By Al Muskewitz
 
Ever been caught in traffic behind one of those DART trailers with the big picture of a driver on the back door calling potential new drivers to come to work there?

Happened on a family trip last summer. Got in a bottleneck on I-24 through downtown Nashville. There were cars and trucks of every make and model as far as the eye could see and right there on the front bumper was the DART truck.

It made for a lot of eye contact between the man in the picture and the one behind the wheel of the white CRV before the line finally reached the I-40 interchange and the DART truck veered off for points west.
 
And it prompted a lot of questions for my new-found friend, although, truthfully, it really was a one-way conversation.
 
Who was this guy smiling silently back through the windshield? Was he a real driver or just a model dressed up like one of DART’s 1,400 professional drivers whose good looks brought attention to the message? How long had been hauling the essential goods American households need and what adventures might he have encountered along the way? Does he have a family back home, wherever that might be? Do his kids play ball?
 
The short answer is yes, the people in the portraits on the back of the trailers are real DART drivers, successful and tenured, and all picked for the way they represented the family-owned Minnesota-based dry van carrier’s six core values – safety, integrity, respect, stewardship, engagement and inclusion.
 
“I say quite frequently it’s the driver who keeps the doors open and the lights on, so we wanted to highlight real drivers who were DART drivers at that time,” DART director of recruiting Adam Williams said. “It’s the driver who does the work. It’s the driver who makes the company move forward. It was a great opportunity to really highlight our drivers. They’re the lifeblood. They’re the ones who make us go, so they’re the ones who deserve the recognition.”
 
The "Drive Like A Boss" campaign was started a while ago, so some of the drivers and independent contractors featured in the photos may not be with the carrier anymore, and as DART continually updates its equipment fewer of those trailers may be on the road, but the campaign is still valid.
 
The driver photo draws attention to a phone number and website prospective drivers can access to inquire about positions. It’s conceivable the driver in the cab would be pulling a trailer with his own picture on it, but that wasn’t guaranteed or reserved.
 
One of the featured drivers, Antonio, spent 13 years with DART. He doesn’t drive for them anymore, but he’s still keeps a connection and occasionally stops by to stay hello.
 
“That’s something that was really thought about when they picked drivers to be on the trailer,” Williams said. “You pick a good person like that where even though he’s not here he would still be one someone would say, hey, I think I’ve seen your face before and he’d be like, yeah, I’m on the back the DART trailer across the street.”
 
Williams didn’t have specific numbers on the hires DART made through that approach to their recruiting, but said the campaign was “definitely well received.”
 
“I remember answering the phones and talking with people who said I saw your driver on the back of the trailer, I think it’s great that you’re highlighting the driver, we want to become a part of a family like that, what do we need to do,” he said. “It just really helped being able to highlight the driver. That’s one of the things you get here at DART. We’ve been in business for over 85 years, always been a family-owned business.”
 
Al Muskewitz is the editor for Wright Media. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com

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