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One Answer to One of America’s Toughest Recruiting Problems
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Hey Tech Recruiters — your job is really hard, isn’t it?
Do you want to know a recruiting job that is about a hundred times harder than yours? Try recruiting Truck Drivers!
The truck driving recruiting industry is insane. It’s reported that right now there are 36,000 truck driver open position in the U.S.!
Go to any major corporation that has a shipping component that is handled by semi-trucks and they have openings, many will have openings in the hundreds! The largest trucking firms in the country have recruiting teams that dwarf the size any of the major tech companies in Silicon Valley.
So, how do you solve such a major recruiting nightmare?
By doing this:
OK, I hear you! “Wait, there still has to be a person in the seat! You don’t solve the ‘driver’ problem at all!”
The main problem with the truck driving profession is two fold:
Being able to use and operate the latest technology in any industry will attract a younger workforce. Can you imagine the people lining up to be able to operate one of those trucks above?! I can only imagine how this tech will revolutionize the profession of truck driving, and the skill sets needed.
Truck drivers turnover because they don’t see a future in driving truck.
It’s seen as a low skill occupation, and a lonely one at that. Hours, weeks, months, years on the road. Throw in the nasty-ass truck stops and you can see why our best and brightest are jumping at the thousands of open jobs.
Self driving technology opens up a whole new capacity level for the people sitting in those vehicles. I can imagine how organizations could begin training and teaching these operators an entire additional skill set to use while in vehicle, and even upon getting to their destination. It would easily be foreseeable where your self driving vehicle operators could also become your field sales reps, quality control, etc.
If the operator, theoretically, only has to pay attention to vehicle operations 15-20 percent of the time, this gives them so much time to concentrate on other ways to add value to the company and to themselves.
From a recruiting perspective, I can sell that. It’s hard to sell dirty bathroom and lot lizards to a kid who believes he has a future.
This was originally published on Tim Sackett’s blog, The Tim Sackett Project.