Pursuing a Career in Trucking: Tips on How to Choose the Right School

From KnowledgeSurge Institute

Congratulations on your decision to explore or start a career as a professional truck driver. This field has an incredible amount of opportunity and growth potential for you. It is not a career field for the faint of heart, but if you have the passion, it can be an extremely rewarding career. 

Your first step is to decide what type of professional driver you would like to be and ensure it aligns with your life choices and those of your significant other. I cannot emphasize enough how crucial this step is in ensuring a successful career in commercial trucking. There are many types of commercial drivers, and they all have positives and negatives to them. Ensure the positives meet your critical requirements and the negatives will not overwhelm the positives in the long run. Make yourself a thorough checklist of what you hope to achieve and what your deal-breakers from a position will be. Stick to your list no matter how attractive an offer may sound.

Once you have selected the type of career you are going to immediately pursue, research the skills needed in that position and add them to your list.

Now that you have your list, investigate schools that can best help you achieve your goals. Take your list to every interview and align the school to your list. Create a scoring criterion to see how it aligns with your aspirations. Have this list as well as a score sheet for each school to measure training-specific criteria. 

The items below are highly recommended for this list:

1. Accreditation and Certification

Is the school properly accredited? If your province has a required standard, ensure it is listed as in good standing. Do they have recognized provincial association, such as the Truck Training School Association of Ontario (TTSAO)?

2. Reputation

Is it recognized by key industry organizations, such as the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada (WTFC) and the TTSAO? Does the school provide testimonials from program graduates and have these graduates had success?

3. Programs

What is the length and structure of the school’s programs? Do they have a basic program and an advanced program? Carefully analyze which program you require to best meet the needs of your checklist. 

4. Course Plan and Training Methods

Ensure the course has all the government required elements as well as the topics required to meet your list needs. If you have a need that is not on the standard curricula, ask if it may be purchased as a supplement. For example, you wish to work in Northern Ontario and wish to learn chaining tires as that will help with your competencies on your resume, ask if they have lessons you can purchase. 

Ask to see lesson plans for in class, yard work and in-cab. For the classroom, inquire as to how the various lessons are taught (live with instructor, online) and class size. The same applies to yard work; How is it taught and group size. For the in-cab (especially advanced programs) get a firm commitment on how many hours are one on one and how many are observation. If the program contains observation time, ask for an explanation of the training time for each hour spent in observation.

5. Training Equipment

Ask for as much information as possible on training equipment. Suggested questions:

• What is their maintenance plan for trucks as trailers?
• Do they keep records of pre trip inspections?
• How new is the truck and trailer I will be using?
• What is the configuration of the truck and trailer I will train on with you?
• If the course has advanced learning tools such as simulators, ask to see them and an explanation of how they are used in the training.

6. Instructors’ Qualifications

Ask if the instructors have any formal instructor training. If the program has a course for instructors, ask to see it. There currently is not a regulated instructor standard in Ontario and many schools do not have a formalized training program for new instructors. 

7. Facilities and Resources

Ask for a tour of the classroom, yard and trucks. Understand how the scheduling of training occurs. Do instructors schedule themselves or is there administrative staff to manage training, classrooms, and resources?

8. Lifetime Career Assistance

Inquire about the school’s job placement assistance services. A good trucking school often has connections with trucking companies and helps students find employment after completing their training. An excellent school will offer this as a lifetime assistance. For example, when you first started your career, you were long haul, but your life circumstance has changed, and you wish to find work that has you home each night.

9. Cost and Financial Aid

Compare the costs of different trucking schools, including tuition, fees, and any additional expenses. Additionally, check if the school offers financial aid or if there are scholarship opportunities. Cheapest is definitely not the best option. These schools often cut corners with safety, training hours, and content. 

The last advice is to choose a program that will provide you the most flexibility to change careers as your life changes. For example, your current analysis recommends you get a Class D (3) licence and work in the local area as you have small children at home. Achieving a DZ licence is much quicker than an A (1) Z but it does limit whom you can work for in the industry. If your personal circumstance changes and you have an opportunity to drive AZ but only have your DZ you will start from scratch, and a complete MELT program will need to be taken. If you can afford the time and finance to do your DZ from the get-go, then do it. 

Hopefully these tips will help as you embark on your exciting career in the transportation industry.