Walk me through your background and your path into dispatch + planning.

What it tests: Story arc - operational training + driver-facing exposure + concrete dispatch or planning work. Interviewers screen for candidates whose path lands on dispatch deliberately, not by accident.

Tell me about a dispatch board or planning operation you've owned end-to-end.

What it tests: Planning rigor + driver + customer + financial lens. Can the candidate walk problem framing -> action -> outcome -> stakeholder management cleanly.

Why dispatch + planning vs broader fleet ops, customer service, or brokerage?

What it tests: Authentic alignment - daily planning rhythm, driver-facing leadership, real-time problem solving vs office-based ops or pure customer-service work.

Why this role type - dispatcher vs driver manager vs load planner vs OCC controller?

What it tests: Specificity. Generic 'I like operations' fails.

What it tests: Real homework - operating model + dispatch model + customer profile + technology + recent moves - not 'great brand'.

What's your read on our dispatch model + operating model + customer mix?

What it tests: Industry literacy - operating-model mix, dispatch structure (geographic vs customer vs lane board), customer concentration, recent moves.

Tell me what you understand about our TMS, optimisation, and dispatch technology stack.

What it tests: Tech fluency on this firm's stack - TMS, ELD platform, optimisation engine, dispatch board UI, OCC integration.

Walk me through how you build a daily plan for 30-50 drivers under HOS constraints.

What it tests: Planning craft - HOS-aware load-driver matching, PTA discipline, customer-window respect, deadhead minimisation, driver-preference balance.

Dispatch Planning interview prep.

Dispatcher / driver manager / load planner / dispatch supervisor / dispatch manager / OCC controller interviews across TL, LTL, dedicated, intermodal, drayage carriers.

What interviewers look for

Can the candidate build a clean daily plan that respects HOS, customer windows, equipment, and driver preference all at once?
Do they manage drivers as people - PTA confirmation, home time, pay miles, lane preference - not just as ELD-clocks?
Are they fluent in deadhead, sit time, drop-and-hook, brokered backhaul, and the math of revenue per truck per week?
Can they handle customer + broker friction - detention, missed appointments, reload pressure - without dropping service?
Do they execute IROPS recovery - weather, breakdown, refusal, missed handoff - with calm priority discipline?
Are they grounded in dispatch tech - TMS, ELD platform, optimisation engine, macros, status codes - and dispatch board discipline?
Long-game fit - dispatcher / driver manager / planner / supervisor / dispatch manager / OCC manager trajectory?

Behavioural questions to expect

Walk me through your background and your path into dispatch + planning.
What it tests: Story arc - operational training + driver-facing exposure + concrete dispatch or planning work. Interviewers screen for candidates whose path lands on dispatch deliberately, not by accident.
Tell me about a dispatch board or planning operation you've owned end-to-end.
What it tests: Planning rigor + driver + customer + financial lens. Can the candidate walk problem framing -> action -> outcome -> stakeholder management cleanly.
Why dispatch + planning vs broader fleet ops, customer service, or brokerage?
What it tests: Authentic alignment - daily planning rhythm, driver-facing leadership, real-time problem solving vs office-based ops or pure customer-service work.
Why this role type - dispatcher vs driver manager vs load planner vs OCC controller?
What it tests: Specificity. Generic 'I like operations' fails.
Why this firm?
What it tests: Real homework - operating model + dispatch model + customer profile + technology + recent moves - not 'great brand'.
What's your read on our dispatch model + operating model + customer mix?
What it tests: Industry literacy - operating-model mix, dispatch structure (geographic vs customer vs lane board), customer concentration, recent moves.
Tell me what you understand about our TMS, optimisation, and dispatch technology stack.
What it tests: Tech fluency on this firm's stack - TMS, ELD platform, optimisation engine, dispatch board UI, OCC integration.
Walk me through how you build a daily plan for 30-50 drivers under HOS constraints.
What it tests: Planning craft - HOS-aware load-driver matching, PTA discipline, customer-window respect, deadhead minimisation, driver-preference balance.

Technical concepts to master

HOS-aware load-driver matching

PTA (Projected Time Available): Driver's projected earliest available dispatch time after current load completes, including reset / break / home time as relevant.
Available drive time + duty window: Remaining 11-hr drive + 14-hr duty clock at PTA; determines max single-leg distance and customer-window reachability.
Sleeper-berth split + 34-hr restart planning: Sleeper split (8+2 or 7+3) pauses the 14-hr clock; 34-hr restart resets the 60/70 weekly clock - both let planners extend coverage.
Home time + reset planning: Drivers earn home time per company policy (OTR typically 1 day off per 6-7 out, dedicated more); planners route to home location around resets.

Dispatch board mechanics + macros + status codes

Macros + status codes: Standardised driver-to-dispatch messages (e.g. arrived shipper, loaded, departed shipper, arrived consignee, empty, available) - the daily heartbeat of the board.
Dispatch board archetypes: Geographic board (dispatcher owns a region), customer board (dispatcher owns a dedicated account), lane board (dispatcher owns a corridor), or hybrid.
Driver manager vs load planner split: Driver manager owns driver relationship + day-to-day comms; load planner owns load-driver matching + lane balance - separation common at scale.
TMS + optimisation engine: Transportation Management System (McLeod, TMW, MercuryGate, proprietary) + optional optimisation layer that scores / recommends matches.

Customer + accessorial economics

Detention pay: Carrier fee for driver dwell at shipper / consignee beyond agreed free time - canonical: free first 2 hours, then $50-$100/hr.
Layover + stop-off + tarp + driver-assist: Standard accessorials: layover (overnight delay), stop-off (extra pickup / drop), tarp (flatbed), driver-assist (unload help), reconsignment.
Drop-and-hook vs live-load: Drop-and-hook = drop loaded trailer, hook empty / pre-loaded trailer (fast turn); live-load = driver waits for loading (slow turn).
Customer scorecards + reload pressure: Customers often score carriers on on-time + service; carriers in turn score customers on dwell + accessorial + load quality.

IROPS + OCC decision rhythm

Triage priority order: Driver safety -> HOS exposure -> customer commit -> revenue impact -> next-load chain. Always in that order.
WX + ATC-equivalent disruption: Winter storms, hurricanes, regional shutdowns - trigger pre-positioning, route changes, load holds.
Breakdown + roadside repair: Tractor breakdown - tow / on-site repair decision, driver lodging, load recovery (relay / broker / customer cover).
Customer refusal + reconsignment: Consignee refuses load (damage, wrong product, late) - dispatcher coordinates dispute, reconsignment, customer comms, accessorial.

Practical drills

Driver A's PTA is Monday 06:00 in Memphis with a full 11-hr drive + 14-hr duty clock and 65 hrs available on the 70-hr rolling. You have three loads to assign: (1) Memphis -> Dallas, 450 mi, deliver Mon 18:00; (2) Memphis -> Atlanta, 380 mi, deliver Tue 06:00 drop-and-hook; (3) Memphis -> Indianapolis, 470 mi, deliver Mon 22:00 live-unload (avg 3-hr dwell). Driver has requested home time Thursday in Dallas. Which load matches best? Walk through the HOS math + driver-fit reasoning.
You inherit a 100-truck OTR fleet running deadhead at 15% (target 10%). RPM averages $2.20, drivers average 2,200 miles per week. Walk through how you'd diagnose + propose a plan with quantified targets + economics.
Friday 14:00. A winter storm closes I-40 east of Oklahoma City. You have 18 drivers on or near the closure - 6 inbound to OKC, 8 transiting east, 4 staging for Saturday loads. Simultaneously, one of your drivers (eastbound) has a tractor breakdown 40 mi west of the closure with a high-value reefer load - delivery is Sunday 06:00 in Memphis. The Memphis customer just called Sales demanding ETA. Walk through your first 60-90 minutes of triage and the next 24 hours of recovery.

Smart-question anchors

Dispatch board structure - geographic / customer / lane, DM + planner split, span of control
Technology stack - TMS, ELD platform, optimisation engine, dispatch UI, OCC integration
Customer + vertical mix - dedicated accounts, drop-and-hook coverage, accessorial discipline
Driver-managing rhythm - PTA discipline, home-time policy, dispatcher-driver tenure
IROPS + OCC posture - 24/7 staffing, escalation tree, recent recovery events

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