COVER STORY
Who Will
Maintain Our
Technology
On Wheels?
The timing is right for Millennials
in fl eet maintenance.
By Sara Scullin, Managing Editor
Y
ou’ve heard it before – the anecdotes about “Millennials.” Countless articles
have scrutinized how this group of younger adults tends to carry heavy
student loan debt, live at home longer and profess a passion for avocado.
Th is is the generation that was born roughly 1982 to 2004 (Th e boundaries
of each ‘generation’ are blurry and are oft en drawn by confl icting media
accounts). Millennials largely came of age having had access to the internet,
social media and smartphones.
Just as the Greatest Generation passed the torch to Baby Boomers, and
Baby Boomers to Gen X, Millennials are the latest group to enter the workforce.
As such, it becomes interesting to examine what makes this generation
tick and speculate how they might contribute to legacy professions, like
trucking and vehicle maintenance and repair.
The Rumors
Millennials are job hoppers who change jobs every few years. Millennials
have a tough time with criticism and oft en need some hand-holding to get
the job done. Th ey like to ask, “What’s in it for me?”
To elaborate further, this group of people who just fi nished or were in the
process of fi nishing school when the housing bubble burst are cautious. Th ey
generally prefer to know the ‘why’ of things and they long to spend their
days engaged is work that is meaningful to them and to others. Th ey like to
learn – constantly – and they see the value in relationships and mentorships.
Many of the character traits we ascribe to Millennials – good and bad –
could actually serve them well in this line of work.
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16 Fleet Maintenance | October 2017 Photo from iStock