DUNMORE, Pa. — Hitting the road for a living — trucking officials call their industry a stable and growing one, and they are looking to hire women in particular.
They are reaching out to those looking to start a career or those who may have lost their other jobs during this pandemic.
“Here’s a huge opportunity, wonderful income, and every device that makes it easier for an individual to drive a vehicle, male or female, doesn’t matter," said John Kearney, CEO of Advanced Training Systems.
Kearney says nationwide, women only make up 7 percent of professional drivers, and there are more women without work during this health crisis than men.
Some trucking companies are offering free training to new hires to get them started.
Cindy Davison is just starting her professional driving career.
“I’ve always wanted to. I’ve always liked the trucks since I was a kid. It was a big thing for me. Also, I’m a female, and that’s another reason. Females don’t think they can do it, and a lot of them are starting to," she said.
Females who have been driving a while call their jobs stable and say the industry is growing and always important. But they add that the work has its challenges.
“It’s very long hours. I was running during the beginning of COVID; I was staying out two months at a time. My oldest is in the military, my youngest I missed most of her senior year doing over the road. I would get home for the major things, but if you have kids or want kids, it’s a rough thing to do," said Sue Carey of Tunkhannock.
Others love the freedom of the job and say technology has really improved over the years, making driving even the biggest trucks easier for a man or woman.
“It’s sort of a career that you can have, and you can have little training, you know three to six weeks to get training, so for that, I think it’s an opportunity for women who didn’t have money for college or never thought of college, and you can have the income of a professional career, so that has been really good for me," said Mary Lou Berkheimer of Mount Pleasant Mills.
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