Want to hire a MTI GRADUATE or a foreign driver?

The shortage of qualified Professional Drivers in North America has reached unprecedented levels with a large percentage of the experienced workforce nearing retirement. MTI believes you need to adopt a four-pronged approach to hire professional drivers and keep your trucks full and grow your business:

1. Retention of Drivers – Understand why Professional Drivers are leaving and do something about it!
2. Recruit Experienced Drivers – Are you an employer of choice? Your current employees are your best recruiters (See #1).  If your employees are happy they will tell the world.
3. Hire professional drivers who are Graduates of The MTI Way Program – Since 2003, MTI has been training entry-level Professional Drivers at our head office in Castlegar, BC. Training drivers with fully loaded Tandem and Tridem 53’ trailers is the real thing. MTI grads are serious about trucking; that’s why they take the most challenging program in North America with us. These students are trained in the mountains not one or two trips, but many trips until they pass a skills evaluation. We train them at night for a week and we take them on all day drives (12 hours) to get them accustomed to travelling. All students learn to slide 5th wheel and trailer axles as well as chain-up – even in the summer. MTI instructors are very committed to turning out safe entry-level Professional Drivers and keeping our highways safe for everyone.Our carrier partners hire our graduates straight out of Week 8 of the program and place them with a coach/mentor to familiarize them with the specifics of their company. All carriers operate differently and it only makes sense to set your new driver up for success by providing the leadership they need to learn your systems and manage a gradual transition from 40 hours/week at school to 60/70 hours per week at work. Your coach/mentor should be a driver that you want to clone as the student’s behaviour will be directly influenced by this individual. Once coaching is completed and your new driver is on his own, remind dispatch that they won’t be turning miles like a veteran yet and will require ongoing mentoring.Investing in the development of new drivers helps you lower the average age of your driving team and, if done correctly, gives you great long-term employees.
4. Hiring Foreign Workers – The shortage of qualified workers in Canada is growing on a daily basis. Whether it’s plumbers, electricians or Professional Drivers there are not enough bodies to fill all the openings. The younger generations are not currently rushing to start professional driving careers in comparable numbers to those retiring. Hiring of foreign workers has become a solution for many employers to not only fill their empty seats but to also lower the average age of their drivers. Once an employer makes a conditional job offer to a foreign driver candidate, MTI travels to their country and performs a driver evaluation. The results of the evaluation are forwarded to the employer as part of the information that allows you to make your final decision on hiring. Professional Drivers are currently being recruited from English speaking Caribbean countries (Jamaica/Trinidad) as they are operating old North American trucks. It is a huge opportunity for these drivers to come to Canada and they are looking to stay long-term as drivers. When they arrive in Canada they come to MTI, Castlegar, for Canada-specific training and arrive at their employer’s 10 days later, licensed and ready to go to work!