How much experience is too little for Canada?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi all, i have a few questions. But first - a little back story.

I’m 28 years old and since I was 23, I’ve spent a large proportion of my time taking advantage of the working holiday schemes in Canada and Aus, spending almost 2 years in Canada - whistler and vancouver, which i loved, vowing to return some day, before seeing most of Australia which included working on a farm and a cattle ranch (or station - as they call them). During my time on this cattle station, i learned to drive his truck (a kenworth t409 if i remember correctly - i do remember it had an eaton 18 speed with n syncros and a ■■■■■■■ n14 select, with very little silencing one of the loudest jake brakes i’ve ever heard- i’ll try post a picture) As much as the industry had always intrigued me, i then had a good idea i wanted to do be a truck driver. So after a year or so of debt clearing, once back in the uk. i learned to drive, passed everything first time, got a job with a family friend, a slightly sketchy ex farmer, and now i’m usually doing potatoes mainly, with a bulker, though it will apparently also be with a curtainsider, with the odd day of sugarbeet, animal feeds, coal and whatever else on tipper work. I really enjoy it, save making a ■■■ of myself occasionally. its just going well.

Question is, how long should i wait before Canadian companies will take my experince seriously? i’d like to get over there whilst i’m still young enough to enjoy snowboarding/snowmobiling/mountain biking, hot canadian girls etc, the kind of things i went to canada for in the first place. i only have 2 and a half months under my belt, so not yet, obviously, but i’d like to think that what i’m doing is likely to look like better experience than going depot to depot, or doing supermarket work.

Because i’ve got loads of mates there, i’d love to get into BC (but i guess everybody does), maybe logging type work, or something where you get your hands dirty, should i get my hiab tickets? in aus i got pretty handy driving a an old catapillar 12g grader, plus telehandlers, forklifts and tractors, plus a small amount of bulldozing, but have no tickets for any of these things, so i guess they count for nothing other than proving my potential ability.

Any advice, tips, information on where best to find jobs aimed at LMO seekers, words of wisdom, or even advice telling me to stop dreaming, would be greatly appreciated, cheers, nick.

2

I reckon you have as good a chance as any newbie living in CN as it is fella.

The plus side you have your licence be it not long but your in the right mind set to take everything in that your taught,

You could start off by learning s much as you can for the required papers your gonna sit IE break tests,if you search you’ll find these on the net,

you need to spend time researching as much as you can about training schools and what you’ll get from them, much the same as you did when you did your training here. I reckon you’ll spend a year getting everything together etc then you’ll know if its right for you …

1 question though why Canada and not Oz .

Nick

3

thanks nick.

aus was cool, but i find it to be very much like the uk, the people are the same, the lifestyle is the same (too much drink, chav activity, not particularly active unless you play teamsports or like the gym - plus surfing i guess). i just never really fell in love with it, i really enjoyed my time there, and if i had the opportunity to return i probably would but living in sydney for 9 months just didn’t do that much for me, same as living in london wouldn’t do that much for me in the uk. i loved darwin and cairns (about 2 months in darwin and 5 in cairns) and could live there for sure, but they are places that im not sure id find work i wanted to do. the main thing with aus is the heat, after 2 years (which is all the visas i could get) i just got sick of sweating, the whole east coast and far north is too humid, very sweaty, and it just seemed to rain far too much, in the uk, it drizzles, in aus, it pours, and you never seem to be wearing the right clothes for rain, the uk is built for rain in the way canada is built for snow. construction work stops when it rains in sydney! that said, sydney has twice the annual rainfall of leeds but we get 170something days of drizzle, they get 130 days of torrential storms, flanked by sun and humidity. Australia - great place, not sure its for me.

canada on the other hand, i can do cold, i can do owning a 20 year old pickup truck with a snowmobile /motocross bike/ snowboard / mountain bike / camping setup in the back. i can do tim hortons, i can deal with likeminded people, i can deal with most of the awesome stuff from america, but less of the scary redneckery and attitude (friend of mine from texas tells me whenever a us school shooting happens, her facebook feed lights up with "ordered more guns to protect myself). every time i visit vancouver/whistler (fairly often) i get this warm fuzzy “i belong here” feeling and when i leave i get a real feeling of sadness.

in short, it might not be for everyone. but i love canada, and whilst ilike australia, i dont love it.

4

good post bud, im in a similar position myself
ive been driving chilled on a casual basis for about six months … kind of every other saturday (maybe a little more)
you seem to be a natural with regards driving from what you have said whereas im not! (but im getting there)
i think part of the LMO is that you must have two years driving experience to be eligable but there are stories of lads that have gone over with much less
you seem like the sort of driver who could settle very easily in to OTR trucking in canada but it may have to just be a waiting game due to the LMO.

5

I’ve never been down under so cant say, Must admit went to CN in 2012 visit friends an yeah Jan in Moncton was FFFFFFFF frezzin :wink:
The people I met including some rednecks really nice helpful people went on the road with me friend for a week what a laugh relaxed and laid back.

I think as long as you can handle living in the truck then just motels when your havin your lay over you could make it pay.
As for pay if you can get in somewhere that pays salary you’ll be burning the candle both ends, remember you’ll need to sort out heath insurance too .
I would look into what you can get to cover you before you go ,

6

yo nick, iv just had an email alert for some job in canada, iv lost interest trying now so maybe it would suit you it was cvWow.com and says be in canada 6- 9 mths good luck

7

iceman1:
yo nick, iv just had an email alert for some job in canada, iv lost interest trying now so maybe it would suit you it was cvWow.com and says be in canada 6- 9 mths good luck

I get about 2 a week :wink: from various places, mainly the visa program company’s.
There’s a few on here that can point you in the right direction.
My mate and a few lads I’ve work with in the past have gone over via New Brunswick the young lad ended up getting wed out there and the other kiddy is loving it, they both been there about 11 years now

8

Hi to bigfatnick, here,s a fact for you…school shootings in the US are the exception and ANY shooting that involves a minor, like a person under 21 that person CANNOT legally own a gun and it raises the question about the gun owner who broke the #1 rule of keeping guns safe & under lock and key. Any shooting done by a person over 21 has been done by someone deranged or mentally unstable who should Never have a firearm. 99.99% of gun owners are responsible ppl, so there is NO redneckery that come into it. Oh by the way best of luck on your endeavours to work in Canada as there are some great ex pat American $ Canadian truckers on here who will give you some good info. Nearly forgot not all states in the US are equal on gun rights, now Texas is more liberal than say NY & MA who are tighter than a ducks a***.but this is a trucking site not a firearms forum but just pointing out your perception of redneckery.
ray

9

Canada is full of people who can’t drive and I’ve spoken to several of our ex Soviet brothers who are now pouring in to the country and most of them have not driven a truck at all before they came here (and they tend to drive VERY badly here) and I know quite a few people here who came across with less than 2 years experience. When did you pass your test in the UK? You may only have been driving for 2 and a half months but if you’ve had your test for lets say a year or 18 months, then I’d get your family friend to say you’d been driving for him for that whole time. Not idea, but needs must and if the Indians and Stanley, and the Russians can all fiddle the system, then I’d have no qualms in doing so myself if I had to.
One word of warning about your time in Australia. You’ll need to declare that when you apply for PNP/PR and they’ll then require that you submit police criminal records checks for your time there. I have an Irish friend here who did a year in Australia and the hassle he had getting anything out of the police in Australia, mainly because there was no record of him, delayed his PR by several months and in the end, after much argument they had to continue with his PR file without anything from Australia but they dragged their heels over it.
If you do come here, be prepared that you’ll most probably have to do long haul work until you get PR. This means that snowmobiles, Canadian girls etc will be only a very small part of your life because you’ll be down the road, usually in the US for 7-14 days, and then you’ll have a day or two off, and then repeat, and repeat and repeat etc. There have been a few guys who did go to BC but its not really a hotspot for road transport in Canada for one reason or another. However, even if you start out somewhere else first, there’s nothing stopping you moving to BC later and if you chose Alberta, you wouldn’t be far away anyhow.

10

i,ve just read the artical in truck/driver about working in canada, as a retired class one driver of fifty odd years my advice would be to leave Canada alone. reading between the lines there are more pitfalls to into ■■ dont forget if you make the wrong choice you might end up in a french speaking area !!! my mate moved to oz a few years ago and not looked back, he drives a modern rig and gets paid more for the same hours that he did here and would,nt change.So think on !! have you thought of phoning a company that works out of europe as i used to know quite afew guys that did it and they had no complaints, any way good luck what ever you decide to do. DAVE

11

cryogent24:
i,ve just read the artical in truck/driver about working in canada, as a retired class one driver of fifty odd years my advice would be to leave Canada alone. reading between the lines there are more pitfalls to into ■■ dont forget if you make the wrong choice you might end up in a french speaking area !!! my mate moved to oz a few years ago and not looked back, he drives a modern rig and gets paid more for the same hours that he did here and would,nt change.So think on !! have you thought of phoning a company that works out of europe as i used to know quite afew guys that did it and they had no complaints, any way good luck what ever you decide to do. DAVE

WTF are you on about ? Wrong choice and you’d be in a French speaking area ROTFL , don’t reckon you’d end up in Quebec by accident :laughing:
Read the posts from drivers settled in Canada and you won’t see many regrets . Personally , far better standard of living , great work/life balance , happy family , oh and lots of toys :smiley:
Canada is what you make it .

12

cryogent24:
i,ve just read the artical in truck/driver about working in canada, as a retired class one driver of fifty odd years my advice would be to leave Canada alone. reading between the lines there are more pitfalls to into ■■ dont forget if you make the wrong choice you might end up in a french speaking area !!! my mate moved to oz a few years ago and not looked back, he drives a modern rig and gets paid more for the same hours that he did here and would,nt change.So think on !! have you thought of phoning a company that works out of europe as i used to know quite afew guys that did it and they had no complaints, any way good luck what ever you decide to do. DAVE

Dave, which article would that be, I’ve written a few myself for T&D, none of those could be interpreted as making driving a truck in Canada look bad :question:

The cynic in me has a feeling that as this is only your second post, there may just be an element of the troll here :unamused:

But I have been mistaken in the past, so prove me wrong… :wink:

13

flat to the mat, oh I just love my toys. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: ’
ray

14

lol…from experience ALL of my old working friends that have visited me wished they were are few years younger and could sell their houses because they all want to move to Canada (well Manitoba) and for French speaking areas lol… :laughing:
Canada aint perfect and to be sure its a sight better than driving in UK .
jimmy

15

JIMBO47, rock on with that wether in Canada or US is still a better way of life than the UK the way things are going over there and that,s being semi retired.
ray

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JIMBO47:
lol…from experience ALL of my old working friends that have visited me wished they were are few years younger and could sell their houses because they all want to move to Canada (well Manitoba) and for French speaking areas lol… :laughing:
Canada aint perfect and to be sure its a sight better than driving in UK .
jimmy

Ditto Jimmy , I do miss my old friends dreadfully but they all wish they could be here too , each and every one , almost have to force them through check-in when they leave :laughing:
Utopia no , but it runs a close second , my wife has been watching Barret Jackson over the weekend and admitted a desire for a 50’s pickup so it’s a win/win place for me :smiley: .Ford/GM/Chev ? so many decisions :unamused:

17

way to go flat to the mat on the choice of pick up :sunglasses: :grimacing:
ray

18

newmercman:

cryogent24:
i,ve just read the artical in truck/driver about working in canada, as a retired class one driver of fifty odd years my advice would be to leave Canada alone. reading between the lines there are more pitfalls to into ■■ dont forget if you make the wrong choice you might end up in a french speaking area !!! my mate moved to oz a few years ago and not looked back, he drives a modern rig and gets paid more for the same hours that he did here and would,nt change.So think on !! have you thought of phoning a company that works out of europe as i used to know quite afew guys that did it and they had no complaints, any way good luck what ever you decide to do. DAVE

Dave, which article would that be, I’ve written a few myself for T&D, none of those could be interpreted as making driving a truck in Canada look bad :question:

The cynic in me has a feeling that as this is only your second post, there may just be an element of the troll here :unamused:

But I have been mistaken in the past, so prove me wrong… :wink:

sorry newmercman it should have been trucking mag not truck/driver,after reading those articals in trucking it made me think that if you,re thinking of immigrating to canada? make sure its for you,i know i said leave canada alone but thats me being bias !! better the job you know ect ect, anyway good luck to anyone who takes the gamble.

19

Trucking Magazine??

I wouldn’t mop up dog sick with that rag :open_mouth: :laughing: :laughing:

Spend a bit of time reading through this forum, you’ll see that some of us love it, some of us have hated it and some are somewhere in between, one thing’s for sure, it ain’t for everyone :wink:

20

Thanks for all the info guys.

I think i might have maybe not put as much info at the top of the post as i could have.

I’m not really interested in the should i/shouldn’t i argument. Having spent 2 years in Canada, i know i want to live there. Moving to Canada was one of the major factors in me deciding to do my licences. (it was that or back to Canada on another working holiday visa to work on the front desk of a hotel for 2 years in an attempt to get PNP)

If i go to Canada and don’t like trucking, i do it for long enough to get my permanent residency, then go work in any other career. I’ve never done a career for longer than 4 years, its unlikely I’ll be a truck driver for the rest of my life. I’ve never understood the mentality that you have to do a career for 50 some years, maybe because i’m single and have no kids/house/ties. i’ve got nothing to bind me to something i dont like!

But thanks all, i do appreciate all the advice!