Hiring Generation Z

Want to attract a new generation of service truck mechanics?

Visit high school and post-secondary classrooms. Attend career day events. Offer apprenticeships. Be gender neutral when hiring. Promote safety. And, bring in the military!

Service Truck Magazine caught up with industry insiders who participated in a session on industry recruitment at the Work Truck Show, held in March in Indianapolis. We asked for advice on tapping the latest crop of millennials, tagged as Generation Z, who are close to finishing school and entering the workforce.

Tom Johnson, a consultant and author of 100 Best Fleets in the Americas, has his eye on fleets across the continent and said times are tough for young people coming of age these days.

“The student loan debt in the U.S. is $4.3 billion, which works out to $37,000 per student and prevents them from owning a home and starting a family,” Johnson said, striking a note of sympathy but also suggesting opportunity for fleet owners and managers.

Five million job openings

“There are five million jobs in America right now that are open for people who have technical skills without a college degree,” Johnson said. “We want those people applying for these jobs.”

A major barrier, Johnson says, is the relative lack of direction provided to students who might have technical aptitude. “School counsellors don’t promote kids going to technical schools, they promote college,” Johnson said.

Still, with salaries reaching six figures for mechanics who have gained experience, some high school guidance counsellors are seeing the light and steering graduates to technical schools and apprenticeships.

“The beauty of apprenticeships is the city, county, state or company pays for them,” Johnson said. “Caterpillar runs its own tech school. They bring kids right out of high school and train them to be Caterpillar techs. They get a free education, they get paid while they’re going to school, and then when they get out they start at maybe six figures. It’s an incredible business model if we could get the word out.”

Find prospects online

One way to reach prospects, especially young people who have never known a world without the Internet, is through social media. “That’s where they spend all their time,” said Johnson. “Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp — everything they do, be all over it.”

When a prospect responds, Johnson recommends inviting them to an open house to meet your technicians. “Let them see how clean and safe it is, that they’re using computers for their diagnostics, and that it’s a great way to make a living.”

Dara Pido, technical support manager for the Gulf Region with Cummins Sales and Service, said fleet owners need to hire more women.

Pido, who’s spent a quarter century under the hood, recalled the time she was the lone Cummins-certified technician in the Montgomery, Ala., area when a diesel truck and 53-foot trailer were towed in. “When the driver realized I was going to be the technician working on his truck, he actually refused. I’d written up his work order and I think he’d assumed I was just the service writer.”

When Pido told the driver the next-closest Cummins-certified shop was 90 miles away, the driver actually had his rig rerouted there. “The irony is that I already knew what the problem was and what parts were needed. It would have taken me an hour and I would have had him back on the road.”

Asked if women face an uphill battle finding work as field service mechanics, particularly in regions where the climate can be extreme, Pido pointed to female drivers on the reality TV show, Ice Road Truckers.

Working with women

“Every now and then I’ll get that question, ‘What do you think about female truck drivers?’ Well, it’s an extreme job no matter what circumstances. I’ve worked on a wood chipper in 100-degree heat and 90 percent humidity and almost collapsed from heat exhaustion. And it could be three o’clock in the morning in downtown Atlanta where I used to work. A million different situations can happen.”

Through her travels Pido often meets young women who are newly hired or looking to enter the field, and she lets them know she has their backs and is available as a mentor. “I’m currently working with a young female technician who is just now going into trade school. I’ve told her to call me any time she needs any kind of assistance.”

At the end of the day, Pido believes in providing opportunities to all reasonable candidates regardless of gender. “You never know who you’re going to hire, but if you give them a chance and let them work for it, you’ll earn their utmost respect.”

Labels are also on Robert Gordon’s mind. The director of fleet management for DeKalb County, Georgia oversees more than 2,800 vehicles — including seven service trucks — and says he doesn’t like to categorize people in any manner whatsoever.

Avoid labeling people

“I have a very diverse workforce with people of different races working together, male and female working together,” Gordon says. “I absolutely despise labeling people. I don’t like to call folks millennials, or between generations or any of those kinds of things. I call them young people because we were all young at one time.”

The key, Gordon says, is being able to communicate with any young person. “You have to talk to them and figure out what makes them tick — and all young people don’t tick to the same thing.”

Not long ago, faced with a shortage of candidates, Gordon ramped up his organization’s attendance at career day events and got involved with local tech schools and high schools, joining their curriculum advisory committees to offer them a fleet organization’s perspective and meet potential hires.

“If your local high school or tech school has an auto mechanics’ class, sit down with the instructor. That’s one of the most valuable things you can do to help the industry and help yourself.”

Gordon has also found success recruiting young military veterans. “Every military base around the country has career days for people getting out of the military. Contact the base nearest to you and talk to them.”

Performing under pressure

Veterans tend to have broader experience compared with high school graduates, Gordon says. “They’re more apt to be trained and pick up on things a little quicker, and they absolutely perform under pressure.”

Employee retention is equally important. Offer training and increase a mechanic’s pay as they gain experience because otherwise they’ll go elsewhere, Gordon advised. “You keep someone five or six years and they go and get another $4 or $5 an hour — that just happens. Sometimes you can’t do much about it but you always have to try.”

While Gordon dislikes labels, he does concede young people today want to be heard. “They want their opinions to be listened to. You don’t have to agree with them, but you’ve got to listen to them.”

Positive reinforcement is also key. “When they do good you’ve got to tell them, and when they do bad you’ve got to tell them,” Gordon says.

As Tom Johnson sees it, young people want instant gratification, work that’s stimulating, and opportunities for promotion.

“They don’t want to be doing the same thing all the time, so cross-train these younger people so they’re working on a multiplicity of different types of equipment,” Johnson advises. “Many fleet technicians become fleet managers — that’s a possible career path.”

Safety is also key to attracting and retaining top talent. Dara Pido’s advice? Know your employees and what they’re capable of, and be conscientious about their surroundings.

“If the temperature’s going to be extremely high or low, or if your technician’s going out to work on mining or forestry equipment, keep good, constant communication with what’s going on,” Pido said. “This gives the technician peace of mind. They know somebody’s looking after them.”

Saul Chernos is a freelance writer based in Toronto.