Transport Sector Faces Talent Shortage as Demand for Techs, Engineers Grows

Truck makers and parts suppliers, along with freight carriers and logistics firms, face a shortage of professional and technical talent, transportation industry recruiting specialists said.

“There is extremely high demand for talent,” said Tim Honn, president of Fortis Recruiting Solutions in Lisle, Ill. “However, the supply is very weak.”

Honn said unemployment among professionals in the commercial vehicle industry is less than half the national average, and not enough people are in the pipeline to take the place of workers who are nearing retirement age.

“My educated guess is the unemployment rate for technical professionals in the commercial vehicle industry is in the high 3[% range],” Honn said. “The shortage of top technical talent is going to be a significant problem for many years to come.”

Steve Eller of Crabtree & Eller LLC in Castle Rock, Colo., said he has been recruiting transportation sales and operations personnel for more than a decade and has never seen so few applicants as he does now, even in places where unemployment is relatively high.

“It’s pretty critical,” Eller said. “In a recent swing through Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, we came up with zero qualified sales candidates. We used to get hundreds of responses from qualified, experienced candidates.”

Robert McKenna, president of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association in Research Triangle Park, N.C., said that many companies shrank their workforce during the recession, and now they are having trouble getting those workers back.

“It’s not just engineers,” he said. “It’s technicians, pipe fitters and welders.”

Timothy Kraus, president of the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association, also in Research Triangle Park, N.C., said design and project engineers, machine operators and quality technicians “are difficult to find,” but the problem is “minor in nature” and, perhaps, temporary.

“We hear that certain levels of semi-skilled employees feel it is pretty comfortable collecting unemployment and made the decision to hunt and fish, rather than go back to work right away,” Kraus said.

David Carson, general manager of human resources for Daimler Trucks North America, said the long and recent economic downturn has created a surplus of people looking for professional positions, but competition for talent, especially for smaller suppliers, “can be a very significant challenge.”

“Our current focus is to combine external recruitment strategies with internal development of key talent through job rotations, project assignments and international placements,” Carson said.

Jim Parham, a longtime transportation executive recruiter who joined Transport Capital Partners as a managing partner last September, said freight carriers also are hard-pressed to find maintenance and safety management personnel to help them comply with new regulatory requirements.

“For really qualified safety compliance and maintenance personnel, demand has escalated,” Parham said, but the supply of candidates has shrunk.

Over the years, he said, many trucking firms did away with management training programs, and others cut back on staff during the recession. The growth of third-party logistics services, including freight brokerage and forwarding activities, also has been “sucking out” talent from trucking companies, he said.

David Wise of Wise Executive Recruiters of Evergreen, Colo., said part of the problem with filling job openings now is the reluctance of many people to change jobs because of uncertainty about the economy and the potential cost of relocation.

“We have talented, high-impact people who are taking a close look at opportunities, but they are not jumping into anything,” Wise said.

In addition, some employers are raising the requirements for job applicants.

“There’s a lot of pressure on hiring authorities to get the best talent available,” Wise said.

Although hiring is picking up across the board in transportation and logistics, finding individuals open to making a change in employment “remains difficult,” said Anne Kimmel, a vice president of Kimmel & Associates in Asheville, N.C.

Recruiters say companies are trying to recruit people with a track record of achievement who can produce immediate results.

“Companies are not as interested in who you are but what you have accomplished,” Kimmel said. “This is indicative of what the candidate can do for the new company.”

In some cases, to bridge the gap between younger, new hires and older, more experienced workers, companies are asking employees to stay on after retirement to provide mentoring services.

Bob Alberson, part-owner and general manager of High Road Partners, a transportation re-cruiting firm based in Bentonville, Ark., said defense cuts and military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan could provide employers with a source of new talent.

“These people are highly qualified, but they may not have the transportation experience,” he said.

A shortage of talent will raise the cost of transportation be-cause it will be harder for manufacturers and transportation providers to operate efficiently, said Jeff Chaponick, president of MAC Executive Recruiters in Dallas.

“Efficiency is the ability to drive costs out,” Chaponick said. “Efficiency will diminish if qualified and competent people are not around.”