On this week’s episode of Taking the Hire Road, Nussbaum Transportation’s Joe Anderson, director of recruiting, and Caleb Gee, senior driver hiring manager, sat down with Jeremy Reymer, founder of DriverReach and Project 61, to discuss their new project, Truck Driver’s Best.
Anderson started his trucking career in the accounting department of Nussbaum Transportation, but the small fleet found it needed more help in recruiting. He has since spent the past decade learning the ins and outs of truck driver recruiting and retention, and the common complaints and struggles his drivers face are what led him to help establish Truck Driver’s Best.
“You see what these drivers have had to navigate to get to the right company, and that’s what really motivates me to help drivers in their career path,” Anderson said.
Likewise, Gee has worked with Nussbaum for roughly 10 years, starting as a driver manager before transitioning to the recruiting team. Unfortunately, Gee says, he’s seen the price drivers can pay for making the wrong decisions in their careers.
That, according to both Anderson and Gee, is why they co-founded Truck Driver’s Best – to provide resources so other drivers don’t have to learn through mistakes and challenges.
“The name ‘Truck Driver’s Best’ is meant to convey our intentions for drivers to live their best lives and have the best careers they can,” said Anderson.
“From this side of the wheel, we know that trucking provides incredible opportunities for drivers,” said Gee. “There are few other industries where you can work right out of high school and be able to make six figures within a few years of hard work.”
There are, however, downsides to being a truck driver, as both Anderson and Gee are aware. Being away from home, adhering to safety and training standards, and maintaining concentration over long hours are demanding and stressful.
“It’s hard for us to see drivers be willing to make those sacrifices and be away from their families but not be able to capitalize on that return and earn what they should be earning,” said Anderson.
Gee added, “Too many drivers make uninformed decisions that ultimately lead to years or even decades of squandered time where they don’t end up with stability, and that shouldn’t be so when there are better opportunities.”
Truck Driver’s Best seeks to empower truck drivers with knowledge on the front end so they can find the right trucking company without wasting time in various positions.
“Knowing what to look for, knowing how to present themselves in the hiring process and – when they’re already employed – knowing how to make strategic decisions for long-term career goals, that’s what we want drivers to get from us so they don’t have to suffer the consequences of learning the hard way,” said Anderson.
Some of that knowledge, according to Anderson, includes resigning the correct way to avoid burning bridges. “We’ve seen many decisions made rashly wind up harming drivers’ careers or reputations, which can really affect someone’s whole life,” he said.
In fact, the catalyst for Anderson and Gee’s endeavor was an incident where one of their own drivers faced a career setback.
“We had a driver who was going to leave Nussbaum to start his own company with his family,” Gee said. “They wanted to be owner-operators, but they didn’t understand the state of the freight industry from a 10,000-foot view enough to know how to run an independent operation.”
Within a few months, this driver had been unsuccessful and wanted to come back to Nussbaum. Thankfully, the driver’s career wasn’t over, but many cases like this have led Anderson and Gee to develop a list of helpful pieces of advice that can steer drivers in the right direction.
“Even simple questions you get during the hiring process can show you how many drivers are uneducated about how to properly advocate for themselves,” Gee said.
“They’ll often ask about cost per mile, but even a good rate won’t make them the money they want if they wind up on shorter routes. It’s that type of scenario we want to teach drivers about, so they ask the right questions.”
Ultimately, Anderson and Gee hope to reduce overall industry turnover, which they see as a massive industry wide issue for both employers and drivers.
“Anyone who works on the recruitment side will be well aware of how high and problematic turnover is,” Anderson said. “We see empowering the drivers from their perspective is the unturned stone of the retention and turnover problem,” he said.
“The more drivers understand how to navigate their careers, the more likely they are to end up at the right company, which will also make carriers more competitive in what they offer,” said Gee.
Book recommendations: “Start with Why” and “The Ideal Team Player”
Click here to learn more about Truck Driver’s Best.
Sponsors: DriverReach, Lanefinder, The National Transportation Institute, Career Now Brands, Carrier Intelligence, Infinit-I Workforce Solutions, WorkHound, Asurint, Arya By Leoforce, Seiza, Drive My Way, F|Staff, Trucksafe Consulting, Seated Social, Repowr