Bolus Freight: Time to hire cut to 5 days.
How Bolus Freight Systems Hit a 78% Application to Hire Rate with Array HQ Talent Solutions
Bolus Freight Systems hires 78% of everyone who applies. Five days from application to orientation. Robert Trently, their Director of Recruiting and Retention, leads with that number every time he tells this story.
The Bolus companies have run freight out of Scranton, PA for more than 80 years, with additional terminals in Syracuse and Buffalo, NY. Trently has spent 13 years in transportation and logistics, the last four focused entirely on recruitment and retention.
Before working with Array HQ Talent Solutions, Bolus pulled about 50 indirect applicants a month and converted 10 hires from that pool. A 20% conversion rate. Time from application to hire ran over two weeks.
That changed fast. Conversion jumped to 78%. Time to hire dropped to five days. "The conversion rate is 78% for Talent Solutions, that number is ridiculous," Trently said. "78% of people who apply, I hire. It's incredible, and that number speaks for itself."
The five day number isn't an estimate. "The application comes in on Monday, and they are in orientation by Friday," Trently said.
Talent Solutions runs Bolus's campaigns end to end, not just job postings. When a listing stalls, the account team adjusts it fast. "I find the service very good because Amanda reaches out at least weekly, and her turnaround time on emails from her is about six or seven seconds," Trently said.
Bolus runs truckload and LTL freight out of Scranton. Drivers were the constraint. Open seats sat for over two weeks.
Application to hire rate
Up from job board sourcing and cold outreach.
Time to hire
Down from over two weeks.
Disclaimer: Results shown are based on the actual experiences of Array customers. Results vary by customer and circumstances, and no particular outcome is guaranteed.
Direct leads, not indirect noise
Trently's history with major job boards followed a pattern: an indirect applicant calls in, asks "Who is this?", and the next 45 minutes goes to explaining a company they never actually applied to.
Talent Solutions doesn't send those. "The direct leads they fire over to me are just ridiculous," Trently said. "They already know about the company, and that is why they are applying." He's tried texting, emailing, every channel available. None of it compares to a direct phone call from someone who already wants the job.
Vetting time dropped roughly 75% once Bolus switched over. Every lead through the platform is qualified before it reaches Trently's desk. "They are all new and fresh," he said. "100% of all the leads that come through Talent Solutions are qualified."
Driver retention is one of the hardest problems in freight. A single open seat can blow a delivery deadline, cost a customer, and cut into revenue. That's the problem Bolus solved by moving its recruitment budget away from indirect lead sources and into direct outreach.
150 trucks and climbing
Six months in, Bolus grew its fleet from a smaller count to 124 trucks. Today they run over 150, with more than 20 new trucks arriving in the next month and a target past 200. Not one empty truck sits in their lot right now. Trently's read on it: "Talent Solutions is a life hack."
Before switching, Trently spent his time manually bidding on job boards and running Bolus's social accounts. Now that work runs through Talent Solutions, freeing him up to do the job he was actually hired for. "If I didn't know about Talent Solutions, to be honest, I'd be looking for a similar solution," he said.
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