U.S. Xpress adopts Google technology to improve truck driver recruitment

Truckload carrier U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. said today it has adopted Google Inc.'s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology to improve its truck driver recruitment process by delivering fast-loading web pages on mobile devices.

Chattanooga, Tenn.-based U.S. Xpress is using the AMP software to optimize its recruitment websites and accelerate the application process for truck drivers, the company said.

In a test run, the AMP-enabled web pages loaded five times faster than U.S. Xpress' standard content, generating a 62-percent increase in completed job applications, the company said. That speed is critical in an economy where truck drivers and other potential hires increasingly use their phones and other mobile devices to access and complete job applications, U.S. Xpress said.

Based on the results of that 20-day test period, U.S. Xpress plans to implement AMP technology across all of its recruiting platforms in 2018. That initiative could generate cost savings above $1 million per year in recruitment costs by avoiding the slow loading times that sometimes frustrate applicants to the point where they abandon job applications before completing the forms, according to U.S. Express.

"One of the biggest challenges the trucking industry faces today is the growing shortage of drivers, and our industry has to find ways to improve our ability to recruit and hire drivers so we can meet the increasing shipping demands of our customers," U.S. Xpress CEO Eric Fuller said in a statement. "The reality is current recruitment websites are not always mobile friendly and often struggle with loading job applications in a timely manner."

Google launched the AMP Project in 2016 to improve the performance of the mobile web by allowing digital content to load quickly regardless of which device or platform a reader is using. The initiative is an open-source project led by Google with collaboration from technology companies including Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and WordPress.