A model growth partnership
Our partnership with Volta Trucks helped the innovative EV brand scale up rapidly but sustainably, and exemplifies successful collaboration.
Founded in 2019, Volta Trucks is at the forefront of a revolution in freight transport. Founded on the three pillars of safety, sustainability and electrification, Volta Trucks has ripped up the rulebook to design a new kind of vehicle: one far safer and more environmentally friendly than traditional commercial vehicles. The brand is also reimagining the business model for electric truck fleets through its innovative, hassle-free Truck as a Service (TaaS) solution.
When Volta Trucks first approached Gerrell & Hard the company was in its nascent stage: a startup with a concept truck, a small team of founders and fewer than ten employees. From the outset the founders’ vision was clear—they wanted a recruiter that could help them accelerate growth, and navigate the pitfalls associated with it.
Building the foundations
Our work with the Volta Trucks team was consultative from the start, and included benchmarking salaries and benefits packages to ensure the brand was well-positioned to attract and retain talent. As a trusted partner we assisted with top-line recruiting, HR support, defining organisational structure and even scouting a suitable location for brand headquarters.
After helping the senior team to set up a foundational structure, our focus shifted to expansion, so we recruited business leaders and supported them in turn to build their own teams. This phase of our collaboration marked the beginning of Volta Trucks’ rapid scale-up, where, in addition to engineering roles, we hired for diverse functions including marketing, purchasing, procurement, sales, business development and administration.
A fully integrated supplier
The success of our partnership with Volta Trucks was thanks in no small part to the trust the company placed in us and the level of access and freedom we enjoyed. We were fully embedded as its hiring team and integrated with its Applicant Tracking System. We worked closely with the leadership team and had direct contact with every independent hiring manager across the organisation to ensure continuity of feedback at all times. Our partnership also extended beyond hiring; with full visibility of operations from strategy to execution, we played a significant role in influencing business decisions.
Outcomes
Between August 2020 and July 2023 Gerrell & Hard placed 317 permanent employees and engaged 15 contractors at Volta Trucks. We made these hires against the backdrop of an historically-significant level of economic uncertainty defined by skills shortages and the challenges of the COVID era. Today, Volta Trucks boasts a team of over 900; an extraordinary pace of scale, especially within such a technically challenging market.
The Volta Trucks team’s agility, responsiveness and trust in Gerrell & Hard allowed it to accelerate growth—sustainably—at many times the pace typically experienced by new technology companies. Our collaboration with the brand is a model for the journey from business infancy to operational maturity, and the level of collaboration that made it possible.
We're hugely proud of this partnership, which is a testament to what can be achieved when vision, trust, and expertise align.
Gerrell & Hard were an integral part of Volta Trucks’ growth and were a true trusted partner for our Engineering & R&D recruitment with very strong sector expertise and an ability to build close relationships with hiring managers. They could be trusted to provide high quality candidates at pace, whilst also delivering an excellent candidate experience.