Community Transit's Videos to Recruit Coach Operators for Workforce Development

Target Audience: - Potential job applicants, including active and passive job-seekers. - Identified personas: We identified six different personas for people who make good bus driver candidates - People from other industries who may not be aware of why this position may be a good fit for them

Strategy Objective:- Target non-drivers We targeted people who may not think of themselves as professional drivers, showing them that it is a viable path to a new career. - Warm & cheerful content Our strategy was to be straightforward with our need of drivers but to add personality and warmth through handwritten cross-out text on the ads (see attached examples). - Highlight paid training - Stand-out style We used a graphical style that stands out and animates easily on different channels. - Keyword targeting We used keyword targeting to more effectively reach the right audience. - Appeal to those considering a career change We highlighted the appealing parts of being a bus driver to help entice non-drivers to consider applying.

Situation Challenge: - Growing need for coach operators o With a regional light rail system expanding into our service area, our need for more routes that connect people to regional public transit options also grows. o Alternatives to driving alone must be promoted and encouraged so that transportation demand is diversified across all available options as our region grows. - Challenging and competitive market conditions o In a competitive job market that has been further impacted by the pandemic, reaching qualified applicants has become even more challenging. o Our recruiting efforts are competing with other employers offering higher salaries, flexible work schedules, and hiring bonuses. We met the challenge of working within the constraints of what we can offer applicants.

Results Impact: - Our data-driven approach shows how our campaign impacted engagement with our bus driver page and encouraged applications. - From Jan. 2021 to Feb. 3, 2021, out of 48,300 visitors to our bus driver recruiting page, 34,133 (about 71%) were directly referred by our advertising (see Powerpoint for more data). - From Jan, 2021 to Aug. 2021, 1,566 applications were started for our coach operator positions. - Targeting user personas helped attract quality candidates and better tailor messaging to the people who wanted to engage with our jobs page. - Our bus driver recruiting page had 71,616 visitors between Jan. 2021 and Feb. 3, 2022. That's just shy of 2% of all website pageviews.+ - It was the 7th most visited page behind our homepage and trip-planning tools.

Why Submit: Our recruitment strategy was effective at meeting the need for more qualified applicants during a time when employers were struggling to get qualified candidates across all job markets. Our bus driver employment page attracted new visitors to our website who were curious about the position and eager to learn more. We are attracting applicants beyond our industry and new visitors to our website. The simple design, straightforward writing, and the use of multiple types of media helped our recruiting ads stand out in a competitive market. The strategic targeting using user personas helped us attract quality candidates.