How to Recruit Veterans with Matt Leonard of Military Talent Source

The most recent episode of “Solving The Driver Problem” features special guest Matt Leonard, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Military Talent Source.

Rea and Leonard discuss how hiring veterans with Military Talent Source can widen your recruiting pipeline, reduce your turnover, and find you tons of quality leads with minimal effort. 

The State of Recruiting in Trucking

You’re struggling to attract, recruit, and hire high-quality drivers. We don’t need to ask - we know. So is everyone else. The problem is, if you want results that are different from everyone else, you need to do something different.

Everyone is competing for the same limited pool of drivers. Baby boomers are retiring, few millennials are getting into trucking, and you’re left scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to hiring. You’re fighting your competition for a bigger piece of the pie.

There’s another way.

As Leonard points out, there’s an enormous pool of qualified drivers waiting to work for you: veterans. 

When you hire veterans, you grow the pie instead of competing for a bigger slice.

Why You Should Hire Veterans

Rea and Leonard discuss many reasons why hiring veterans is a smart move. Most prominently, Leonard mentions three big reasons why hiring veterans makes sense:

1. Most successful companies have a military hiring system. Amazon, Coca-Cola, and UPS all have dedicated processes for hiring veterans into their company. Hiring veterans is clearly good for business
2. There is a large percentage of Hispanic, Black, and female veterans. When you hire veterans, you are getting diversity in ethnic backgrounds and gender.
3. When you hire veterans, you are choosing from a high-quality candidate pool. No more scraping the bottom of the barrel. You’re hiring people with proven experience.

The benefits go beyond those three, of course. Companies that hire veterans can receive lucrative tax credits and financial grants.

Download eBook: Driver Shortage Is For Your Competition

Veterans receive benefits as well through the government. As Leonard points out, Veterans going through an employer’s driver training program can receive payments through the post 9/11 G.I. bill for 26 months. Those benefits, however, are tied to their employer.

This means that veterans are incentivized to stay with a company rather than leave for a few extra cents per mile.

How Could Hiring Veterans Change Your Company?

Like we mentioned, hiring veterans means you grow the pie instead of fighting for a bigger slice.

When you work with Military Talent Source to hire veterans, you are:

• Filling your recruiting pipeline with qualified leads
• Having your farm system built for you
• Reducing your turnover
• Potentially receiving large tax credits

If you want to outgrow your competition, you have to do something different than them. Hiring veterans could be that secret sauce to your success.