Planning, as I am, to move to the Pittsburgh area from Canada, I called up both Crete and CFI to ask about potential vacancies, since, from what I've read on this board so far, they appear to be arguably the best companies to work for by far.
The Crete recruiter, a specimen by the name of Bill, was one of the most abrupt & obnoxious characters I've ever had the unpleasant experience to talk to : even though I've been driving tractor-trailers for quite a while in Canada ( local, mountain and cross-border ), this "luminary" pretty much pooh-poohed my driving experience, and told me that it counts for absolutely nothing in the US, and that I would have to go to a driving school again. He made it very evident that I was wasting his time on the phone, even by calling him and asking for info. I thanked him ( with a heavy dose of sarcasm ) for his "kindness"....I'm pretty sure he was too dense to understand the undertone !!
The CFI recruiter, Margaret, was quite the polar opposite. She not only took the time to ask me about my situation and what kind of work I was looking for, but she also explained to me patiently, what I need to do to start driving in the US. And she did say that CFI certainly values my Canadian experience, and would seriously take that into account at the time of recruitment. I would, however, need to go through some orientation for a week or two, before being assigned my own truck...which is quite understandable.
Crete may be a great company to work for, but by placing such ignorant cretins ( no pun intended ) as the aforementioned at its point of first contact with potential drivers, it's certainly not doing its reputation any good....or is it simply arrogance as a result of smugness ?!?! Go figure !!