Millennial Truck Drivers: Appearances Matter
For younger truck drivers, particularly those belonging to the so-called “millennial” generation, appearances matter.
Driver shortage is a problem affecting the entire transportation industry. Trucking companies are doing whatever they can to bring in new people – signing bonuses, guaranteed pay, offering wellness plans, and so on. But for younger truck drivers, particularly those belonging to the so-called “millennial” generation, appearances matter. What exactly does this mean?
How Does Your Equipment Look?
When you’re trying to hire millennial truck drivers, how your equipment looks matters. You could even say that the state of your equipment reflects the state of your company’s brand. Visual appeal is key for pleasing a millennial truck driver. A beautiful truck and a spacious cabin can help new drivers feel more comfortable behind the wheel. If you make younger drivers feel valued and comfortable, they’ll feel better about your brand. After all, they’ll be spending most of their time inside the cab, so it helps if it feels like home.
Long Time Stereotypes
You should also remember that trucking, especially long haul trucking, has stuck around in our cultural imagination. Truckers used to have an outlaw image – as cowboys, basically. But the industry is trying to change with the times. If you mention the word “trucking” to millennial truck drivers, you’ll make them think of dark, smoky cabins, endless miles of asphalt, nonstop traffic, and surly men in badly-fitting shirts. But if you’re trying to draw in a new pool of drivers who are in their 20s or 30s, you need to dispel these often-incorrect stereotypes.
How to Change Things
So how can you go about changing things? For one, keep in mind that millennials want to have adventures in their life. The world is wider and still more interconnected to them, having grown up in a time where technology is so ever present. Make the cabin a place your new drivers can feel proud of, more like the cabin of a rocket ship than a truck. You could also encourage them to take pictures they could share over social media, or start collections of unique souvenirs from all the places they have traveled. You can even make it a small photo competition between all of your fleet’s drivers to see who took the best photo.
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