America has a shortage of truckers. So companies are looking for them in a video game: ‘Truck Simulator’

“American Truck Simulator” is not the most realistic video game in the world, but it is one of the most faithful ways to approach driving a truck in the virtual world. In this title, players can drive trucks with the same dimensions than the vehicles that circulate on the real roads and implies any type of difficulty that involves maneuvering carrying heavy merchandise, drive efficiently with a trailer or transport cargo from one site to another in record time.

Now, thanks to him, players can also find work.

If, as you hear, a transport company needed drivers and is looking for them on the virtual roads of “American Truck Simulator”. This is Schneider National, a logistics company in the United States founded in 1935 and which has a workforce of almost 20,000 employees. After the pandemic and the great demand for truckers in the countrythe company approached the video game studio to expand and improve its recruiting program.

They argue that they made this decision because the video game gives inexperienced drivers an advantage in training and driver shortage is making a dent in your accounts.

That is why this virtual world already has been filled with billboards (the ones the developer uses to announce new game updates or special events), but this time to show real job offers: “Start your career” or “Make the switch to Schneider”, along with instructions on how to apply and a link to the website of the logistics company.

As discussed in this Axios articleSchneider National was surprised that many of the new recruits demonstrated extremely good driving skills, well above the expected level. And the vast majority of them said that part of their learning had been carried out in the video game “American Truck Simulator”. Although it is too early to say if this strategy is effective, the company is totally “optimistic” about moving forward with the program.

A sector with demand for workers

What is certain is that “American Truck Simulator” players could be a breath of fresh air for an industry facing brutal shortages, one that experienced a drop of more than 80,000 drivers since May, according to data from the Ottawa Cooperative Association (OCA)which estimates that the shortage will double by 2031.

After the severe setback of the pandemic to the logistics and road transport industry, the sector will need to attract 1.2 million drivers to alleviate the void left by retirees. And the big problem is precisely training the new generations. so much that a bill from last year proposed lowering the age limit for truckers with a commercial license from 21 to 18 years. That’s where “American Truck Simulator” comes in and how to gamify and energize day-to-day life can attract more young talent.

It is not the first simulator to be used as a business tool. In this other article from Xataka we tell how the tractor companies have discovered a place to advertise that provides them much more visualization and notoriety than in traditional media: the “Farming Simulator” video game. This title allows its players (which we could actually call customers) to test new vehicles, trailers, combines and other machinery in a very realistic way. And that has attracted many people willing to buy products or who have doubts about which tractor to buy.

Images: American Truck Simulator

In Xataka | The latest battle in the tractor industry isn’t being fought in the field, it’s being fought in a video game