Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnylightning
Here in Canada unemployment is high. The companies advertise for new drivers because they pay and benefits are terrible. Most new drivers quit in the first year.
There to many cdl holders, it would be nice if the government would cut out subsidizing the cdl schools and let see a real demand for drivers.
I must say that your comment is extremely odd. I live in Edmonton, and recently joined the Mullen Group, after driving a mixer truck. You have only to look up the classifieds section of the Edmonton Journal for truckdriver jobs, or you could even look it up on the net.....there is most definitely a shortage of drivers here in AB. But yes, as a new driver, you have to be willing to move out of your comfort zone, grab the Yellow Pages, or go to jobbank.gc.ca, and do some good old-fashioned "pavement pounding". No company in its right mind would be willing to trust an untried & untested newbie with expensive highway equipment & cargo.
In Vancouver, try Consolidated Fastfrate...I started my driving career with them in AB, when I was fresh out of driving school. Before you go OTR, it's better to do city P&D, which would really help you with your shifting and backing skills, not to mention your confidence levels. Besides, ConFast is Teamsters, and they start out at $17.36/hr, I believe.
Not too many trucking companies would be willing to hire you to drive OTR straight out of driving school, especially since driving in BC is challenging due to the mountainous terrain. If you've ever driven to Prince George, once you get to Goat Creek & Dome Creek, those are challenging even in the best of conditions....not to mention the Coquihalla in winter !! You might even wish to try
http://www.cpx.ca/ , who have a programme for new drivers. As someone else has suggested, you might want to get in touch with Bison & Yanke, but its highly unlikely that they'll take anyone without any experience. But, whatever you do, please, for the love of God, stay away from Sikh / Indo-Canadian trucking companies....they'll work you to the bone, cheat you at every available opportunity, & may even run "BC bud" in your truck without you knowing it.
If you have any questions, do feel free to PM me. Like you, I too was new to this industry a year ago, but have learnt a fair bit, and also realised that there is still a lot more to be learned. I lived in Van for 3yrs, and moved to AB a while ago, so I have some idea about both AB & BC, which I'd be happy to share with you. Good luck !!