With the aging of the working population and the changing skills needs of the transportation industry – take the rise of self-driving cars, for example – multiple factors add up to a challenging recruiting environment for transportation companies. Airlines, logistic companies, trucking companies, rail, buses, and more will all benefit as the role of artificial intelligence in the hiring process expands. Eventually, using AI will become essential, not optional, for transportation recruiting.
The state of employment in the transportation industry
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data show that about 6.7 million people work in the transportation and warehousing sector, up from about 6.6 million a year ago. Perhaps another 1 million people, such as some self-employed taxi drivers, are not captured in the total. Transportation & warehousing employment is up about 57% from 20 years ago.
According to Revelio Labs, transportation and warehousing added 18,000 jobs in February 2025. Transportation roles grew 14.5% from the previous month, showing the largest growth rate among all sectors. This group includes bus drivers, truck drivers, and others, representing about 5% of U.S. employment. The unemployment rate in transportation is under 4%.
Challenges for transportation recruiting
Some of the reasons transportation recruiting can be particularly challenging include:
- Inconsistent demand, fluctuating based on seasonal factors and the strength or weakness of the consumer-led economy
- A shortage of workers who have the necessary certifications, such as credentials to operate specialized vehicles
- High turnover due to scheduling difficulties, work-life balance, and travel requirements, such as for flight attendants
- Competition luring away workers in many high-volume jobs with opportunities for a sign-on bonus or better pay
- An aging population and thus fewer experienced people in some transportation sectors, such as truck driving
- New technologies that are turning what were “blue collar” jobs into “gray collar jobs” requiring more skills, creating a skill gap. As an example, there will be an increasing number of roles working on autonomous vehicles.
- Long, legacy hiring processes. The federal government, for example, is trying to shave four months off the time it takes to hire an air traffic controller.
5 predictions for the future of transportation recruiting
Artificial intelligence like Winston is beginning to make an impact on recruiting in every sector. As artificial intelligence tools progress, they hold great promise for transportation employers as they address ongoing talent challenges. Here are some changes that AI will bring to transportation recruiting.
1. Better matching will handle the deluge of applicants
Some jobs posted are drawing literally thousands of job applications within hours. Recruiters find it overwhelming to sift through and determine the most qualified people for a job. Artificial intelligence will become more and more effective at solving this challenge. It will first be used to help companies hone in on the skills needed in an open job. It will help companies build job descriptions, and interview questions. Then, it will be able to examine the skills in all of the prospects in a company’s pipeline. This can include active candidates who apply; passive candidates found by the AI agent; employee referrals; past applicants; and current employees seeking new opportunities.
By matching the skills needed in a job and the skills and potential of each prospect in the pipeline, recruiters will begin to see the “application overload” less as a hassle and more as an opportunity to find great people for current jobs as well as strong prospects for future openings.
2. It will be easier to handle fluctuating demand
When a job requisition is opened up, recruiters using SmartRecruiters’ AI will automatically show the pipeline of candidates who are a match, based on past applicants and other available candidates. The AI technology will be able to contact applicants, send out screening questions, and set up interviews based on a recruiter’s preferences (such as a maximum of five interviews daily with 15-minute breaks between them). If it sees that a pipeline for delivery drivers in a given city, for example, is low, it can automatically pull in additional profiles of candidates to replenish the pipeline.
3. The pool of potential employees will broaden
Recruiters and managers sometimes default to people with industry experience. AI will increasingly help hiring teams surface qualified, talented applicants, regardless of where they worked prior, which colleges they attended, or whether they worked at big-name employers.
Take, for example, a potential employee with experience in the military that could prepare them for a job as an aviation meteorologist. Currently, recruiters and legacy technologies may not spot the fact that this prospect has the right background for an open job. They may see a confusing military code on the person’s application, or a military title different from private-sector job titles.
Leading artificial intelligence, having digested large amounts of data on millions of people, millions of jobs, and millions of skills, will know based on when and where the person worked in the military that they are a good potential prospect for the private-sector aviation job.
4. Candidate conversations will improve through the use of AI
Conversational AI will be a boon to both job candidates and employers. Candidates will be able to ask AI assistants questions about a job, such as scheduling questions related to a flight attendant job, and get human-like answers along with informative videos (“day in the life” type videos, for example) and articles from the company to help shed light on the job for the candidate. This will also help recruiters by allowing the best-fit candidates to self-select roles that appeal to them.
5. Recruiters will have less manual work
AI agents will increasingly handle work now done by recruiters, who often spend the majority of their time on administrative tasks. With AI handling more screening, interview scheduling, and matching, recruiters will be able to handle more requisitions. They will also have more time to build relationships with schools, associations, and community groups.
Trasportation recruiting needs new solutions now
Talent acquisition teams that explore all of the uses of artificial intelligence in the hiring process will be at a clear competitive advantage when hiring transportation employees. AI offers massive opportunities for efficiency improvements, an improved candidate experience, and a larger pipeline of talent. Recruiters adopting effective AI will be able to handle more requisitions and be better prepared for cyclical demand.
To learn more about how SmartRecruiters and Winston can help streamline transportation recruiting at your company, click the link below.
