Jobilla: Revolutionizing Recruitment for Murphy Bus Lines

A New Era of Recruitment Begins

Murphy Bus Lines, a family-owned and operated student transportation business since 1946, operates across seven locations in Southwestern Ontario with a team of 330 bus drivers. Many drivers are long-term employees, working at the company, largely due to the family-like atmosphere. However, finding good drivers has increasingly become a challenge - a critical issue for the business, as driver shortages could force the closure of routes, a situation that Murphy Bus wishes to avoid. Since the pandemic, the company has faced significant staffing issues.

Our Canadian partner, Krista Wright, was introduced to Rob Murphy in November 2023. At that time, Murphy Bus utilized traditional recruitment methods, including job boards, outdoor signage, mail-outs, social media, local libraries, and job fairs. While these methods had some success, the opportunity to target a passive audience with a unique approach was appealing, and they decided to trial pilot campaigns.
The team focused on key geographic regions for their initial bus driver campaigns, using highly personalized job ads customized to quickly attract individuals meeting key requirements.

From Challenges to Solutions: Jobilla's Role

Compared to traditional job fairs, which are long and grueling, requiring the team to sift through numerous resumes; Jobilla’s candidates are automatically aware of the basic job requirements through a quick questionnaire, which has significantly streamlined the filtering process, saving time.

Phyllis Hanson, a key member of the Murphy Bus Lines recruitment team, expressed gratitude for Jobilla’s modern approach, noting that it has facilitated multiple successful hires and eased the company’s transition into a modern recruitment age. She appreciated the user-friendly dashboard and how easily it facilitates information sharing within the team, significantly saving time and resources.

Eileen Walraven, Manager at Murphy Bus Lines, described their experience with Jobilla as transformative and highly valuable. She highlighted the positive feedback from candidates, particularly the drivers, who praised the company as a wonderful employer and appreciated the smooth and easy process of learning about opportunities through Jobilla. Eileen also valued the dashboard and system features, including email notifications, which enabled prompt communication with candidates.

Laura Kemp, a representative of Murphy Bus Lines, invited candidates to ‘be part of our family,’ reflecting the company’s welcoming and inclusive culture. Jobilla’s targeted campaigns have not only attracted new talent but also aligned with Murphy Bus Lines’ values, ensuring that candidates understand and resonate with the company’s ethos.