AUGUST 18,2026 #029 (MEET THE RECRUITERS) M.SIMPSON/R.WHITLOW/K.FARNHAM

REPLY/COMMENT 

 In this episode of Talkin’ Grit, we sit down with our recruiting team, R.Whitlow & K.Farnham to learn more about what they do, how they got into recruiting, and the journey that brought them to Wright Brothers. They also share what it’s like helping build the team behind the work. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

From the job site to the office, from lessons learned to stories worth telling, this is Talking Grit. Brought to you by Wright Brothers. Here's your host, Jared Walger.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Hey, we're back with a fresh episode of Talking Grit. And uh we're gonna have a good conversation about recruiting today. We've got Russell Whitlow and Karen Farnum, and uh we're gonna talk about just the the ins and outs of recruiting. And Mitchell, at this point, we've started racking up a whole lot of content with these podcasts. And if look, you listening out there, this is for us, this is for you, this is for our company. Go back and if you're driving down the road, check out some of the episodes that maybe you've missed in the past and catch up on what's going on in this company because this is a great resource. Uh so check it out. And uh and also don't forget to send us some feedback at podcast at wbccci.com. And so, hey, Mitchell, let's get into this recruiting conversation and and open this up.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Yeah. So, Jared, thanks. You know, recruiting is one of those vital pieces of our organization. Our most important asset here at Riot Brothers is people, and finding good qualified people is not easy, right? Because with where all we work, you know, we're blessed to work all around the southeast at this point in time. Never thought I'd say that. You know, we have work in Florida, right? Yeah, yeah. So never expected that. But, you know, we began actively having an active recruiting program. I don't remember how many years ago. Russell, you started that. When did you show up here, Russell?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

March of 2023.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

March of 2023. So we've had an active recruiting program here at Wright Brothers for a little over three years, right? And as it has evolved, you know, we've seen the benefit in that. One of the major projects you helped for recruiting on was Q sales, right? Yes, sir. You know, we had didn't have a full staff of people to show up at Q Sales. So you and Turner working together hustled up and got how many people overnight? Oh, like 20 easy. Yeah. So so, you know, to me, you know, I see the benefits of recruiting. That was one of those really in your face moments of we got a job, we had to staff it immediately, and we ramped up pretty quick. And credit to you and Turner to be able to pull that off, right? And it's really the recruiting partnership here at Wright Brothers is a partnership between the folks in the field and the office personnel here. So that was the one where I saw, hey, this this makes a lot of sense, right? And then from there, you know, we continue to grow, we can continue to develop. Russell, you've moved into a new role now, director of HR. With that, you know, we needed to have somebody else doing recruiting, right? So your last recruitment was your replacement. That is correct. So, Russell, why don't you introduce Karen here first?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, so Karen came to us, you know, when she applied online and she came in with some fresh ideas, you know, having that recruiting background already, bringing the HR side with it to better encompass, you know, finding the best recruit for the job. So she fit in and aligned with our culture and how we like to do business here. So it was really a no-brainer, you know, bringing her in to take over for me. Yeah, yeah. So, Karen, how long have you been here now?

SPEAKER_04 3:40

I've been here about nine or ten months now. I've been here since November. I applied through LinkedIn. Okay. That's how I found you.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

So let's walk through your history just so everybody knows your history. Your history is unique. Where are you originally from?

SPEAKER_04 3:54

I am originally from just north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

So you're a Canadian and American.

SPEAKER_04 3:59

And American.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Okay. When did you get your dual citizenship?

SPEAKER_04 4:03

I got that uh probably about five years ago. I've been in the United States for about 10 years now.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Okay. So what's your favorite sport? I mean, you're a Canadian, you've got to be a hockey fan, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:14

Go Pretz.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Go Pretz? Really? Really? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:18

Hockey, but in American adaptation.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

So okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

So when you were growing up, who was your team?

SPEAKER_04 4:23

I didn't have one. The Toronto Blue Jays or Toronto Maple Leafs are not that great.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

So Oh my gosh. Okay. So what brought you from Canada to the U.S.?

SPEAKER_04 4:35

That is a great question. I worked on cruise ships for four years and I met the love of my life on cruise ships. We both worked there, and he was from Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm from Canada, and we just decided that we'd move down to the States after we got married.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

What what what cruise line?

SPEAKER_04 4:51

Holland, America.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Really? Okay. So what what route did y'all take? I'm a cruise guy. I love taking cruises. Yeah. All right. So what what route did y'all take?

SPEAKER_04 4:59

All of them almost. I've been to all seven continents and I've seen almost everything. Well, not everything, but really? Mm-hmm. Really? My favorite was South America. Going down, I went all the way from Alaska down to South America, all the way around up to Brazil, even went into the Amazon and through the Antarctic too.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Wow. Okay. Now you've never had one of those moments that you see on the news, right? Where the cruise ship is stuck at port and they won't let anybody off the boat. That's like that's all that's like my fear. I'm like, I I couldn't be stuck on the boat like that. Like, have you ever had any moments like that?

SPEAKER_04 5:32

Rio de Janeiro. Really? Brazil.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Yeah, what happened there?

SPEAKER_04 5:37

It was the officials that uh wanted us to pay a lot more money to let everybody off the ship.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_04 5:44

And they found any reason why not to let anybody off. So that was it.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

So you say the South American area was your favorite. Yes. Right? So did you have like a port of call up port where you started at? And what was the route you took?

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Yeah. So when we started, it was in Valparaiso in I'm I'm ignorant.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Where is that?

SPEAKER_04 6:05

In Chile.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

So we did a lot of Valparaiso up to Lima, Peru. Okay. We did that. And then the second half after we went down to Antarctica, Ushuaia. If you ever get to go there, go there. Okay. It's in Chile. It's great. And then we went all the way up to the Falkland Islands and we would do Buenos Aires as well as up further.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

So how many days was all that? That's a lot.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

That one was probably two or three weeks at a time. Now, myself as an employee there, I was on board for anywhere from four to twelve months at a time.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Wow. So you'd sign a contract and you'd be there. So what what role did you do there on the cruise lines?

SPEAKER_04 6:45

What role do you think I did?

SPEAKER_02 6:46

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

I was in charge of the kids' program.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Oh my lord.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

I also I'm also an event staff. So I I did a lot of bingos, a lot of trivias, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

So you met your husband there. Yes. Y'all ended up after you got married. Where did you end up landing in the States then?

SPEAKER_04 7:05

In Nashville. So first we lived in Toronto for a little bit and then we moved down to Nashville once I got my permanent residency.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

And that took a while, but got it. And then we moved, yeah, Tennessee. So we were in Nashville for about four years. Okay. And then for work, my husband moved us to Dallas. And then for work, my husband moved me back to Tennessee.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Okay. There you go. How long were you in Dallas? Five years. Okay. So five years, four or five years every stop.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

Yep. I'm going to be here longer, don't worry.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

I hope so. So in Dallas, when you were there, you were working for a vertical contractor. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

Rogers O'Brien construction.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Was that your first entry into re the recruiting side of the business?

SPEAKER_04 7:45

Absolutely. So I started there as an HR coordinator and I was promoted from there up to HR generalist. And then probably about three years in, they told me that they needed a recruiter and they think I would be good at it. At first I said, no, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

You do have an outgoing personality.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

A little bit.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah. You can talk to anybody, Brad.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Yes. But yeah, I said I didn't want to do it because I just didn't think it was going to be fun. It seemed like a lot of paperwork and a lot of calling people and just a hassle. So then I I decided, okay, I'll try it. And if I don't like it, then I can go back to being an HR generalist. Well, I love it. And that's the end of that. I'm going to do it forever.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

So how long have you been doing it now?

SPEAKER_04 8:25

Probably about three years. And then I was a stay-at-home mom when I first moved here. Um so that was for about a year and a half.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Okay. Okay. So stay at home mom, how many kids do you have?

SPEAKER_04 8:38

I have two kids, two boys. They're ambunctious, an eight-year-old and a five-year-old. I am not used to having boys.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

It's a noisy house then.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Oh, very it's good for you. It's good for you. You love it. Right. So you ended up landing here. Yes. You've been here for a minute now. What drew you to Rot Brothers? Because you you applied lots of different places.

SPEAKER_04 9:00

I did. I think first and foremost, Russell reached out. That was a big one. Not very many people in this environment of finding people actually reach out.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Personal connection.

SPEAKER_04 9:11

Very personal connection. Yeah. When I came in or when I talked to Russell on the phone, it was very cordial and I could be myself, which was really nice. Okay. And then I brought on, I came in for my interview, and I knew from there I hoped that you guys wanted me because everyone was so nice. Everyone was kind asking questions and just let me be me.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So then that's kind of how you try to do the recruitment process today, right, Karen? So can you kind of just walk through somebody applies for a job online? What happens then? Yeah. How does that work?

SPEAKER_04 9:46

So typically when somebody applies online, an application comes in, obviously, and I look at it. I put it on a spreadsheet to make sure that I don't miss anyone and see what they're looking for, see if I have anything available. Um, and I make sure to call everyone for that connection and make sure that, you know, people know that we are looking at it. It's not yeah, more connection that way.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

So so far this year, how many people have applied here at Rye Brothers? A whole bunch.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

1,083 people. I talk a lot.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

So a lot of applicants. Have you talked to all those people? Yes. You've talked to every one of them.

SPEAKER_04 10:24

Maybe not talked with them. I've called every single one and uh left voicemails, returned messages, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Okay. So I mean, you're talking to a whole ton of people. You're trying to sift through, you're trying to figure out what makes sense. Out of those thousand people, how many people have we hired this year?

SPEAKER_04 10:42

Yeah, this year we have hired 176 people so far. That's across that's across all the different companies. So company one, we hired 120. Company two, we hired 47, and company six, we hired nine people.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Okay, so I mean you're helping with all the different divisions, all the different groups.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

I try.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

And you're you're really you're talking to everybody on both sides of the fence. You're talking to all of our managers here that are internal, right? Plus you're talking to everybody that's looking for a job. Yes. So internally for the internal managers, what's the best way for them to convey to you what they're needing, what they're looking for? What what's the best way?

SPEAKER_04 11:26

Yeah, call me, text me, email me. Easy. Anything like that. I do try to call everyone. Russell gave me a really nice list uh of people that I should call every month just to see what's going on, check in if they need anything, things like that.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Okay. So, you know, if somebody needs something, they just need to reach out to you.

SPEAKER_04 11:44

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

And I'm more than happy to help and call, email, text, whatever. And then if they have a specific need, what are you doing with those specific needs?

SPEAKER_04 11:54

Like a a certain job?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah, if somebody needs a bulldozer operator, if they need a dozer operator in Asheville, North Carolina, how how are you going about trying to find that individual?

SPEAKER_04 12:05

Yeah. So I go through all the applications that we get when I talk to them, I have what they're looking for, what experiences they have, things like that. So we can sift through all of that, see if they have the GPS and if they have all the experience that we're needing.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

So you're going through and you're looking at everybody we got. So that thousand people, that's just this year.

SPEAKER_04 12:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

You have a much larger database in that at this point. I mean, how many people do you think you have in your database?

SPEAKER_04 12:32

Oh I'm not even sure. Like 4,000, 5,000?

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Yeah, it's right at 5,000 people. Right at 5,000. So we've kind of got at this point in time, we kind of have a Rolodex of people that, and I just want to point this out to everybody. I mean, you guys have done a great job of indexing and keeping up with this. If we do have a need, there's a pretty good chance that we got a name, we got a number, we got a location. There's people that you can actively reach out to and say, hey, you applied a long time ago, but I've got something for you now.

SPEAKER_04 13:06

Yeah, and that's something that I do a lot of the times, um, especially for admin roles or roles that we don't look out for a lot. If I if I get an application from somebody, I'll keep that information so that I can call them right away.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Yeah. So I mean, case in point, you know, I ran into a guy yesterday actually at my kids' orientation. He said, Hey, Karen's called me two times in the past three weeks and she wants to know if I want to come to work. Right. So, you know, it's just you got this Rolodex and you're keeping up with these people. So I try. Yeah, and communication matters, right? Yes. Communication matters. So that's a big deal. So look, folks, if you got somebody you you're looking for, you know, reach out to Karen because she's got this ridiculous Rolodex, but we also need help recruiting people, right? You can't do it all on your own. No. How does that work? How does that work if you know, if I'm out, I find somebody, I drag them in here, you know, look, it ain't gonna work for me. But uh, I'm not gonna get a referral bonus. But other individuals, how does that work? We we have a referral system, right, Karen?

SPEAKER_04 14:15

Yes, we do. And I love referrals.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Explain that referral system to me.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

Yeah. So the reason why I love referrals so much is because you, everyone at Right Brothers knows what we're looking for. You know our values, you know, our mission, you know everything. So having people refer usually means it's a good person. Now, with our referrals, there are different amounts that we offer. So for a general laborer, it's $250 if you refer someone. For skillcraft workers, it's $500. And then for professionals and leadership, it is $1,000 per person.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

So, really what we've found is, and this is what makes the referral system so great, when people have a connection here at Wright Brothers, if they have a personal connection with others, they tend to stay. Yeah, right? Yeah, right. It's all about connection. So that that's the beautiful thing about the referral program is somebody dragging somebody in here that they know. They've already got that connection.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

And they've probably heard about us and know how we are from the inside, not just from the outside.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Exactly. Exactly. So I mean, you know, usually you're the one making the connection, right? With the communication and everybody when you call on all these people, but having somebody else helping you, that's invaluable.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

Oh, invaluable. Please send me more people.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Yeah, send you more people. So you you laid out what the dollars and cents are for the bonuses and everything. What what's eligibility for that look like? How does that work?

SPEAKER_04 15:47

Yeah. So first and foremost, anybody who is referred to us by someone needs to have the person's name that referred them on their application. That is under the how did you hear us about us section? Um, and then at 90 days, that's if they or when they complete their first 90 days uh working out Right Brothers, that's when the referral bonus will be paid out. Now, this is for new hires only. Okay. It is not for rehires. So if you not for rehires, not for rehires. Okay. If you wanted to bring somebody back and get that bonus, unfortunately, that will not happen. It's just a first-time, one-time thing. Okay. Now, to get that money after the 90 days, you do have to reach out to our awesome payroll team up in the HR department to let us know who it was and things like that, and we'll do our research and get that paid out.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

So they just send an email to payroll.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Yep. Or even you can send it to me and I can get it over to payroll as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Okay. Okay. So that's that's for general laborers, skilled craft, professional people. You know, hey, find people that you know in the community, find people you're connected to. Look, we want good people. We need more good people. I mean, that is the main thing that you're doing, right, Karen. You're screening, you're trying to figure out the ones that we don't want. Yes. And if people can help you with that referral system, just more better, right?

SPEAKER_04 17:13

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Just absolutely. So the other major thing that we're doing that we've been doing for the past several years is these career fairs.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Lots of different opportunities when we're reaching out to the community. I you know, here in Bradley County, we've talked about the Pi Center a lot. That's a huge recruitment opportunity.

SPEAKER_04 17:35

Jared and I actually talk a lot about that.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

We're on Speed Day.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Yeah. It's a huge opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Placed and getting them going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Also, you know, just throughout the Southeast, wherever we've got people, I think we sponsored every ball team from Greensboro to Birmingham. Right. I could, yeah. But I mean, there's a reason for that. People see it. People see it. You communicate with the kids, you get your name out there, that helps. Right. Professionally, there's all these career fairs you go to. Yeah. Right. So what who all are we trying to recruit at these career fairs? What what are we looking for?

SPEAKER_04 18:15

Yeah. Mostly we're looking for, I would say, interns and entry level positions. Uh so the project engineers as well as the interns. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Accountants.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

Accountants, yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Accountants. So where all do you go? You go to lots of different places.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

We go to all sorts of different ones this year uh or the fall. Uh so usually fall and spring is when we go, but in the fall, we're going to nine different career fairs across five different schools. So we're going to, yeah, UTK. There we go. Go vol Georgia Tech, University of Alabama in Birmingham, Western Carolina University, and University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Okay. Okay. So we're going to be in all those different locations. We're going to be recruiting. Look, everybody that's listening here, if there are other places you think we need to be recruiting at, love to hear what you think. We know. Yeah, let Karen know. We'd love your feedback. Over time, we have seen these places kind of be the hotbed of where we got people from.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

Yeah. I mean, might be someplace like UNC Asheville. Yeah, there you go. You know, some of these North Carolina schools and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Yeah, I mean, we need to we need people's feedback. Yeah. I mean, we've seen these to be pretty good places. Got a whole bunch of people from these various places. Obviously, the University of Tennessee is the best. But no biased, right? No biased. We're willing to take people from other places if we have to. But you know, give us some feedback on that. So, Karen, you've been here for just a minute. What's what's your favorite thing about Wright Brothers today? And what do you think is the best selling point for all these people when you're talking to them? Because you've got a fresh set of eyes. When you're talking, you're you're selling people on what you see. So what do you see? What's good about our organization?

SPEAKER_04 20:04

First and foremost, I want to say the people. I coming from vertical construction, I didn't know very much at all about the heavy civil world. And Russell would laugh at me and make jokes because I would have little cheat sheets of what a backhoe was. What's a what's a tracko versus an excavator and things like that. And the fact that I get to go out and see all these people on the job sites learn a little bit more about everything. I think that's the best part. And I get to be me and ask those silly questions and learn more and try to be better.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Yeah. That's good. That's good. So that that's been your experience here, and you've been selling for us. So you've told me in the past recruiting isn't just filling roles.

SPEAKER_04 20:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Recruiting isn't just filling roles. Can you expand on what what what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_04 20:57

Yeah. So I guess first off, I am here to help everybody's recruiting efforts. So, you know, it's making it easier for you, not making it more on your plate, but it's not just filling roles because every new hire really impacts more than you think. It's the projects, it's the crews, it's the it's the people in our communities. We work on roads, we work on on landfills and all sorts of different things. So that's it. And then yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Well, and I mean, back to your point about you're here to help.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Look, you've been out on the job sites. All of us here on this podcast have been out on the job sites. There's a lot that the foreman and the superintendents have on their plate. Yes. Okay, so please, folks, call Karen. Karen is a resource to help you all find the right people that we want here at Right Brothers. It is hard for you guys to stop, unplug, take the time to make these phone calls. To filter through the people to try to find the right people. Because that's what we want them to do. We want the right people. So, Karen, thank you for being that first level of defense for us to hire the right people here. Thank you for having me. I mean, that's what we need. We need the right people. And guys, you know, reach out. Our recruiting department is fabulous. It's one of those things that we're trying to do as we evolve here to try to make life better for us. And it it matters. It matters because our biggest resource is people. It's all about people.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

So and recruiting is a resource. It's a time saver. It's a headache reliever. You know, when you know you need people. And here's the thing, Karen's going to work hard. I've seen it in action. You know, just the phone calls and you know, just willing to to get after it to make the right connection. And even you've done a good job even vetting before even making the connection, being like, Yeah, this probably isn't gonna work, and then moving on to some, you know, somebody else. So you know, it's the hardest part of my job. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. You know, but it's a necessary one, it's necessary, it's a time saver for and to that end.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

I mean, you're also trying to figure out if people are a fit for a specific foreman or superintendent. So, hey, guys that are in the field, I challenge you to get to know Karen so Karen knows you to try to help better fit the right people with you. Exactly. Because personalities matter, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:34

Yes, and me going out to those different job sites really helps as well, where I can talk to the foreman and the supervisors and all that and and learn more about them and see how they are and talk to their employees and see how they are and and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

So yeah. So wealth of information. Thank you for sharing with us. Karen, Russell, do you either one of y'all have any closing thoughts that we need to think about for recruitment here?

SPEAKER_04 23:59

I just want to say thank you to everyone for for letting me be myself, for answering all my silly questions and really going out of their way to make me the best recruiter I can be.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

There you go. There you go. We got a lot of good people here, and we're gonna keep adding to it.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah, just a caveat, you know, she's here to be a resource and she's always around. All you have to do is call, pigeon facts, text, whatever it takes.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

You can probably hear me from far away too. I'm a loud person.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Well, with that, guys, thank you for being here. Thank you for talking about recruiting here at Rot Brothers. And Jared, let's let's wrap this one up.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Wrap it up. Yeah, thanks for listening, for tuning in. And again, go back and check out the podcast catalog. It keeps on growing, uh, episode after episode of just great info, stuff to keep you up to date on what's going on in the company and to give you an idea of the inner workings of the company, you know, to know everything that's happening, you know, even behind the scenes, things you might not know about, like recruiting, like we talked about today, a vital resource that you can use, you know, all the time. Get in touch with what's happening in our company. Great way to do that. Check out the podcast, listen to episodes that you missed. Until next time, thanks for tuning in. This has been Talking Grit.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

That's gonna do it for this episode of Talking Grit. Thanks for listening, and thanks to everyone out there putting in the work day in and day out. If you liked what you heard, be sure to follow the show and share it with someone who knows the value of hard work. We'll catch you next time right here on Talking Grit.