Recruiting and retaining the next generation of talent in the trucking industry requires a shift in practices, including actively seeking out younger candidates, active mentorship, understanding their workplace expectations, and setting realistic career pathways.

This is according to the panelists who discussed attracting youth to the industry at the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada’s seventh annual Bridging the Barriers conference on Sept. 17 in Mississauga, Ont.

Hannah MacDonald-Dannecker, managing partner at the Better Together Group, believes that referrals are becoming increasingly important, saying they increasingly “mean so much more than before” since referrals indicate the person being referred already has a genuine connection and relationship with someone at the company. This means the new hire is more likely to have a positive experience and stay with the company longer.

However, people found through job boards like Indeed, for example, may not have the same level of investment or understanding of the company culture.

Isabelle Fournier, recruitment and retention specialist with ContransVrac in Quebec, added that companies should target potential employees at truck shows, races, and other events where young people interested in various industry roles gather rather than relying solely on job fairs, passively waiting for employees to come and find them.

Look the part

Fournier also shared an initiative she led in Quebec, where she collaborated with the Centre de Formation en Transport Routier (CFTR) to launch a women-focused program. “We created a program that was 100% women. The teacher was a woman, the students were women, and the people training those students were mostly women. We did have some men for some of the stuff,” she explained.

To attract more female candidates, they wrapped a trailer in pink and other flashy colors, which caught the attention of women considering careers in trucking.

“It attracted not only the girls who took the course, but it attracted a lot more girls to call in and say, ‘You guys hire girls?’ And it surprised me because why wouldn’t we, you know?” Fournier said, adding that ‘looking the part’ is also important to attract youth and women into the industry.

“We need to look like them so that they feel at home when they come and apply for your job,” she said. “They want to see that they’re going to fit into your company. They want to see that they’re not just coming into a new career – [because] they’re scared, they don’t know what this career is – they want to know that ‘I’m going to have friends here, I’m going to have fun here, and I can grow in this career.'”

“Desperate for genuine connection”

Once recruited, retaining young talent requires understanding what they value in a workplace. And while access to technology and flexibility are at the top of the list for new generations, all panelists agreed on the importance of mentorship, as it emerged as a central theme in both attracting and retaining youth.

“You have no idea how desperate the next generation of employees is to have and create a genuine, valuable connection with somebody,” said MacDonald-Dannecker.

She explained that today, younger generations have faced relational deficits from being raised in the digital age and during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she warns that youth often build emotional walls, as they have been influenced by so many different sources online.

Hence, companies willing to attract and retain younger generations should be prepared and have strong mentorship programs in place.

Hayley Mackay at Skills Ontario, where she promotes skilled trades across the province through mobile classroom initiatives, shared her experience from when she spent eight years as a longhaul driver, hauling livestock.

Mackay recalls her experience of mentoring a young female driver: “I took her aside, and I said, ‘This is what’s going to happen. I know, I’ve lived it, and I’m here for you through any of this.’ At first, she kind of pushed me away, and I didn’t push her too hard [either]. But she came back a month-and-a-half later, and she said, ‘Hayley, you were right. This is this is something else,'” she says. “They might not know they need a mentor. So don’t push too hard, and let them be. Everything’s a balance.”

MacDonald-Dannecker said that such mentorship, with time, will help employees develop their sense of purpose, adding that if companies are able to foster a connection and build strong relationships with employees, they will remain more dedicated and loyal to the company for much longer than what a small salary increase could achieve, though she did acknowledge that money is still a very important factor.

Setting realistic career pathways

Speaking to the financial side of retention and recruitment, Mackay said it is important to set clear expectations for younger generations since many younger workers enter the workforce expecting top pay and seniority right away.

This is why companies need to help them understand that they have to work their way up by discussing responsibilities and expectations.

“And a lot of times in the trucking industry, there is that seniority list of people who have been there for 20 or 30 years, they’re probably going to have every single holiday off, whereas a new person won’t,” she says. “I think it’s going to be a learning curve [for them] on how the real world works.”

Ask them what they need

Another crucial step in retaining younger talent is understanding their needs. Fournier suggests that youth are looking for different benefits compared to traditional ones. She says some might prefer a gym membership or an extra one or two days off to a traditional package of health benefits.

“We can offer them things all day long, but it’s also good to ask them what they want,” MacDonald-Dannecker agreed.

Break stereotypes, act when kids are at their most influential

However, offering the right benefits and mentorship is only part of the solution. The industry also needs to address long-standing stereotypes that make trucking less appealing to younger candidates.

All panelists agreed that recruitment efforts must begin when children are at their most influential age — starting as early as five years old.

MacDonald-Dannecker explained that at that age, children start forming career hopes and begin solidifying those ideas as they grow older. By the time they reach their teens, they are already making about which courses to take in high school, which eventually determine their college and career options. It’s crucial to influence them when they’re still forming those ideas, she said.

“When we go into kindergarten, we learn about jobs and careers, and we want to be police officers, ambulance drivers, and firefighters,” Fournier added. “But why does it stop there? Why not show the kids that there are trucks? Kids love trucks.”

But children are often influenced by parents, too. This is why it is important for the industry to find a way to break a stereotype of truck driving jobs being a last resort job for uneducated people.

“In my family, the truck drivers were my uncles and my cousins, who weren’t so good at school. That was the only outlet they had to have a job. We need to bring the ‘professional’ into a professional driver,” said Fournier.

Mackay agrees, recalling an incident that happened earlier in her career. She was out for dinner with friends when someone overheard her talking about her job and responded, “You’re a dirty pig hauler.”

She says the response left her stunned.

“I vacuumed my floors every day. And [from] going to truck shows, I think the livestock trucks are always the top of the line,” she says. “It’s not a dirty job, whether you’re in livestock or not. But if you do get dirty, there are coveralls for a reason.”