Company uses video game ads to recruit drivers

MIAMI (NewsNation) — America’s truck driver shortage is only getting worse, and to address the ongoing issues one trucking company is thinking outside the box to recruit new drivers by targeting video gamers.

Trucking company Schneider National has come up with a new recruiting ides to target a younger demographic, specifically those who play the video game “American Truck Simulator.”

A wildly popular game, more than two million copies have sold worldwide. The goal of the game is to realistically simulate the experience of being a truck driver in America.

Players take on jobs and then make deliveries across the country, and one real-life trucking company is hoping those in-game skills will translate to the real world.

Schneider National recently released advertisements within the game so that they appear on animated billboards.

The virtual ads aim to entice gamers to join the company as real-world truck drivers.

The effort to recruit younger drivers comes as there’s a shortage of about 80,000 truck drivers, according to the American Trucking Association.

That number has remained roughly the same, but experts said it’s not moving in a good direction — forcing truck companies to get creative with recruiting.

“When you consider that the CDL requirements dropped from 21 to now age 18. 18-year-olds are playing video games. So, the best way to go about attracting them to your company, and potentially building some loyalty with your company is to advertise where they’re at. And they’re in the video game space. And I think it’s just a brilliant idea,” Jason Greer, the founder and CEO of Career Consulting, Inc., said.

Greer also said it’s a sign of the times and what’s to come for the future.

And looking ahead, the decline in drivers is expected to get much worse. The trucking industry reportedly needs to add more than a million drivers by 2030.

“In order to keep play pace, with retirements and those that leave the industry, we need to recruit, train and get on a job about 1.2 million got new drivers by 2030, just to keep pace with where the situation is today. So we definitely got some challenges there,” American Trucking Association’s Workforce Policy Vice President Nathan Mehrens said.

Another problem facing the trucking industry is compensation.

Truck drivers endure long, grueling hours on the road, and at the end of the day, many believe the money isn’t worth it.