1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212 
Comment
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
IT'S A PROBLEM OF DEMOGRAPHICS...
—77 The demographics of the road transport industry are worrying. White, male, middle-aged and that's with the modern usage of middle-age which seems to kick in a decade later than it used to. Why is it worrying? Because unless we start to recruit from a wider pool of applicants, including women and ethnic minorities, our industry will continue to suffer a debilitating skills shortage, which will only worsen as the current generation retires. You can forget the social liberalist arguments about equality (although they are right) because in this industry it's simple: equality pays.
We welcome the Skills for Logistics (SfL) study into this problem, although it remains to be seen how many new insights we'll get from its 2100,000 research. It is looking at recruitment practices and how employers can make themselves more inviting to rare types of applicant but the real battle will be persuading those job-seekers to look at road transport in the first place.
The CV Show is devoting 2,000m2 to a Skills Centre this year run by the IRTE and supported by Sf L and Automotive Skills. This will doubtless attract people who are interested in further professional development are already involved in transport. But they've also invited colleges and universities; the organisers want at least 1,000 'non-transport' people through the doors. It's among these groups of young people that we need to make headway. We need to move their perceptions away from associating trucks with unskilled labour and focus them on problem-solving in a fast paced envronment. We need to show potential mechanics high-tech diagnostics instead of screwdrivers and grease.
We must keep training the people we have without continuous professional development, their skills will fade into anachronisms. And how many are inspired into careers by someone they know who has prospered? We should reach into other industries and poach their best-their experienced managers; their hardest hitting executives. Its not only their skills but their kudos which are transferable. The CV Show and all those exhibiting at it intend to sell this industryas must we all, all year round.
"Without continuous professional development skills fade to anachronisms"