1)When did you begin working at ROAR Logistics and what made you want to work there? I began working at ROAR Logistics in January 2022 after learning about ROAR on LinkedIn. I remember looking at several different OTR and intermodal logistics companies, but ROAR really stood out to me because it was opening up a small office here, but was an already established company. I moved to Arizona in 2021 after working in the intermodal field for eight years in Atlanta, GA. I spent a lot of time as a customer service representative for multiple national accounts and I knew I had a solid base for what ROAR was looking for in an associate.
I had never worked in a small office and felt this was the change I was searching for. I had two interviews that went great! After getting accustomed to how the company worked and their approach to their associates, I knew this was going to be a great fit. After working here for the past 16 months, I can confidently say it was a perfect choice for me. There is really a strong team feel here. While I’m still learning new things, I feel like I’ve become a solid member on the team.
2) What is your job title and describe your position at ROAR Logistics? I am currently in the Logistics Coordinator role. My responsibilities include booking, dispatching, and tracking shipments daily while building relationships with current carriers and new carriers to ROAR. Growing a good relationship with your team is the most important part of working here at ROAR. So many things change in this line of work and being on the same page with your teammates is extremely important to me. Building relationships with carrier-partners is the second most important part of my job. If a carrier knows and respects you, they will remember you when things get tight in the market.
Communication with the customer reps is also a huge part of the job. Whether it’s problem-solving a plethora of transportation issues, or trying to match up certain carriers to specific shipments, I need to be in constant communication with our customer service team. Successful dialogue with our CSR team impacts our service and dependability.
3) How have you grown in your position / how do you hope to grow in the future? Working at ROAR has given me the opportunity to learn logistics from the carrier side instead of the customer side. In my previous logistics positions, I was primarily working with customers. In this role, I had to quickly learn how carriers tick and sell them on partnering with ROAR, all while balancing how to maximize margins and servicing our customer at the same time. I have built a few successful relationships with carriers by understanding what the carriers are looking for and matching that with the needs of our customers. My industry knowledge has grown a lot by talking with carriers and learning about their business. I’m currently taking an online course to become a stronger freight broker, which has help me with daily decisions-making. I hope to become a stronger leader and grow within ROAR.
4) Describe what it’s like working on a team at ROAR and how this has been beneficial to you: I played sports in high school and college (football, track, wrestling). I knew that I would enjoy being part of this organization. I never liked letting down any of my teammates, which made me a strong team player. When things are in a crunch, I enjoy how we communicate to get things accomplished. Here in the Phoenix office, we all have strengths and weaknesses and that’s what helps us pull together when things are getting tight. Also, I found that the leadership cares about work life balance and they speak with each of us 1 on 1 every week. This is beneficial because this keeps the outlook of the office positive and when things are going rough, we find a way to laugh to keep things loose.
5) What is the craziest challenge you’ve had to overcome on the job? Every day is not the same as the day prior, which was something I had to learn very quickly. Whether it be spot loads that we have never covered before, or needing to find team drivers to service a rush order, you always have to keep your head on a swivel. With that being said, the craziest challenge for me was when our office was down three associates due PTO and we had pending loads that needed to be covered within the hour. Not to mention the shipments were in lanes I didn’t have experience covering. I had to work quickly to source carriers using load boards and our historical data to find trucks in a pinch. This turned out to be a success as our whole team on the floor united together to help get things covered.