Au Revoir, Baby Boomers...Youth Must Be Served

When grade-school children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, you invariably hear:

“A doctor, a firefighter, an astronaut...”

Heck, even “the President of the United States” seems attainable to the most precocious of the bunch.

No child, as far as I know, has ever answered, “a janitorial supply distributor.”

Wholesale distribution — an industry that employs one in 20 U.S. workers — doesn’t get a lot of press; it’s rarely considered a career option for young, bright minds entering college or the workforce.

The task of recruiting young people falls to individual distributor companies that have the opportunity — and the means — to market to tomorrow’s workforce.

Distributors can attend career fairs, offer internships or sign up to speak to students in a college business class. They can tout the security of the market, the income potential, and the opportunities to cultivate rewarding business relationships.

A labor shortage is in the making. Baby Boomer-age workers won’t be around forever, and there is a relatively smaller population of people ready to enter the workforce vacated by the aging “Boomers.” Developing a game plan now for eventually replacing veterans with promising newcomers is a smart business survival tactic, as well as a way to breathe new life into your sales force.

In the article, “Youth Movement,” I spoke to a number of young people about the paths that led them to the distributor sales profession, and what endears them to this business.

True, hiring the young and inexperienced can be considered a gamble. It can also require a sizeable investment in training. But, as the saying goes: “youth must be served.” The future of your business may depend on it.