Becoming a Dispatch Coordinator at Ruan can be a highly rewarding career. This position can open the door to an endless career path at Ruan, where every day is exciting and challenging. Brody is a Dispatch Coordinator at Ruan in Iowa—hear what he has to say about his experience!
Why did you choose to work for Ruan?
I chose Ruan because it is a local company. I chose Ruan because I myself was a driver, and I wanted something that was more consistent and something that would help me develop the skills that I wanted to grow in, such as running meetings, talking to small groups of people, being able to handle conflict in the workplace, etc. I have seen dispatch opportunities at Ruan locations around the country, which is something special for a company to have so many great connections and customers—literally all over. However, I have decided to stay in Des Moines, so it is great that our company is always looking for internal talent.
What is the favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of my working day is that in the afternoons I have the ability to talk to my drivers to see how they are doing and how the day went. Also, I like that planning for the next day is done as a team, and there is a lot of conversation that goes on in the office as we finish off the last bit of coffee in the morning.
Describe a typical day.
My typical day starts at 5:30-6 a.m. with responding to any emails or calls that I might get about breakdowns, delays, or changes in any of our customer orders. Then, I adjust based on their needs and change things around to cover all the orders we have. Once all of that is settled, I will audit paperwork and build more orders for my drivers. I also check in with our customers to see how things are going and handle any paperwork changes that need to be made, whether that is regulatory paperwork, medical card renewals, scheduling vacation—anything that the drivers need. Lastly, I begin to schedule the next day after receiving orders from our customer.
What challenges you?
I would say the biggest challenge is how quickly and often orders change on my account, and when they do, it often means making several calls and changes to ensure our customer does not run out of product. Also, at my operation we manage multiple accounts, and there are days we have to decide what accounts get certain drivers, so it is sometimes a challenge trying to make everything work.
What is a useful tip for someone who is considering a dispatch coordinator position?
Remember to lean on what I think is also one of the best things about the Ruan culture—that we are an operations team. All I can do is my best, and then we as a team all work together to make sure no one is left hanging. The best thing you can do is build a good relationship with your drivers and your customers.
Interested in becoming a Dispatch Coordinator at Ruan? Learn more about our open opportunities here.