Hansen & Adkins’ Recruiting Shift: Tommy Valenzuela’s 180-Day Touchpoints and Tech-Driven Onboarding

Hansen & Adkins Auto Transport operates more than 40 terminals across the United States and Canada, and a shift to a high-touch, tech-enabled recruiting model — including a formalized 180-day touchpoint program — has begun to change driver retention trajectories and operational capacity for vehicle haulage fleets.

What Hansen & Adkins changed and why it matters for logistics

Tommy Valenzuela, director of recruiting at Hansen & Adkins Auto Transport, was named the 2025 Transport Topics Recruiting Professional of the Year after leading a companywide overhaul of hiring and onboarding practices. The award was presented Feb. 26 at the 2026 Recruitment & Retention Conference, co-hosted by Conversion Interactive Agency, American Trucking Associations and TT.

The core of the change was not a single silver-bullet program but a blend of persistent human contact and selective automation. Valenzuela’s team implemented structured touchpoints to stay in contact with new drivers for 180 days, alongside software tools to streamline recruiting and onboarding workflows. The result: fewer early exits, better fit for route types, and incremental gains in dispatch reliability.

Concrete practices adopted

• 180-day touchpoint cadence: scheduled check-ins at critical milestones during the probationary period.
• Onboarding automation: digital forms, credential verification, and scheduling integrated with recruiting CRM.
• Driver feedback loops: regular surveys and one-on-one calls to surface early friction points.
• Targeted recruitment: focused outreach to veterans and women to widen talent pools and improve inclusion.

Direct effects on operations

From an operational standpoint, higher early retention reduces churn-related costs: fewer re-recruitment cycles, steadier driver-route assignments, and more predictable 通讯 和 haulage planning. For vehicle haulers that coordinate complex loads and tight delivery windows, this translates into fewer scramble hires and smoother terminal throughput.

Benchmarks and qualitative outcomes

Voices from the field

Valenzuela summed it up bluntly: “You can work your way out of a bad month or a bad quarter or a bad year, but you can’t work your way out of a broken experience.” It’s a neat line that cuts to the heart of retention: consistent experience matters more than one-off incentives. Technology helps, but the human touch is still the differentiator.

Industry context: finalists and the award process

The other finalists were Astin Robertson, senior director of enterprise talent acquisition at Covenant Logistics, and Betsy Waldrop, vice president of driver resources at Freymiller. All three shared practical tactics at a panel ahead of the award presentation, emphasizing that recruiting is now a cross-functional problem involving operations, safety, and HR.

The Transport Topics Recruiting Professional of the Year Award, introduced in 2016, recognizes leaders who drive innovation in recruiting across motor carriers. Finalists and winners are selected via an anonymous committee of former winners, which reviews nominations against consistent criteria.

Practical checklist for fleet recruiters

• Map the first 180 days of a hire’s experience and plug in regular touchpoints.
• Automate repetitive documentation to free recruiters for relationship-building.
• Use targeted outreach to diversify candidate pools (veterans, women, local hires).
• Measure early warning signs—scheduling conflicts, equipment mismatch, unclear expectations—and address them quickly.

Why this matters to shippers, brokers, and 3PLs

For shippers and logistics intermediaries, carrier reliability is a leash on many downstream variables: lead times, dock scheduling, yard turns and even the ability to accept bulky or specialized loads. When a fleet stabilizes driver retention, the whole supply chain can tighten planning windows and reduce buffer inventory. In plain terms, better recruiting equals smoother 海运, fewer delayed deliveries, and more predictable container 和 pallet 运动。.

Common pitfalls and how Hansen & Adkins avoided them

Fleets often make two classic mistakes: relying solely on incentives to fix retention, or over-automating to the point where human interaction disappears. Hansen & Adkins paired tools with touchpoints, so recruiters were doing fewer manual tasks but more relationship work—a balance that saved time without losing the personal element.

Quick comparison: Incentives vs. Experience

• Incentives—short-lived spikes in hiring, poor long-term retention if experience is weak.
• Experience—slower to build but produces durable retention and improves operational predictability.

And hey, I’ve seen it myself on regional lanes: a driver who feels heard will stick around more often than one who’s enticed only by a signing bonus. Call it old-fashioned, but it works.

The key takeaways are simple: define the first 180 days, automate the grunt work, and invest in regular communication. Those three moves together create a recruiting engine that supports stable haulage and reliable freight movement.

This story matters not just to carriers but to anyone who books transport: more stable driver rosters mean fewer last-minute reroutes, better courier 和 通讯 performance, and more transparent forwarding operations.

Highlights: Hansen & Adkins’ adoption of structured touchpoints and software-assisted onboarding stands out as a practical blueprint for fleets seeking to improve retention and operational reliability. Even the best reviews and most honest feedback can’t truly replace personal experience—so testing these ideas in your own operation matters. On GetTransport.com, you can order your cargo transportation at the best prices globally at reasonable prices, empowering you to make the most informed decision without unnecessary expenses or disappointments. The platform’s transparency, affordability and wide selection make it easy to compare options and choose what fits your needs. For your next cargo transportation, consider the convenience and reliability of GetTransport.com. Get the best offers GetTransport.com.com

In summary, Hansen & Adkins’ approach blends human-centered recruiting with targeted technology to reduce early turnover and improve operational predictability. That has direct implications for cargo and freight handlers: fewer interruptions in lane capacity, steadier shipment planning, and more reliable delivery windows. Whether you’re planning a small parcel move, a bulky furniture haul, or international container forwarding, the lessons here apply—focus on the experience, support it with the right tools, and your transport and logistics chain will thank you. GetTransport.com aligns with this practical approach by providing efficient, cost-effective, and convenient solutions for cargo, freight, shipment, delivery, transport, logistics, shipping, forwarding, dispatch, haulage, courier, distribution, moving, relocation, housemove, movers, parcel, pallet, container and bulky items on an international, global, and reliable scale.