Despite coming from a transport family, Allysha Hannant had no plans of working with trucks. Now she couldn’t imagine herself doing anything else.
A few years ago, Allysha Hannant, 26, had scored her dream job as a wedding planner – then Covid hit and the wedding industry came to a halt.
“I got stood down in February 2020 and was on Seek every day – I think I applied for 50 jobs. I absolutely loved wedding planning but it just wasn’t a sustainable career. My parents own Hannant’s Transport, carting produce out of the Lockyer Valley, and sub-contracting for Nolans Transport. Seeing that my mum and dad were unaffected, with such uncertain times, I needed to figure out what I wanted to do,” Hannant explained.
Her first job was at Nolans Interstate Transport, working in administration for over seven years while she completed her studies. After finishing her business degree, she approached the well known Toowoomba wedding venue, Gabbinbar Homestead. As luck would have it, on the day she applied, one of the wedding planners had resigned. She got the job and was there for almost two years.
As the world was still coming to grips with the pandemic and what it meant, she was unsure of which path to take. One of the roles she applied for was at Western Truck Group in Toowoomba, which she joined in May 2020 as a sales coordinator.
“When Western Truck Group called, I had another job lined up doing accounts for a local business, but Western Truck Group seemed right in the gut, so I took the job,” she said.
“I didn’t think I’d pursue a career around trucks. Growing up with dad driving trucks, my sister and I always saw the transport industry as more of a bloke thing. And I saw how hard it was to run a transport company too.
“Wedding planning was great and I loved it, but I’ve definitely found my calling. They’re very different industries, that’s for sure.”
Hannant’s role as a sales coordinator sees her support the truck sales team by following the fit-out process and liaising with body builders and suppliers to get the trucks to the customers’ requirements.
In January 2021, Western Truck Group also helped Hannant get her truck licence, meaning she regularly gets behind the wheel to deliver the trucks to clients. “Western Truck Group has been so great and so supportive and said that if I want to get into sales, they will help me transition there, and that is my goal. Ultimately, I would love to one day get to dealer principal.”
Hannant adds that she’d love to see more women pursuing careers in truck sales. “From what I can see, there really isn’t many women in high positions in truck sales. It would be so great to see more women like myself move into truck sales, I think there definitely is a big opportunity there. There are so many more women now that are truck drivers and owner operators. It would be good to see more women come into this side of the transport industry too,” she said.