Category: Operator Aptitude

Time was, it took real strength to operate the controls in the cabs of heavy equipment. But with everything computerized these days, anyone with two hands and two feet (and eyes and ears) can do just fine, male or female, big or small.

As increasing numbers of equipment operators retire, employers are struggling to recruit new ones. And those new hires are often young people who've grown up playing video games.

As the world “exits” the COVID-19 pandemic, companies in all sectors are struggling to hire (or re-hire) employees, from construction [Dodge Data & Analytics 2020] to logistics [DC Velocity 2021]. And as company owners become more concerned about “attracting new talent” [CURT 2022], they are directing Human Resources to work (...)

We now know that individual differences in performance largely reflect differences in the amount of time people have spent engaged in deliberate practice, i.e. activities specifically designed to improve performance.

Organisations that own and operate heavy equipment are always looking for new operators. And to do that, they are primarily targeting: current employees who are now doing other kinds of work, to grow their own people with work experience in other fields, including military veterans [1]. In both cases, people (...)

As part of a previous blog post, I indicated that women are few and far between in the construction trades, especially at the controls of heavy equipment (just 2% in my part of the world). Perhaps there’s some kind of “biological handicap” at work? Well, industrial psychologists have identified three (...)

The world is changing. Every day, you can see doughnut shops where there used to be farms. But why is this important for heavy equipment operator training?

It’s a true scientific breakthrough, based on research jointly conducted in Canada and Germany [Herholz et al. 2016].

Not everyone is born with the “musical ear” that a professional musician needs to have. Indeed, we all know someone who can't sing well; poor souls, they can practice forever (perhaps in the shower) and never improve.