Page 46 - ATR 1 2015 web

THE laST word

change Marketing, driver roles

to recruit young drivers

By steve Brawner they’re used to being away from home. West Africa could hardly wait to come
Contributing Writer They place a high value on having cool to America to drive a truck.
experiences that they can share on Simple marketing won’t be enough
The ideal truck driver is a 20-year social media. In fact, The Intelligence to attract young people to the industry.
veteran who is physically fit, has worked Group business consulting firm Instead, industry processes and expecta-
only for one carrier, has never had an found that 64 percent would rather tions will have to change, Farrell said.
accident and has already been named earn $40,000 in a job they love than Millennials are restless, they want to
Driver of the Year. $100,000 in a job they find boring. grow along a career path, and they
Unfortunately, there aren’t many They want jobs with purpose that make expect to change careers often. Motor
drivers like that available. In fact, the a real difference. Instead of a work-life carriers will have to work with those
reality is just the opposite. According balance, they expect a work-life fusion realities. Instead of annual reviews,
to the American Trucking Associations, where the two are blended together. millennials need consistent feedback.
the industry already faces a driver Sounds like potential truck drivers, Because money is not their primary
shortage of 35,000, and that number doesn’t it? motivation, carriers should figure out
could grow to 240,000 by 2020. Given To attract them, the motor car- ways that get them home rather than
that reality, carriers can look for drivers rier industry will have to rethink its maximizing their time on the road.
among the usual sources—other carri- recruiting tactics. A short time ago, Farrell said that one company that
ers, second careerists, etc. Or they can Farrell created a driver recruiting web- had openings for 12 drivers instead col-
widen the pool by looking at one other site, Travel for America. The website lected 2,000 applications from college
often-ignored source. touts the $60,000 annual salary a truck graduates. That company was Oscar
Young people. driver can earn, but it also emphasizes Mayer, and it was seeking drivers for
In an informative speech to the a driver’s opportunity to see new places its Wienermobile. The slots easily were
Arkansas Trucking Association’s Safety and meet people, make an impact on filled because young people want their
Management Council Feb. 12, busi- communities nationwide, and, for a lives to tell a story.
ness consultant Max Farrell—himself a generation interested in self-improve- Fleets can follow that example by
young whippersnapper at age 25—said a ment, take audio courses while on the telling truck driving’s story to a genera-
large potential driver pool exists among road. “We’re reinventing the future of tion that, for lots of reasons, may be
the so-called millennial generation, the transportation industry by helping ready to listen. Of the 2,000 college
which he defined as Americans born millennials get paid to travel the United applicants saying, “Oh, I wish I were
between 1980 and 2000. States. Whether you are a student or an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile driver,”
That’s a group of people who have a professional: Join the movement,” it 1,988 ended up without a driving job.
experienced the Wall Street crash said. Maybe some of them could be inspired
and don’t trust big corporations, and Within a week, 156 web surfers had to join the motor carrier industry,
who’ve earned college degrees that often signed up. Of that group, 38 percent where, instead of driving a fake big hot
haven’t landed them good-paying jobs. were female, and 12 percent were from dog, they could drive a real big rig. ATR
Because they’ve already gone to college, other countries. One “applicant” from

opinions expressed on this page may not reflect official policies or opinions of the
Arkansas Trucking Association or the American Trucking Associations.

46 arkansas trucking rePort | issue 1 2015