Page 50 - ATR 3 2016 web

THE LAST WORD

The Road to Diversity

By Jeff Fleming that can be applied to trucking. Talent If you are already using executive
Guest Writer from other transportation industries like recruiting firms, make sure diverse can-
airlines or railroads may have experi- didates are in the pool.
Recently I was ence that can be applied to trucking. Regardless of which level you are
interviewed by Arkansas Candidates from other industries that hiring for, ensuring that you have female
Business for an article have experience with leading cross-func- and minority candidates in your pool
entitled “Trucking tional teams, operations management, gives them the opportunity to compete.
Firms Work To Diversify and developing strategies and a proven Once that happens, you will be surprised
Industry.” I talked about track record of delivering results can add at just how quickly your road to a diverse
how minority representation in the value in trucking. Attending conferences workforce will actually get paved.
industry was lacking and we have a long for professional organizations in logistics, Once the hiring decisions are made,
way to go to close the gap. I am a believer supply chain and engineering are a great you must have a strategy to keep the tal-
that if you identify a problem, you should opportunities to engage talent. ent. If you are truly starting at ground
offer a solution. Finally, hire talent at the officer or zero, you may need to hire multiple can-
Let me share with you a few executive levels within your organiza- didates at the same time to help them
thoughts on how we can attract and tion. Leveraging executive search firms have a sense of community within your
retain diverse talent in the trucking for this level will help you find diverse organization. These candidates will be
industry. First, the commitment to diver- candidates. looking for leaders within your organiza-
sify the workforce must come from the Now, if you are thinking, you tion that they feel that they relate with
people seated at the highest levels of the haven’t read anything in this article that and aspire to be one day. Not having
organizations. They must give the green you aren’t already doing, that’s great. diversity in your leadership roles may be
light and be an active sponsor to build Diversity recruiting should be easy. By discouraging, and you will have to work
the roadmap to make this happen. making minor tweaks to your current harder to keep them. They have to see a
The first step is the easiest. Utilize recruiting strategies, you should see a possible career path that will be support-
your college recruiting efforts to identify more diverse applicant pool. If you are ed by sponsors, regular feedback, mentor-
potential candidates for internships and doing college recruiting, add universities ing and developmental opportunities.
entry level management positions. This that cater to females and minorities to So this road to diversity may seem
will allow you to diversify your workforce your list. You can also ask the universi- long. It will have its share of hills, curves,
from the ground up. ties that you currently visit to make sure and even a few potholes. As you are trav-
The next phase of your recruiting that the students that you interview are eling, the faces in your organization start
efforts should focus on injecting experi- representative of the entire student popu- to change. You will see new perspectives
enced talent into middle management or lation. to solve problems, develop solutions and
director level positions. This phase may If you are already attending confer- a positive impact to your bottom line. At
be a little more challenging. Just hiring ences, expand your list to include those the end of your journey, you should see
diverse talent from other carriers is not that you know target minority attendees that diversity is just good for business.
going to add talent; it just moves it from like those for traditionally African-
one seat to another. We must find talent American fraternities and sororities, Jeff Fleming is the chairman of the ATA’s
40 Under 40 Council and the senior
that has been successful in other indus- National Hispanic MBA Association or manager of regional transportation
tries that may have transferable skills Women in Engineering. operations at Walmart Transporation.

Opinions expressed on this page may not reflect official policies or opinions of the
Arkansas Trucking Association or the American Trucking Associations.

50 Issue 3 2016 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT