How Volta Trucks is using LinkedIn to accelerate rapid growth plans and establish a sustainable brand strategy
SUCCESS STORY
Electrifying growth plans requires a switched-on approach to recruitment
Volta Trucks is an ambitious startup that has huge plans to revolutionise the logistics sector. It is determined to transform city center environments by producing safe, sustainable, and fully electric trucks that will reduce the environmental impact of freight deliveries in urban locations and protect vulnerable road users.
In September 2020, the company unveiled the Volta Zero, a purpose-built, fully-electric 16-tonne truck with a central seating position and a large cab window, providing enhanced driver visibility.
The prototype excited the logistics market so much that in November 2021, Volta Trucks announced Europe’s largest purchase of full-electric trucks; DB Schenker pre-ordered 1,470 vehicles. This followed Petit Forestier’s pre-order of 1,000 Volta Zeros.
As more countries ban diesel vehicles from major city centers, demand is expected to escalate. Hence, the level of interest in the company has exploded.
In the last 12 months, Volta Trucks has increased its headcount by a staggering 598 per cent and has employees working in 14 countries. Now, Volta Trucks wishes to accelerate its growth plans and has chosen LinkedIn as a strategic partner to assist with its rapid growth journey and talent brand strategy.
THE CHALLENGE
Fast paced and flat-out – scaling up recruitment plans
“Finding the right staff with the right mentality in a market that has skills shortages is tough,” explains Glenn Hiscocks, Recruitment Manager at Volta Trucks. “The automotive industry is incredibly competitive. Even if you are a well-established brand, talent can be hard to find. Volta is a new player – we want to revolutionise the market and establish ourselves as a pioneer in sustainability, so we have had to be smart about how we attract the best talent to the business.”
In the last 12 months, Volta Trucks has been recruiting extensively. In 2021, the business had 41 employees. Now, Volta Trucks has 465 employees, and that figure is growing at an exponential rate.
“We will soon be manufacturing Volta Trucks,” Glenn continues. “We’re scaling up. Thanks to the level of interest that our trucks have received, we have decided to accelerate our growth plans. We had plans to make 7.5, 12, 16, and 18 tonne trucks. We launched the 16-tonne truck, and we were going to stagger the development of the other three, but we’ve decided to go for it. We’re flat out and everyone is running at 100 miles per hour.”
However, rapid product development brings challenges. Glenn says: “We’re building a truck as quickly as we can but to do that we need to recruit as quickly as we can.”
THE SOLUTION
An enterprising solution for an enterprising business
Volta Trucks turned to LinkedIn for help. It needed to recruit skilled engineering and research and development professionals in several countries, as well as commercial teams and sales expertise.
“When I joined the company, I was given a recruiter licence,” Glenn continues. “As the recruitment team grew, we added more licences but then our customer success manager talked to us about how we could increase brand awareness and employer branding activities.”
Volta Trucks’ recruitment team chose to adopt LinkedIn Enterprise. The platform’s features – such as Careers Page – would benefit Volta during its hyper growth phase.
“LinkedIn is our primary source of recruitment and marketing,” adds Glenn. “It’s the only channel where we spend money on job adverts. We chose it because it gives us access to all markets and a global reach.”
Driving change through gamification
Volta Trucks focuses on sustainability and game changing safety designs to position the company as an employer of choice. To attract the best talent, Volta Trucks must remain strategic and one step ahead of its competitors.
“We created a referral programme and incentivised our employees to shout about our employment opportunities,” says Glenn. “Who better to tell people about our company’s vision than the people already working within the business.”
Volta Trucks used a third party to build a software tool that would work with LinkedIn. The tool leveraged employees’ networks and enabled employees to share Volta Trucks content and roles. In fact, the tool enabled employees to search their wider networks, share jobs, and message people with relevant links.
“We gamified the referral programme,” Glenn continues. “We gave employees a token [with a monetary value] for sharing a job, they then received another token if the message was viewed. If we received a job application, they received more tokens and if their contact was interviewed or got the job, they got even more tokens. This certainly pulled traffic into our funnel.”
Using LinkedIn to achieve sustainable growth
Glenn describes employee engagement as brilliant. Every month, around 40 per cent of employees share content and job roles to their network. This results in roughly six hires per month. “My timeline is full of people sharing our job vacancies,” says Glenn.
However, it is not the only success. LinkedIn Enterprise is having great success too.
Glenn explains: “In 2021, Volta Trucks would get around 125 job applicants per month. When we upgraded to LinkedIn Enterprise, all our jobs went live on the jobs board. Currently, we have around 200 live roles and now we get around 1,700 job applicants a month from LinkedIn.”
Looking to the future, Volta Trucks has confirmed that it will soon launch in Paris and London, and it has also identified Madrid, Milan, the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany, and the Randstad region of the Netherlands as launch locations.
“Our hiring plans change on a daily basis,” Glenn continues. “We want to have more than 1,000 employees by the end of 2023, and we would like to employ 2,000 people by 2024.”
But to do that, Glenn will need help. He concludes: “LinkedIn has played a key role in our growth plans and has been crucial in attracting the right talent. Volta Trucks has ambitious plans, and I am certain that LinkedIn will continue to play a key role in our development.”
Main product used:
THE RESULTS
Incredible growth
1034%+
In June 2021, Volta Trucks had 41 employees. The company now has 465 employees (a 1,034% increase) All have been hired through LinkedIn.
Increase in applicants
172%+
172% applicant growth following adoption of LinkedIn Enterprise
More brand awareness
1,900%+
LinkedIn has increased job views from 1,500 to 30,000, a 1,900% increase.
In their own words
“LinkedIn is our primary source of recruitment and marketing. It's the only channel where we spend money on job adverts. We chose it because it gives us access to all markets and gives us a global reach.”
“Not only does LinkedIn work extremely well as a resource for our recruiters, attracting the finest talent to the company, but it’s also well recognised as the network where most of our potential customers, as buyers of trucks, connect with each other. We see significant engagement with the Volta Trucks journey from our LinkedIn audiences, as we migrate them from awareness and consideration, into conversion and even employment!”
About Volta Trucks
Volta Trucks is a scale-up, full-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer and services company. Volta Trucks’ head office is in Stockholm, Sweden, with its engineering led from the UK, and contract manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria. The company also has sales teams across France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK. Volta Trucks is partnering with several global leaders in the supply chain for the development and production of the Volta Zero.
INDUSTRY:
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
No. OF EMPLOYEES:
201-500
HEADQUARTERS
Sigtuna, Stockholm County
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