Martins Stock Haulage is encouraging young people to join them for work experience, so they can get a feel for the transport industry.
The livestock transport operator, which has three depots across Queensland and NSW, welcomes youths to come and work with them, either as school-based apprentices or on a more casual basis.
Graham Emery, group fleet maintenance manager for Martins, said the company sees the “value of youth” and wants to safeguard the future of the transport industry.
“So many young people are turning away from trades and the transport industry,” he told Big Rigs.
“We believe that the future is with young people.
“Any school kids who want to do work experience with us, we will accommodate them whenever we possibly can.”
Emery said that many young people who come in on work experience or as trainees end up being offered full-time employment with Martins.
“We’ve got an apprentice boilermaker here who started as a school-based apprentice,” he said.
“And we’ve got a young girl who started by washing trailers and trucks for us, and now she’s working in admin.
“Our workshop team in Oakey is very young, with a number of apprentices that we have taken on and trained up.”
Emery said that when young people come in to Martins, they go through an induction and make sure they learn everything they need to keep themselves safe while they are there.
Then it’s time to get their hands dirty.
“They’ll work with the tradespeople and learn from them, though obviously they are not allowed to us anything they might hurt themselves with,” Emery explained.
“We work with the kids and encourage them.”
Emery said Martins is also flexible, so if a young person decides that one part of the business is not for them, they can try out another area.
“We had one young fellow, he wanted to be a boilermaker.
“He had a couple of days in the boilermaker’s shed and then he asked if he could go to the mechanical shed instead.
“We said ‘Go for your life!’ and he seemed to enjoy that more, which was great.”
Martins also welcomes older applicants who don’t have experience in the industry.
“We have two mature-aged apprentices in the workshop and one mature-aged boilermaker,” Emery added.
However, Emery said that with an ageing road transport workforce and staff shortages, it makes sense to try to attract young people to the industry.
“The task is increasing, and the driver pool is decreasing,” he said.
“We have to attract young people into the transport industry, whether it be truck driving or in the boilermaker’s shed or wherever else.
“We need them.”