Why Strong Leadership Is the Key to Driver Recruiting Success

00:00 - 00:25Rebecca Rivera: There was a time where I would say it was like an epiphany. You know, I felt like I was so focused on constant, like, improvement mentality. And while that is still there, it absolutely will never go away. I realized I was not recognizing our wins as equally as I was focusing on improvement. So while we still focus on improvement, we really focus a lot on winning.

00:41 - 00:58Ginger Craddock: Rebecca, you've worked your way from the recruiter's desk to leading the recruiting department. What have those years taught you about the difference between managing recruiting numbers and building a team that consistently delivers results?

01:00 - 01:13Rebecca Rivera: Really, gender, I don't necessarily think there's a big difference. I mean, the numbers are still there. You have the goals. You wanna meet the goals, and those goals matter. But building a team, you...

01:13 - 01:36Rebecca Rivera: They have to know, you know, what are the goals, sharing the goals, making sure they are supported in being able to reach their goals. And that comes with making sure that you are giving them, you know, a proper number of leads. You're giving them the support and coaching that they need, and you are there to help them meet those goals consistently.

01:37 - 02:07Ginger Craddock: That relationship that you have with your team shows, and that I believe is the secret sauce of why you've been able to scale your leadership and your team. Because what I know about you, Rebecca, is you've spent nearly two decades in driver recruiting, including more than sixteen years at Martin Transport. How has your experience recruiting drivers firsthand shaped the way that you lead today?

02:08 - 02:41Rebecca Rivera: I think it's given me a true understanding for what I'm asking my team to do. I understand the challenges that come with recruiting drivers. I understand that you, as a recruiter, can do everything right. You can respond to the application quickly, get the driver on the phone, build rapport, you know, run, everything, reports quickly, get through the hiring process very quickly, and then come orientation, they no show or they ghost you. And I understand that's, you know, how frustrating that is.

02:41 - 03:04Rebecca Rivera: And I'm able to talk through those challenges and and talk to the team. And most importantly, you know, when things like that happen, I'm able to help them understand that, you know, let's be positive. There's always positive in something, and, you know, we have to move forward and continue to work as hard as we can to get the drivers.

03:05 - 03:24Ginger Craddock: I appreciate that frame of empathy you have because you've been in the seat and that feeling of the high of, oh, I've got them. They're coming to orientation. They're a great fit for Martin. And then it's a no show. You're sensitive to the to the high emotions and the hard emotions that are felt as well.

03:25 - 03:31Ginger Craddock: And I appreciate that, but still staying motivated and big picture and empathetic.

03:31 - 03:32Rebecca Rivera: Yes. Absolutely.

03:32 - 03:51Ginger Craddock: And and you do that with excellence. As as you've moved from recruiting drivers to leading the people who recruit the drivers, what have you had to stop doing personally so your team could become more successful?

03:52 - 04:25Rebecca Rivera: I've had to stop jumping in and taking over. Having done the job, that is, you know, my first instinct. It's like, well, I would do it this way or let's do it that way. Instead, I've learned to take a step back, ask them what their thoughts are, how they think they should move forward, what they would do, and allow them to create their own path to success and not the path that I, you know, want them to follow or I think is the best way to follow. And it allows them the autonomy to be able to do that and make decisions.

04:25 - 04:44Rebecca Rivera: You know, if I'm not available, I want them to be able to do that anyway. So it's that's what I've had to learn is to take a step back and allow them to figure out things on their own, find solutions on their own, and then, you know, share those with me. And if they make a mistake, then we learn from it and move on.

04:46 - 05:23Ginger Craddock: Mistakes and successes are both building blocks. And I've definitely found in my journey and and even as far along as I am in my career, there are still mistakes, but they're opportunities for growth. And, really, what I've seen throughout my career is my mistakes have produced deeper and better long term results often time than my successes. So I love your approach to managing that with your team. It's not if we as humans are gonna make mistakes and have opportunity to learn.

05:23 - 05:55Ginger Craddock: It's not if, it's when, and it's how we navigate that. And that support in them navigating that is another secret to your success. I hear you take a step back, ask them, and you're also not prescribing what you think is success to them. How do you draw out of your individual team members some of their dreams and visions? Because I believe people wanna be a part of something that's bigger than themselves, and they've got personal goals.

05:55 - 05:59Ginger Craddock: How do you draw that out with your individual team members?

05:59 - 06:18Rebecca Rivera: I mean, just conversations, You know, making sure I know them, they feel comfortable coming to me, having those conversations. You know, what is it that they want? Where do they see themselves? You know, some people are very happy and content doing exactly what they're doing today, and that's perfectly fine. That's amazing.

06:19 - 06:28Rebecca Rivera: And some do want more. And so, you know, having those conversations on what more looks like, how we can get there, and what is the path forward for that.

06:29 - 06:57Ginger Craddock: That's that's true leadership is influence and expanding the opportunities for others as as you grow as well. That's incredible. Let's think about urgency without sacrificing relationships because I have found that that can be a rub or the struggle bus for me. Driver recruiting demands speed, but relationships require trust. And I would also say trust in time.

06:58 - 07:07Ginger Craddock: How do you create a sense of urgency without sacrificing the driver experience or without burning your recruiting team out?

07:07 - 07:37Rebecca Rivera: I think the big big piece of urgency comes from your response time, calling the dryer... You know, calling the drivers back when they call in and you happen to miss their call in a timely manner. Urgency also is is, you know, working their application quickly, getting them approved quickly, getting them, you know, set up for class quickly. But where you take the time is the conversations. You slow down.

07:37 - 07:52Rebecca Rivera: You really get to know the driver, what it is that they're looking for in a driving opportunity. Make sure you have a good match, and you take that time to build that relationship. But on the back end, that should be a pretty urgent process.

07:55 - 08:29Ginger Craddock: What I'm hearing in the picture that you're painting is accountability and compassion can coexist. You describe your leadership style as balancing accountability with compassion. What does that look like when a recruiter is struggling to meet expectations? Because again, that's not an if, it's a win for each of us no matter what our role is. So what does that look like when a recruiter is struggling to meet expectations?

08:30 - 08:41Rebecca Rivera: I think that looks like taking the time to talk with them. You know, where is it that they are struggling? Is it something in the processes? Is it the conversations they're having? Are there obstacles in the way?

08:41 - 09:11Rebecca Rivera: It's my job to remove any obstacles that, you know, they feel are hindering them from success. And it's understanding, you know, do they have something going on at home that is carrying over into the workplace? And working through those challenges, you know, to help them succeed and meet their goals. Accountability is always going to be there, and it's my job to make sure I'm supporting them and understanding where they're at, meeting them where they're at, and helping guide them to success.

09:13 - 09:35Ginger Craddock: Absolutely. So let's look at the numbers behind the people. As you've referenced, you're a data driven leader. Which recruiting metrics tell you whether your team is truly performing and which numbers can create a misleading picture of success?

09:37 - 09:58Rebecca Rivera: I think I like to look at our retention rate. I think that's very important because you can get a higher, and and that number does matter. But if you're getting a higher and they're quitting a week later, what is it that we did? Did we not represent the position accurately? Did we, you know, not...

09:58 - 10:16Rebecca Rivera: Were we not transparent enough with the expectations? You know, what exactly did we get wrong? Our job is to hire qualified drivers that stay. And so I think the metrics that's often overlooked or not emphasized enough is the retention part... Piece of the recruiters.

10:17 - 10:55Ginger Craddock: As the driver pool of qualified professional drivers that meet the expectations compresses, that piece that's been overlooked, the retention, is becoming a hot topic now. And it's been a part of your story all along. This is not a new concept. So we know that recruiting doesn't end with the hire. You've painted the picture that we're looking further through the pipeline through retention.

10:55 - 11:10Ginger Craddock: How important is alignment between recruiting operations and the driver management in delivering the experience that a driver was promised to promote that retention?

11:11 - 11:31Rebecca Rivera: It's so important. I think that it's... There are so many different nuances with driving jobs. You know, some driving jobs, they have driver assist or they have full driver unload. Or, you know, there's little things that they do differently at the shipper receiver, you know, with one dedicated route versus another.

11:31 - 12:01Rebecca Rivera: And so I think it's so important for recruiters to understand what does a day in the life for a driver running that route for that customer or that regional route for various customers look like. And to have a true rep, you know, be able to truly represent, hey, this these are the expectations. This is what your day is... Day to days are going to look like. And being able articulate that and make sure that the drivers are understanding what they are signing up for.

12:01 - 12:06Rebecca Rivera: And I think that is so important. And obviously, that plays into the retention piece.

12:07 - 12:45Ginger Craddock: Absolutely. And I'm putting myself in the seat of a driver right now and let's say that I have experience with another carrier. What I'm seeing at Martin lines up with the lanes I wanna run, the type of freight I wanna do. What are some things if I'm an experienced driver, but yet I don't know the Martin Way yet? Paint that picture of what that alignment looks like and what your onboarding and operations team would be doing to help me connect with the job at Martin with the realistic expectations?

12:45 - 13:05Rebecca Rivera: Sure. So the recruiter is the front end of that. They're going to explain, and they are provided the information from operations. And if that driver has any additional details, they have operations right at their fingertips, they can oftentimes walk into the next room and ask them, you know, any questions that they're... They may not know.

13:06 - 13:31Rebecca Rivera: But knowing the lane, knowing the, you know, the ins and outs of the day starts with the recruiter and explaining that. And we do an onboarding process, and we spend a good amount of time explaining to them, you know, these are Martin's expectations, and these these are our practices. This is how we operate. This is what we expect out of you. This is what you can expect out of us, and this is how we operate on a daily basis.

13:32 - 13:49Rebecca Rivera: You know, driving a truck at the end of the day is the same. You know, we are all looking for safe drivers, but, you know, maybe we do paperwork a little bit differently. You know, our pay stubs look a little bit different. So we try to make sure that they understand that. You know, these are our paperwork processes.

13:49 - 14:03Rebecca Rivera: This is what your pay stub is going to look like. Here are the details on that. You know, here's how we handle breakdowns. Here's how we handle accident reporting. So those are those are different from company to company.

14:03 - 14:09Rebecca Rivera: And so we try to make sure that we are making, you know, painting a very clear picture from the beginning.

14:11 - 14:57Ginger Craddock: I love that and helping them see what the Martin Way looks like, because at the end of the day, driving the truck and moving the freight is the key thing. And so what I'm hearing is the pieces that you guys are putting together for them help give them security in what those processes are so that they can focus on driving the truck and it reduces any stress or tension of learning the new systems. And when they do experience, again, a when not an if, When they do experience something, oh, I didn't retain it from orientation, they've got... They know who to contact on your team to get that answered quickly so they can get back to moving free.

14:57 - 15:08Rebecca Rivera: Absolutely. And we have driver mentors available to them. Our operations staff is available. You know, they can come into the terminal, speak face to face. It doesn't even have to be their home terminal.

15:08 - 15:30Rebecca Rivera: They can go to another terminal and ask questions. You know, we're always there to help. And the driver mentors have been a huge, you know, valuable resource for us because they're drivers and they understand, you know, they've probably been to that customer before. And so they can say, hey, make sure you enter this way and not, you know, not that way. Make sure you have this.

15:30 - 15:38Rebecca Rivera: You know, just little things like that along the way will help make a drivers... A new driver to Martin's life much easier.

15:39 - 15:57Ginger Craddock: Absolutely. They may have been to thousands of docs in their career, but we know the nuances of trucking. And so I love the the driver mentors. Hiring CDL drivers isn't about more leads. It's about better ones.

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16:35 - 16:49Ginger Craddock: Hire Truckers by Trucking Clicks. Clarity, Courage, Results. Tell me a little bit more about how that's working and what kind of feedback have you heard from your drivers because of that program?

16:49 - 17:00Rebecca Rivera: We've had that... We've had this program for quite a while. It's been a huge success. I mean, it is just amazing. I mean, just to have another driver out there, you know, for the...

17:00 - 17:25Rebecca Rivera: For our new Martin drivers to rely on has been tremendous. And we get feedback, positive feedback all the time just from the new, you know, the new driver saying, you know, so and so is my mentor. They've been so helpful to me. You know, they build a brotherhood, sisterhood, you know, brother, sisterhood, and they maintain contact forever even when they don't need... Necessarily need them for job related tasks.

17:25 - 17:29Rebecca Rivera: You know, a lot of them gotten to know each other on a personal level.

17:29 - 18:26Ginger Craddock: And knowing the amount of time that drivers spend in the cab of a truck alone oftentimes if they're solo drivers, that community is critical. Not only having a community, but a community of drivers that understands and can empathize. So having that support of your operations team, your recruiting team, but also other drivers is really full circle. So when we think about building leaders, I'm going to pivot now to not just building leaders or when I pivot to building leaders, not just recruiters, not just drivers, because we see leadership is among drivers and recruiting. So what qualities do you recognize in someone who has the potential to be a great recruiting leader or a great driver mentor?

18:26 - 18:30Ginger Craddock: And how do you intentionally develop those qualities? Sure.

18:32 - 19:12Rebecca Rivera: The first thing, you know, is someone who will listen, someone who takes accountability, someone who has a positive attitude, someone who offers support and uplifts their teammates or uplifts one another. You know, those are the traits and qualities I think, first and foremost, you know, kind of show someone's leadership ability. And then if I recognize that, you know, I maybe make them a mentor in the Recruiting department or a team lead or ask them if they're okay, you know, working on an additional project and see how they, you know, handle that and just foster that behavior and see where they want to go.

19:13 - 20:13Ginger Craddock: I love that example of giving another project in the context of their regular work. You're looking for those who want more and you're balancing it with those who are like, hey, I love the routine of what I'm doing. That connects back to the first part of our conversation, really looking intentionally at your individual team members on an individual basis. And so I love that project idea and and helping to grow them in the areas that they're interested in. So thinking about the future of driver recruiting before we jump to our next piece, as technology, AI, and driver expectations continue to evolve, what do you believe will separate high performing recruiting organizations from everyone else?

20:15 - 20:32Rebecca Rivera: I think the use of AI will bring tremendous value. I mean, we are using it ourselves, but I think that it's... I see it more on the administrative side. How can it make things faster? How can it alleviate some of the mundane tasks that recruiters have to do?

20:32 - 20:53Rebecca Rivera: How can it free up their time to have more meaningful conversations with drivers and build those relationships? So I think that that's where I see, you know, strong organizations using AI is having it take care of things that recruiter... To free up recruiters' time to spend more time with the drivers.

20:54 - 21:45Ginger Craddock: Absolutely. And part of that freeing up more time is its ability to analyze data and give feedback ahead of the time that it would take me in the past to analyze data manually. And so getting quicker insights from the actual data has been lifting across the entire industry and not just in our industry, many industries. And so the human connection is not going away. I hear you AI is actually giving us a lift to the mundane and giving us more time ideally for the things that humans do best.

21:46 - 22:00Ginger Craddock: So can you share a moment in your leadership journey when you realize your team's success depended more on how you led than what you personally accomplished?

22:01 - 22:12Rebecca Rivera: Sure. So there was a time where I would say it was like an epiphany. You know, I felt like I was so focused on, let's improve this. Let's do this. Let's...

22:12 - 22:28Rebecca Rivera: Hey. We can work on this. You know, it's constant, like, improvement mentality. And while that is still there, it absolutely will never go away. I realized I was not recognizing our wins as equally as I was focusing on improvement.

22:28 - 22:58Rebecca Rivera: So that's been a time in my leadership that I, you know, pivoted and been like, okay. Well, we need to also recognize the wins because we're having wins along the way while still improving. So that's, you know, I think that was a big part of my team's success. Because when you see, you know, people being recognized for wins or, you know, areas being recognized for wins, it helps push you to also... You want that same recognition, and you wanna win.

22:58 - 23:04Rebecca Rivera: So while we still focus on improvement, we really focus a lot on winning. What

23:04 - 23:20Ginger Craddock: are some practical ways that... Because I think this is a cultural shift to focus on the wins. What are some practical ways that you've integrated in celebrating wins with your team?

23:21 - 23:34Rebecca Rivera: I do. So we... I started an annual recruiter of the year, employee department employee of the year. We do it quarterly as well. I've broken it out.

23:35 - 23:48Rebecca Rivera: Annually felt like that was too far of a stretch. I'm like, we need to celebrate this along the way. And we do it... We celebrate Wednesdays daily, weekly, you know, and then monthly and quarterly. So they get certificates.

23:48 - 24:02Rebecca Rivera: They... And they love it, and it's so exciting. And I love to see, you know, them receive these awards. And some of it's, you know, performance based, some of it's team recognition. So we do a little bit of both.

24:02 - 24:35Rebecca Rivera: And, you know, if someone... I mentioned the daily win earlier, you know, if someone... If we have a hard to fill account and someone schedules a driver and is able to hire that driver, I mean, those are those are the types of wins that we celebrate daily. So we're just always looking for ways to celebrate wins. And those are some practical ways to do it is just sit back and, you know, recognize the performance and have your team involved to be able to vote, you know, who's most helpful, who's most uplifting, who's someone you enjoy walking in every day and working beside.

24:35 - 24:37Rebecca Rivera: So I think that's important.

24:38 - 24:51Ginger Craddock: That's key. Who do you enjoy working alongside? Think about the amount of hours that we spend at work away from our people that we really love and value at home. So who do you enjoy working with? I love that.

24:51 - 25:07Ginger Craddock: So as your approach changed to focusing on wins, what impact did you see on your team? So you had the shift as the leader, Then what impact did that have on your team?

25:07 - 25:18Rebecca Rivera: Morale. I mean, more morale, huge boost in morale. What's important is when you're on the phone with drivers that you have a... An uplifting voice. You sound excited.

25:18 - 25:42Rebecca Rivera: You're happy to be there. And we want people happy to be here because that will translate into their phone conversations, which will be better and hopefully result in more hires. So, I mean, the ultimate goal of of all of that was to create an environment where they're happy to to come in every day, and they're happy to be here. And we wanna celebrate each other, and we want people to sound uplifting and happy on the phones.

25:43 - 26:07Ginger Craddock: Absolutely. And I see that connection back to who do you enjoy coming to work and seeing, then it's not I'm just putting a happy, positive, pleasant voice on for the driver, but it overflows from the inside out. I love that authenticity. So now we're gonna pivot to rapid fire. And are you ready?

26:07 - 26:08Rebecca Rivera: I'm ready.

26:08 - 26:12Ginger Craddock: Alright. Here we go. Speed or relationship?

26:12 - 26:13Rebecca Rivera: Relationship.

26:14 - 26:17Ginger Craddock: Experience or coachability?

26:17 - 26:18Rebecca Rivera: Coachability.

26:20 - 26:34Ginger Craddock: Data or instinct? Instinct. Accountability or autonomy? Accountability. One quality, Rebecca, that you wish every...

26:35 - 26:39Ginger Craddock: That that you believe every driver recruiter needs?

26:39 - 26:40Rebecca Rivera: They need to be caring.

26:42 - 26:44Ginger Craddock: And you can't phone in caring, can you?

26:44 - 26:50Rebecca Rivera: Absolutely not. You have to care about the drivers. You have to care about what you're doing. You have to care about it.

26:52 - 26:59Ginger Craddock: A 100%. One recruiting metric carriers should pay more attention to.

27:00 - 27:04Rebecca Rivera: I kinda mentioned it earlier, the retention metric. Very important to me.

27:06 - 27:10Ginger Craddock: One leadership lesson you've learned the hard way.

27:11 - 27:25Rebecca Rivera: Also, something I kind of mentioned earlier, it's backing up, giving them autonomy, not jumping in every single time, you know, I feel like I need to. So that... That's something I've learned.

27:25 - 27:49Ginger Craddock: That's huge. So I'm curious. As leaders, we understand that frame to not jump in and empower the team. But when things get really compressed, do you automatically feel that I'm gonna empower the team, or do you still feel some of that compression of I wanna jump in? What's that like for you now?

27:49 - 28:01Rebecca Rivera: It's a little bit of both, and it depends on the situation. Sometimes it's really hard for me to... You know, I have to remind myself, no. They they can handle this. I'm gonna let them, you know, work work this out.

28:01 - 28:20Rebecca Rivera: I'm not going to get involved. But I also want to always make sure they know I... They have my support. So no matter what decision they decide or what path forward they choose, they know I support whatever decision they made. And I'm there to talk through it if they need to.

28:20 - 28:30Rebecca Rivera: But, you know, I do have to remind myself, don't jump in immediately. Kind of let them navigate. And if they come to me, then I'm happy to. Absolutely. I'm here to help.

28:30 - 28:31Rebecca Rivera: Always. They know that.

28:33 - 29:01Ginger Craddock: And this, I think, also ties back to the relational connection you have. When you've you've empowered them to make the decision, but you create this feedback loop to have a conversation as they're walking through it, to have that support, that help from you when you need it so... When they need it so you understand what their decision path is as they're moving along.

29:01 - 29:01Rebecca Rivera: Yes. Absolutely.

29:01 - 29:18Ginger Craddock: That's key because it's not empower and abandon. And so that the... I see your communication runs all the way through the pipeline. What gives you optimism about trucking right now?

29:18 - 29:43Rebecca Rivera: Right now, I would say, you know, we're busier. So I think that opens doors for drivers to obviously... You know, we're working on our regional network and offering more of a, you know, work life balance to drivers. So I think there's opportunity for them to have more appealing routes to hopefully get home more. Obviously, pay increases are a huge topic right now.

29:43 - 30:00Rebecca Rivera: Lots of carriers are doing them. So there's, you know, more money for drivers to be made. I think the the life for a driver is going to get a little bit easier. And, you know, I always say if anybody is ever thinking about driving a truck, now's a good time to make that transition.

30:01 - 30:23Ginger Craddock: Absolutely. Yes. Now is a great time to make that transition to driving a truck. Rebecca, if a recruiting leader listening today wants to build a stronger, more accountable team without losing the human side of recruiting, what's the first thing that you would encourage them to change?

30:24 - 30:37Rebecca Rivera: I think just be a listener. Listen to your team. You know, make sure they understand their goals and that they understand how to succeed. You know? And and that comes with conversations and listening to them.

30:37 - 30:51Rebecca Rivera: Make sure they understand how to meet their goals. And do they feel supported? And have you as a leader removed any obstacles in their way that may be inhibiting them or, you know, not allowing them to meet their goals?

30:53 - 31:04Ginger Craddock: Rebecca, thank you for the thoughtful conversation today. Where can our listeners connect with you and learn more about the work that you're doing?

31:04 - 31:09Rebecca Rivera: I am on LinkedIn. So Rebecca Rivera at Martin Transport on LinkedIn.

31:10 - 31:30Ginger Craddock: Excellent. So I encourage you guys to connect with Rebecca and continue to share leadership stories and growth stories with one another. We do get stronger together in this industry. Rebecca, thank you for joining me today. I appreciate your insights and the work that you're doing to make a difference in our industry.

31:31 - 31:42Ginger Craddock: And to everyone who's listening, thank you for being a part of the Hire Truckers Podcast. Until next time, I encourage you, keep learning, keep leading, and remember to find joy in the journey.

31:43 - 31:45Rebecca Rivera: Thank you so much for having me, Kanger.