Good things are happening with Next Gen Trucking Association!

Considering how to market to Gen Z? Have you ever considered how to market to Gen Z? The Nebraska Trucking Association along with ATRI and the University of Nebraska-Omaha put together a focus group on Zoomers—mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years. The title of the focus group was "What does Gen Z Think of Trucking?"   The focus group revealed what is important to Gen Z and showed that the industry needs to adjust its messaging to appeal to Zoomers. David Zelnio, SHRM-CP, who helped put the focus group together said, “They just need to hear the story. They’re entrepreneurial. They like technology, they like community-oriented type jobs. They want to be a part of a solution. So there’s a lot of good indicators that if we do it right, we can actually pull Generation Z into the workforce.” Want to reach Gen Z? Your messaging should include these elements: Technology -The inside of a truck is like a tiny home. There is so much technology that has developed or is being developed including compressed natural gas, electric, and even autonomous trucks.  Even diesel trucks are good for the environment—the air is cleaner when it leaves than when it enters the truck.  Entrepreneurial- There are so many career opportunities in trucking and room for growth and a long-lasting career. You can even own your own fleet of trucks or your own repair shop.  Doing Good / Essential Work- Points such as these matter to Gen Z: See our beautiful country while making a difference!  Who brings in necessary items during a natural disaster or pandemic? TRUCKS do! A career in trucking is supporting keeping the United States up and running—no matter what happens.   To read the full focus group study click here:  FOCUS GROUP 21 Lindsey Trent President & Co-Founder, Next Gen Trucking Association

A Shift in Student Demographics The PHS trucking program now has some of the high school's top-performing students enrolled this year. In fact, 35% of the students enrolled have a high school GPA of 4.0 or higher. This shift is credited to a predictive assessment that was implemented last year called JOBehaviors in which 135 of the 11th-grade population participated. JOBehaviors takes into account nearly five hundred attributes that are aligned to the qualities of a successful professional truck driver and rates them on a 1 to 5 scoring scale. Students receive immediate feedback and for many, it is the first time they even considered trucking as a career opportunity.  The best part? All these students have shared that they have now found a passion for trucking since taking the class and not only do they want to get their CDL to help pay their way through college, but they all want to come back to this industry upon receiving their college degrees. As an industry, we should want the best people in this industry at every level and not just behind the wheel. I see the use of the JOBehaviors as an excellent tool that should be implemented at schools across the US to help students increase their awareness while positively impacting the trucking industry.  The link to the assessment can be found at Next Gen Trucking Website. Take it and see how well you score!  Dave Dein CDL Coordinator/Instructor, Patterson High School  Vice President & Co-Founder, Next Gen Trucking Association

ARE YOU ATTENDING THE MID-AMERICA TRUCKING SHOW? Please stop by and say hello at Booth 40569. We have over 200 Diesel Tech students from several states will be attending and participating in a scavenger hunt. If you want students to visit your booth please contact Lindsey!

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