Do any of your recruiting ads focus on attracting women drivers? If so, Women in Trucking might want to give you an award.

I recently wrote an editorial about why the trucking industry needs more women. I then got taken to task for making the assumption that you needed automatic transmissions to attract women drivers -- but maybe I should have focused on your pet policy, instead.

Even as a driver shortage is prompting carriers to look for ways to attract professional drivers, recruiting ads often look alike with home time, mileage pay, and driver incentives used to gain the attention of a potential employee. How many of these ads seem to assume the driver is a male?

The Women In Trucking Association is launching a Recruiting Ad Contest sponsored by Arrow Truck Sales. The contest will honor carriers whose advertisements focus on attracting women to their companies.

“Women look for different information in a recruiting ad than men,” says Ellen Voie, WIT’s President and CEO.

Research conducted by University of Wisconsin-Stout graduate students found that women value home time and benefits above other incentives. More than half of the respondents in the study were looking for the carrier’s pet policy, as pets provide greater security on the road.

Any carrier or their advertising agency can submit their best print recruiting ads for this award. The ads must have been created and printed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, and submissions must include the name and date of publication. Deadline for submission is Dec. 31 and can be sent to recruitingcontest@womenintrucking.org.

A committee chosen by Women In Trucking Association and Arrow Truck Sales will select the top three to five recruiting ads. Members of Women In Trucking will vote on the finalists. The winner will be announced at a press conference at the Mid-America Trucking Show next March in Louisville, Ky.

If you don't currently have any recruiting ads aimed toward women, you've still got half the year to put some in place. What do you have to lose? You could attract some great drivers, and maybe win an award to boot.