How to Make Your Next Bus Driver Hire

Get data-driven information to help guide you through the hiring process. Then, when you’re ready, post your job to SimplyHired and reach top candidates from all across the web.

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Last updated at 09-17-2020 18:33:34

Overview

Methodology

More than 7,250 companies advertise 59,595 Bus Driver jobs on SimplyHired and its partner sites each year. After analyzing job postings and salary information from these companies, as well as direct job seeker feedback, we’ve compiled a list of insights to show you how to attract and hire your next Bus Driver most efficiently.

Hiring Process

In the past quarter, we’ve seen 13,209 job posts from 3,174 employers in the United States. This is a increase of 9.4% compared to the previous quarter. On average, there are 53 Bus Driver job seekers for every active Bus Driver job, which shows that it is a job seeker's market.

Writing a Job Description

In the past quarter, Truck Driver, Delivery Driver, Driver, Bus Driver, Customer Service Representative, Route Driver, Warehouse Worker, Shuttle Driver, Local Driver, and Courier seem to be the most sought after jobs amongst the Bus Driver candidates in the United States. This differs from the last six quarters, where the most popular titles were: Truck Driver, Delivery Driver, Driver, Bus Driver, Customer Service Representative, Route Driver, Shuttle Driver, Warehouse Worker, Local Driver, and Security Officer. If you use one of these currently popular titles in the job description, you'll likely be able to attract a lot more candidates to apply.

For the Bus Driver candidates who are actively applying to jobs in this same period, we see that 9.5% of the active Bus Driver candidates have less than 3 years of experience, 9.8% have between 3-5 years of experience, 21.9% have 6-10 years of experience, and 58.8% have over 10 years of experience. The average years of experience has shifted from an estimated 13.1 years to 12.5 years. If you're posting a job in today's market, expect candidates with about the same experience level to apply to your job compared to the last 2 quarters.

In the previous quarter, the most popular skills that employers are looking for include communication skills, commercial driving, driving, school bus driving, bus driving, customer service, English, human resources, paratransit, and computer skills. Demand for communication skills, writing skills, experience with children, van driver, English, human resources, paratransit, driving, interviewing, and employment & labor law has significantly increased. If you are looking for a Bus Driver with a similar skill set, be sure to follow industry best practices in skill requirements.

Job posts with salary information received about 2.1 as many applies as those without it. In the past quarter, less than 53.7% of the job posts displayed salary information. By adding salary information to your job posting, you could potentially increase the number of applicants by approximately 110.0%.

Example Bus Driver responsibilities

  • Review schedule to determine the best route from point A to point B and to foresee any disturbances on the bus route
  • Check vehicle for mechanical issues, including the safety of its tires and functioning of its engine
  • Drive bus safely, adhering to all traffic regulations
  • Collect money from passengers
  • Stop at all designated bus stops in order to pick up and drop off passengers

Recruiting

Active Recruiting

When reaching out to candidates, it’s best to understand where to look. We’ve identified hiring trends in states as well as companies regularly hiring for Bus Driver positions. This should provide a good place to start looking for qualified candidates. According to our data in the last quarter: California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois are the states that have the highest demand for Bus Drivers. Texas, New York, California, Florida, and Illinois are where most job seekers are searching for Bus Driver jobs. If we look at the Bus Driver to job ratio, South Dakota, Wyoming, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia have the lowest number of Bus Driver applicants per job. Hawaii, Nevada, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Maryland have the most active Bus Driver job seekers per job.

Passive Recruiting

While actively recruiting candidates for your role, you should also post your job to SimplyHired. By posting for free and paying only for the qualified applicants you want, your post will automatically go to a network of job boards to reach millions of qualified candidates. With SimplyHired, it doesn’t end with the post. You can track your applicants throughout the hiring process with our simple and easy to use Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

Review Candidates

In the last quarter, we estimate there are 693,714 job seekers interested in Bus Driver opportunities in the United States. That’s a 54.6% increase compared to the previous quarter with 448,746 active job seekers. Around 9.5% of the active Bus Driver candidates have less than 3 years of experience, over 9.8% have between 3-5 years of experience, 21.9% have 6-10 years of experience, and 58.8% have over 10 years of experience. The average experience level of the available Bus Driver candidates is 12.5 years. Active candidates in the Bus Driver profession most commonly have high school diplomas, followed by associate's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and master's degrees. When setting education requirements for your position, aligning with the industry standard makes it easier to find potential candidates. Application rates indicate that Bus Driver candidates are likely experiencing a market in which applicants have greater negotiating power. From an employer perspective, you'll likely have to attract several times more candidates to make a hire compared to other professions.

Interviewing Candidates

Interview Process

*Self-reported data collected from 18,647 Bus Drivers from 1/1/2020 to 6/30/2020, via online employer reviews for companies including First Student, Durham School Services, First Transit, MV Transportation, Transdev, Student Transportation Of America, National Express, Chicago Transit Authority, Greyhound, and Stagecoach.

After analyzing post-interview data from Bus Driver candidates in the last 6 months, we see more than 48.0% of the candidates self-reported being hired within 1 to 2 days. Around 83.3% of the candidates for this job reported being hired within 2 weeks. If your process takes longer than 2 weeks in the recent market, you'll likely lose these candidates to other employers. Most of the Bus Driver candidates are expecting a on-site interview, background check, drug test, and written test. Most employers do not require a problem solving exercises or group interview. If you are trying to hire your next Bus Driver quickly, consider simplifying and streamlining the hiring process. As for the interview experience, more than 69.5% of the candidates had a good or great interview experience, and more than 53% of the candidates thought that the interview leaned more towards easy.

Example Interview Questions

  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  • What do you think needs to be changed or enhanced about our company?
  • Have you ever worked for a bus company before?
  • Are you able to handle the responsibility the job description entails?
  • Do you have numerous accidents in your driving history and if yes, can you explain WHY they occurred, the measures that were taken to modify/correct them, and how those measures resulted in fewer accidents in the future?

Final Review and Offer

Reference Check

Checking references is a quick and easy way to check for any red flags that didn’t arise to this point in the hiring process. Great insights can be provided by former colleagues and employers.

Crafting an Offer: Salary and Benefits

The average Bus Driver salary offered by employers increased for 2 out of 6 consecutive quarters in the United States. In the last quarter, we see a decrease of 1% from $36,815.84 to $36,519.47 compared to the quarter before, which is on par with the past 6 quarters. For Bus Driver positions, the most common benefits job seekers reported being offered by employers include: healthcare insurance by 77.6%, dental insurance by 71.3%, vision insurance by 66.3%, paid time off by 61.1%, a 401k plan by 49.6%, discounts by 22.7%, and stock options/grants by 8.2%. While still relatively rare, more and more employers now offer flexibility benefits, including maternity leave, fully remote, sabbaticals, mostly remote, flexible working hours, location variety, paternity leave, and somewhat remote, to attract and retain Bus Driver candidates to their organization.

Background Check and Drug Test

According to self-reported job seeker feedback, 52.9% of the employers conducted a background check, and 47.7% of the employers conducted a drug test prior to the hiring of their Bus Driver candidates.

Onboarding

When you’re ready to hire a Bus Driver, SimplyHired is here to help with your next steps. Our Human Resources Information System (HRIS) provides onboarding tools and other essential HR tools. From document signing to time off tracking, our HRIS will help you seamlessly move a Bus Driver candidate through the hiring and onboarding process.
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