More Than Just Trucks

The recruiting season is always open in the trucking and transportation industry! Recently, Truck Country and Stoops training programs welcomed newcomers to their diesel tech training classes with cool events at their facilities. The programs welcomed new "recruits" by hosting Apprentice Signing Day events, where newcomers to the three-year program were invited to ink their contracts in a similar style to how often college athletes sign their letters of intent.
The latest episode of "More Than Just Trucks" provides an overview of the training programs and talks about the hoopla surrounding the contract signings. Josh Jorgenson fills in as guest host, but you'll find our usual host, Ray Clark, on the other side of the microphone. As Truck Country and Stoops' training director, Ray, and Todd Trentz, an instructor and developer for Truck Country's program, give an overview of the three-year program. Matt Schanze, a new Truck Country program student, also shares his thoughts.
For more info about the training programs, email [email protected].

Following up on last month's discussion about making diesel careers appealing for ladies, Ray visits with a panel of women who have found careers in the shop. Our panel discusses what attracted them to become technicians, their personal experiences in the shop, and how they are perceived by their coworkers.
Panelists for this episode are:
• Melissa Petersmann, aka The Diesel Queen, is a social media influencer who previously was a heavy equipment technician for John Deere.
• Courtney Sturman joined the Truck Country - North Chicago team in March 2021. A proud new parent, Sturman is currently enrolled in Truck Country's technician training program.
• Sevy Carter has been a member of the Stoops Freightliner-Quality Trailer's Anderson team since November 2021. Sevy is a new biker, taking up the hobby this year. She is also a member of the Stoops' tech training program.

(Marked as Explicit for language.)

As competition continues to recruit more diesel technicians to the trucking industry, many companies are looking to appeal to an untapped pool of talent in women. Surveys indicate that women make up just 1-3% of technicians currently in the industry. In this episode, host Ray Clark, visits with Jay Goninen, of WrenchWay, and Jenny DeArmond, a corporate recruiter for Stoops Freightliner-Quality Trailer, about what can be done to make technician positions more appealing to women.

In this episode of More Than Just Trucks, Josh Jorgenson and Drew Hepler discuss a pair of exciting customer events that are planned to showcase Freightliner's new electric-powered trucks, the eCascadia and eM2, at Stoops' Lima, Ohio, and Truck Country's Hampshire, Ill. dealerships. Josh and Drew go over plans for the events and outline what attendees can expect to learn. For more info or to register to attend, please visit truckcountry.com.

Ray, along with his colleague Jolene, celebrated National Apprenticeship Week by welcoming a members of Truck Country's apprenticeship program. Trey H., from our Dubuque dealership, and Cesar H., from our Hampshire location, talk about their experiences as part of the program.