quickly recruiters moved drivers through the funnel
- Operational delays affecting driver onboarding
- Where changes were needed to reduce hiring spend
With clear data in hand, improvements followed immediately.
The Results
Within 6 months of implementing CDLConnect Pro, the carrier saw an improvement in their analytics and workflows.
Budget Efficiency & Hiring Growth
17%
reduction in recruiting budget
145%
increase in drivers hired
Funnel Improvements
- Drivers outside hiring area down 22%
- Rejected drivers reduced by 46%
- Duplicate drivers reduced by 22%
- Approved-to-Hired rate improved by over 15%
- Orientation-to-Hired rate improved by over 25%
- Stranded drivers dropped by 63%
- 33% increase in drivers previously unreachable
Retention Impact
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30-day driver turnover reduced by 28%
Why It Worked
CDLConnect Pro accelerated recruiting success by delivering what had been missing:
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Full visibility across all driver sources – Every source in one place revealed exactly where spend was leaking.
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Automated follow-up to reduce driver fallout – Drivers who might have fallen out of the funnel were re-engaged and converted.
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Operational transparency – Recruiting and operations could identify bottlenecks, leading to better alignment and fewer empty trucks.
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In a trucking industry where recruiting costs are rising 25% on average, this carrier achieved the opposite: lower costs, more drivers hired, and clear control over their hiring funnel. CDLConnect Pro didn’t just improve performance — it restored trust in recruiting and gave leadership the visibility to plan with confidence.