Recommended Training Schools , Edmonton .

How about calling a few recruiters on the phone and ask them ? And keep us posted ?

 

Automation is 30 years out, so don't worry about that.

The only schools the companies I work for will hire new drivers from, are Capilano in Edmonton and CCA in Calgary. My Current company will sometimes look at a guy from Derek Brown in Calgary, the the 2 above are the ones we wanna see.

 

Both CCA and Capilano driving schools have several programs ranging between 10h BTW and 60h BTW.

How many school hours behind the wheel (BTW) do I need to be able to get a job? Start maybe with 20h and purchase extra hours if required? I heard of people who got their class 1 with 10h or 20h BTW and learned the rest on the job without any issues. I’ve been driving class 5 manual stick in Alberta for 20 years in summer and winter, accident free. None of the recruiters I talked to said anything about how many hours BTW do I need to get hired.

 

Yea, that's the real trick of it. When I started talking to companies 2-3 years ago, it was the 100hr advanced program at CCA or piss off. This of course was when they were swamped with experienced class 1 guys, who just got laid off from Oil and Gas. So I did the 100hr program, paid a lot of money and got a job before I finished.

Now companies are hurting BAD, and I mean bad for drivers! Bison alone has hundreds of trucks parked in terminals, doing nothing for about 6 months now.

So, could a guy get a job on the 20hr deal? yea sure. Is 20 hours enough to avoid having problems on the job? maybe. I don't regret doing the 100hrs, cause it helped me be that much farther ahead when I did get hired. Also every company I have been at, regardless of how much experience I have on the job; still gets excited over the 100hr program I took.

If I was to do it again today, in this hiring environment, I would prob do the intermediate 60hr program at CCA, and go with Challenger as their training is the best bang for the buck, short contract, no cutting you off early to go on the highway.

 

While you can still challenge the class 1 in Alberta, most companies won't look at you for a class 1 position for two years regardless of what school you went to. There are too many "Puppy mills" out there.
In Edmonton the reputable schools are Big Rig, Cameron, Capilano, Donovan's, and Gennaro.
Don't take the Dangerous goods course or the the PDIC, whoever hires you will give them to you for free if they are required.

 

NP

Definitely try Challenger first, they're far from perfect, but they're also far from Bison/TransX

Here is a little writeup I posted on another new guys thread.

"Some here might disagree, be I would go straight to Challenger, and get in on their "New Driver Program".

Reasons being
#1 They pay the most for new drivers with 0 experience.

#2 You will always get paid, as a guy who spent the majority of my first 2 years driving Alberta/BC/PACNW, I can't tell you the number of BC based drivers (esp Surrey, Abbotsford) who simply didn't get paid and went bankrupt.

#3 They have freight, being a new guy, its tough to deal with freight slowdowns that small/medium companies experience. Right now BC is all over the place, so being able to go coast to coast and into the US is a huge benefit.

#4 They are WAY better than Bison, TransX, Hyndman Transport, H&R, Lightspeed, People Express, Syndicate, Rig Logistics, etc etc. Best of the worst IMHO. I've been lucky enough to steer some buddies too Challenger, so that they didn't have to go thru the living hell I did at Bison; they are doing well.

#5 Their new driver contract is 1 year, vs 2-3 with most other places. Anyone can put up with anything for 12 months, so if they really suck after 12 months, you can leave and not be sued. They also have 5 divisions, so if Van or Reefer sucks, you can move to decks or tanker or whatever. Other places, you are a Dry Van/Reefer slave for 2-3 years at reduced rate for being new. You can't even switch your fleet manager, and if you quit, they will sue you.

#6 They are actually a decent option to go O/O with. Its nice when a guy can go O/O with the company he started with (If that's something you want to do). It doesn't mean you have to stay there forever, but if you can get your truck with a company you started with, its usually a lot easier to get all setup. Once you get your truck, and get all setup, you can move to a better O/O only company if you so choose.

#7 They won't try to kill you. Big companies won't push you to be unsafe, they just won't. If they do, you can always call Safety 24/7, and that will be the end of that. Smaller companies might push you to do dangerous stuff, cause that's just how they roll. Being new, its better to go with a company that won't try to kill you, esp being in BC.

#8 They do minimal Walmart freight. This is VERY important, Walmart freight can sink a guy, even as a company driver, so whoever you go with, find-out how much Walmart they do, and look for a company that does none.

#9 They have lots of different makes and models of trucks. This is important, because if you go to a company with just 1 or 2 kinds of trucks, and a major recall or issue comes up, then you could be out of work for a long time. At Bison, they mostly run Cascadia's, I went thru 13 of them, 10 having the same issues over and over. The only way I stayed on the road, was simply having another truck to go into once mine failed (pain in the ASSSS). I finally got a Volvo, and was able to keep working, as the Cascadia's lined up at the shop 4 rows deep, waiting to be fixed; and the guys got sent home for weeks at a time.

#10 They do City work and Turnpike, so when you finally want to be home more often, the best options are City and Turnpike. Going City or Turnpike with the company you did training with, puts you to the top of the pile. Trying to go city or turnpike with a decent company, as someone with less than 10 years exp, is usually impossible (My Experience).

#11 They will send you everywhere. Unlike most of the mega carriers that run the US, Challenger will send singles to all the lower 48. Bison/TransX for example, will send you to the same 10 customers in the same 5 states within 1000 miles of your terminal. They will turnpike everything else across Canada, and have their US drivers from other (closer) terminals: to go to states farther away.

#12. VERY IMPORTANT!!!! THEY DO NOT SLIP SEAT!!!! Assigned Trucks Means Assigned Trucks.

As a guy who went thru this whole "new driver" thing 2-3 years ago, this is the best advice I can give. If I had to do it all over again, this is how I would do it."