Trucking Firms Must Be Creative To Attract Millennial Drivers

Trucking companies facing a worsening driver shortage have a potential large labor force available to them among members of the millennial generation, but they will have to find creative ways to appeal to those young people.

That was the message of Little Rock native Max Farrell, co-founder of the employer consulting firm Create Reason and an organizer of Arkansas’ first Startup Weekends, where entrepreneurs attempt to launch small businesses over a weekend’s time. Farrell, 25, himself a member of the millennial generation defined as Americans born between 1980 and 2000, gave an outsider’s perspective to the Arkansas Trucking Association’s Safety Management Council Thursday.

The trucking industry faces a severe trucking shortage – 35,000 drivers currently, according to the American Trucking Associations, with that number possibly growing to about 240,000 by 2020. The workforce is aging, overwhelmingly male, has high obesity rates, and faces a shortened life expectancy. Turnover is 97%, according to the ATA.

To attract millennials to the industry, motor carriers must overcome a number of obstacles and traditions. Many want to hire drivers that are no younger than age 23, when many millennials have already started their first career, Farrell said.

But millennials represent a potentially large driver pool if carriers know how to appeal to them. Many millennials earned college degrees that haven’t led to good jobs and feel deceived, and after experiencing the 2008 crash are not loyal to corporations. Many younger millennials have taken notice and will be looking for alternative paths to college.

Unlike with previous generations, money is not the primary motivating factor for many millennials. They instead are more interested in having experiences, having stories they can share, and having a job with a purpose, Farrell said.

A study by the Intelligence Group business consulting firm found that 64% would rather earn $40,000 a year at a job they love than $100,000 a year at a job they find boring. That’s why Oscar Mayer, seeking to hire 12 Wienermobile drivers, attracted 2,000 applications from college graduates.

“Millennials do want to work with purpose. They want to be a part of a bigger picture, whatever that bigger picture may be,” he said.

Truck driving can fulfill those needs, but the industry needs to know how to tell its story, Farrell said.

In preparing for his speech, he built an experimental website, Travel for America, where he touted truck driving as a career where applicants can earn up to $60,000 a year exploring new places, make an impact on communities nationwide, meet people across the country, and improve themselves by taking audio courses while on the road. In seven days, the site had 156 signups – 38% of them female and 12% of them international.

Farrell told attendees they could entice millennial drivers by emphasizing the truck driving experience and the industry’s purpose, tying the job to causes such as donating a penny to a charity for each 10 miles they drive, offering constant feedback, helping drivers along a career path, and offering more driver rotations so drivers spend more time at home even if they make less money.