Advice for a newbie in Montreal

Yeah its 132$ , but full time so you'll have trouble having a job at the same time, however Québec gave me some loan student pay to help a but

Placement rate is high because of demand for drivers ( covid may have changed that a bit)

And there are 2 english ones, 1 in st-jerome and 1 in boucherville

Im fluently bilingual but you don't need french for this job if youll be doing US, helps just when you have pickups in quebec

Some guys here at challenger ( based out of dorval) are from ontario/overseas barely understand french

I get roughly 0.65$/mile with add ons at challenger, mon-fri, home weekends and 2-3 nights/week but I'm in a special division, been here 2 years

However heard they are hiring now people with some experience , but youll find a company that needs drivers outta school guaranteed

 

Challenger are re-hiring now but their criteria is a bit more stringent

 

I saw that recently, they are looking for drivers with 1 year experience now. Looks like things are picking up for them again for the first time in a while. I barely see their trucks anymore in the USA.

 

Yea, I actually seen 3 new Challenger Cascadia's on I15 near Great Falls MT the other day, when I was coming home to Calgary. I thought I was dreaming or something lol.

 

Yup, open board drivers ( tandem , anywhere in US, 5-14 days out) tell me since covid been doing mostly NJ/PA/VA, loads aren't as good. I'm on heavy board, tri/quad axle, do almost entirely upstate NY, GTA area sometimes MI, copper+booze, been steady, ive been lucky

 

Yes you could go the quick route, spend a couple of grand and get your class 1 in a few weeks trough Tecnic example. Their sole goal is to get you to pass the test with the SAAQ as quick as possible. And yes you can get a job with it and do the course at night /weekends.

To be honest when I originally asked challenger when they hired me if they wanted to see my CFTR diploma they didn't seem to care much. But they knew I had done it because CFTR links you easily to a job, they have connections. And I came into the job with a lot more knowledge and experience then if I had just done a quick course with Tecnic.

It just looks better on a CV that you went to a full time trucking school, but having the class 1 no matter how you got it is still very valuable.

 

That course is only $132?? Is that a full AZ course with in truck driving? Courses from decent schools here in ON are $8000-$10000. Am I missing something?