Daniel DassowKnoxville News Sentinel
Pilot Company's summer hiring plans include adding as many workers as the University of Tennessee at Knoxville employs, putting into perspective the continental sprawl of the Knoxville-based travel center and trucking giant.
That's 10,000 employees, also about the same number Tennessee Valley Authority employs. If Pilot's new hires formed their own Knoxville company, it would be the region's third-largest employer.
Of course, not all new hires will be in the Knoxville area, where Pilot employs around 2,500 people.
Pilot, a wholly owned subsidiary of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, employs about 30,000 people across a vast fuel trucking and travel center network with more than 870 locations in 44 states and six Canadian provinces. The company includes travel center brands Pilot, Flying J and One9 Fuel Network.
Hires will include travel center managers, experienced truck drivers and hourly food and retail service workers, the company said in a May 2 news release. Pilot especially needs a larger workforce in California, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Virginia, where summer travel demand is high.
“We are searching for talented and hard-working individuals to join our dynamic workforce,” Julius Cox, Pilot's executive vice president and chief people officer, said in a news release. “We pride ourselves on creating an environment where everyone feels they belong and has the opportunity to have a voice, contribute, learn and grow."
Pilot Company's travel center job openings across the United States
Knoxville is among the top areas for Pilot's new job openings, thanks largely to the headquarters stationed here.
The company will hire 80 team members in Knoxville, Pilot's recruiting program manager Erin Tanner told Knox News via email. Those jobs would be split 55-25 between the corporate office and local stores.
The top regions for new hires are:
- Columbia, Florence and Charleston, South Carolina: 155 total team members
- Knoxville, Tennessee, stores and corporate office: 80 team members
- Richmond, Virginia, and surrounding area: 55 team members
- Chicago, Illinois, and surrounding area: 50 team members
- Louisville, Kentucky; Lexington, Kentucky; and Cincinnati, Ohio: 50 team members
- Ehrenberg, Arizona, and surrounding Phoenix area: 45 team members
- San Antonio, Texas, and surrounding area: 45 team members
- Indianapolis, Indiana, and surrounding area: 40 team members
- Central Florida region: 35 team members
- Cleveland, Tennessee, and surrounding area: 25 team members
- Macon, Georgia, and surrounding middle Georgia area: 25 team members
- Bakersfield, California, and surrounding area: 20 team members
Whether people want a seasonal summer job or something permanent is up to them, Tanner said.
"We are hiring for full-time and part-time roles and do our best to accommodate our team members and their scheduling needs," Tanner said. "Whether an applicant is looking for a permanent role or something short-term, we offer a variety of roles with opportunity for future growth at Pilot."
Openings are listed at jobs.pilotflyingj.com.
Benefits and rewards help recruit to Pilot Company travel centers
Pilot has a benefits package that includes fuel discounts, weekly paychecks, paid parental leave in the U.S., low-cost healthcare plans and tuition assistance.
In 2023, the company launched the Fueling Recognition program, which lets managers reward team members with in-app points that can buy items like electronics, gift cards and concert tickets.
Its own employees seem to think Pilot is a good employer, too.
Pilot won first place in the large company category of the 2022 Top Workplaces awards, a partnership between Knox News and survey firm Energage. The awards are based on employee surveys, and Pilot has landed on the list six times in seven years. The company has taken the top spot twice.
Under Warren Buffet, Pilot Company continues to remodel stores
In 2022, Pilot launched a $1 billion initiative to remodel 400 of its travel centers and truck stops. The company has remodeled more than 100 stores, including one in Knoxville.
The initiative includes donations to support educational technology in school districts across the U.S. Pilot donated $20,000 to Knox County Schools when it reopened its newly designed Lovell Road center in West Knoxville on April 16.
Pilot serves an average of 1.3 million customers per day and sells around 15 billion gallons of fuel per year. The company caught the eye of legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett in 2017 when his holding company Berkshire Hathaway bought its first stake in Pilot.
In a series of billion-dollar sales, Berkshire Hathaway bought all of Pilot from the founding Haslam family. The final sale price for Pilot was $13.56 billion, split into three payments:
- 38.6% stake for $2.76 billion in 2017
- 41.4% stake for $8.2 billion in 2023
- 20% stake for $2.6 billion in 2024
Since Buffett gained a controlling 80% stake in 2023, he has installed several longtime Berkshire managers into Pilot leadership positions, including CEO Adam Wright, CFO Joe Lillo and Pilot Energy President Gary Hoogeveen..
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Emaildaniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
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