Mover: What is the cost of hiring?

Why hire a mover?

Hiring a mover may be a necessary and beneficial addition to help your company’s growth. Whether you’re in the moving business or your company is going through a move itself, a good mover can alleviate stress and labor by employing safe practices and communicating clearly concerning items in a move. Time away from the logistics and heavy lifting will give you and your customers time to focus on other aspects during a move.

Contributions of a great mover include:

• A professional work attitude and greeting clients upon arrival
• Tracking and carefully moving, packing and unpacking items safely
• Effectively interfacing with clients
• Assisting drivers with truck and moving equipment inspections
• Stamina to lift heavy items repeatedly while walking, using stairs, etc.

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance mover

Businesses and individuals who are moving to new locations can hire freelance movers to assist them. They can help pack and relocate the company’s work equipment and furniture. Companies in the moving industry can also employ freelance movers to take on work their full-time employees were overbooked for or cover movers who couldn’t make it into work. 

Moving companies typically have plenty of full-time movers in their employ. Benefits to hiring full-time movers in the moving industry include lower hourly costs and a higher degree of accountability for safety procedures and work efficiency. 

What are the types of movers?

In the moving industry, there are many types of movers who perform different kinds of jobs. These movers include:

• Full-service movers: Full-service movers help clients pack up their belongings, load and unload the moving truck, transport the items to the location and unpack boxes and crates. 
• Residential movers: Residential movers specialize in helping clients move from one home to another.
• Commercial movers: Commercial movers help business clients pack and move their work equipment and furniture to a new office. 
• Local movers: Local movers help residential and commercial clients move to new locations in the area. This can mean buildings within 50 miles of the old one. 
• Long-distance movers: Long-distance movers specialize in driving clients’ belongings and furniture to locations in another state. 
• International movers: International movers can help clients pack their homes and arrange for the boxes and furniture to be shipped to a different country. 

Where to find movers

To find the right mover for your company, consider trying out a few of these recruiting strategies:

• Look online. Both freelance movers and moving companies can be found online. View their web pages to see if they offer services you need, and make contact to determine if they’re interested in the job.
• Post help wanted signs. Hanging help wanted signs can attract potential candidates for the position. 
• Hire a recruitment agency. For entry-level positions, such as movers, hiring a recruitment agency can yield many applications and resumes for potential candidates.
• Hire a temp agency. If your company needs a mover quickly, a temp agency can give you an employee for a brief time. 
• Post your job online. Try posting your mover job on Indeed to find and attract quality mover candidates.

Skills to look for in a great mover

Successful movers provide invaluable customer experience and convenience. By working efficiently, respectfully, and responsibly to keep track of, safely move, and effectively communicate with clients about their items, a skilled mover is able to conserve resources that might be used elsewhere.

Mover qualifications:

Writing a mover job description

A thoughtful description is important in finding qualified mover candidates. A mover’s job description should include a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your mover job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting . These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on mover jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Mover
• Moving company
• Hiring immediately
• Driver
• Warehouse
• Teen
• Laborer
• General labor
• Summer
• Mover helper

Interviewing mover candidates

Make the right mover hiring decision by thoroughly vetting candidates and asking targeted interview questions that will reveal their knowledge, skills and important personality traits.

Topics for mover interview questions:

• Ability to lift and move heavy objects repeatedly
• Customer interaction
• Maintaining documentation, such as client inventory

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of mover interview questions for examples (with sample answers).