Millennial generation is responsible for building
up future generations of technicians. Th ere are
plenty out there; they just need to be motivated.”
Sell them the Industry
Part of attracting new blood to trucking has a
great deal to do with education and exposure.
Few people really know what it means to work
with today’s fl eets.
20 Fleet Maintenance | October 2017
“Most of us think of that guy who’s climbing
underneath a truck and has dirt under his
fi ngernails,” NationaLease’s Clark says. “Th at’s
not really what it is now. If you walk into a lot of
shops they’re sparkling clean and there’s tons of
computer equipment in there. Sure, you’re going
to have to get under a truck. Th ere’s no substitute
for that. But it’s not the dirty, greasy, grungy job I
think it’s always portrayed as being.”
Young workers in the U.S. are more likely to
be college graduates than ever before. According
to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from
its monthly Current Population Surveys, four-inten
Millennial workers ages 25-29 had at least a
bachelor’s degree in 2016. With this emphasis on
a four-year education, many trades need to work
harder to grab the attention of prospective maintenance
professionals.
Sometimes it’s not just the students who could
use an update, but the teachers, too.
“We’re volunteering our time and in some cases
we’re on boards where we’re helping to educate
professors and instructors of what these new
diesel Class 8 trucks are coming equipped with;
such things as collision mitigation, GPS navigation,
etc.,” Devany with Betts says. “Right now it
appears a lot of youth are embedded in that technology
boom, and we’re trying to educate them
that it’s in our industry, too.”
Clark with NationaLease says, “Right now, I
think it’s essential to do as many things as you
can, as oft en as you can, to stay visible in the
marketplace. It’s a tough challenge.”
The Recruiting Challenge
A number of things contribute to the diffi culty in
recruiting. Th e Boomers are retiring, but at the
same time, the demand for technicians has grown.
Clark of NationaLease has found the biggest
recruiting challenge is luring diesel technicians
to the industry. Because of this, NationaLease
partners with technical institutes throughout
the country to educate about the industry. Th e
company also provide webinars as a resource for
recruits and has added functionality to its website
to help in the job search. Posted jobs appear on
NationaLease.com but also on Indeed.com and
other aggregator sites.
At VIPAR, Paul says, the company promotes
employment opportunities via social media in
the heavy duty aft ermarket, in addition to partnering
with the local Northwood University’s
internship program each year to facilitate Heavy
Duty Aft ermarket Week (HDAW), a large North
American gathering of the independent heavy
duty aft ermarket industry.
Northwood University (www.northwood.edu) is
a private university that specializes in managerial
and entrepreneurial education.
“It is just as hard to fi nd a good technician as
it is a good driver, and recruiting a technician is
diff erent than recruiting a driver,” says Naylor at
Zimmerman Truck Lines.
He says he will usually go aft er a younger technician,
fresh out of school or with little experience,
and then send them on to Paccar school and state
inspection classes, plus help them to get their CDL.
PACCAR (www.paccar.com) is a global leader in
the design, manufacture and customer support of
high-quality premium trucks.
“A young technician doesn’t have many bad
habits yet and they are willing to learn more,”
Naylor says. “At that point, you teach them how
you want things done, get them experience and
build their confi dence.”
Many companies, like the family-owned and
operated Betts, believe in training employees
and retaining them all the way into retirement.
Does this clash with the idea that Millennials
are purportedly chronic job changers? Or can a
compromise be achieved?
Betts’ Devany says it’s not quite as easy to retain
this demographic. As such, his company looks to
strategically fi nd and retain those employees who
will stick around.
“We’ll go to the junior colleges or community
colleges and high schools in our Fresno CA
community to educate … about opportunities in
manufacturing and trucking,” he says. “What
we found is that not a lot of people are educated
about trucking and transportation. We’re trying
to educate the youth so that when they do come
ready to enter the workforce, they’re thinking of
our industry as an opportunity.”
What does this boil down to? “Slacker” companies
that cannot see beyond the daily grind and
that do not actively strive to meet future goals or
establish a clear career path for its workers need
not recruit. Because if that’s the case, qualifi ed
Millennials may be slow to apply.
A Perfect Fit?
A fi nal talked-about quality of Millennials is
that they may be far more open to change than
previous generations – a trait that bodes well in
a fast-changing fi eld such as fl eet maintenance.
“As our industry rapidly evolves, this generation
will adapt quickly,” VIPAR’s Paul says. “Th ey have
been raised at a time when productivity in the U.S.
is at an all-time high. As a result, they understand
that expectations will be high, and they need to be
innovative in how they attack challenges.”
Th e torch is passing hands. Millennials will
help to issue in the next generation of workers
for fl eets. Th eir eff orts will be informed by skilled
mentors who carry with them valuable hands-on
experience, and their contributions will be guided
by the promise of future innovation.
©2017 CMA, LLC.
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