by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Mar 12, 2019 | Career Board
Female Professional Driver/Trainer


Midland Transport Limited has become a leader in the transportation industry by providing superior quality service to our customers.
Our services include LTL, T/L, Courier Services, and Third Party Logistics/ Brokerage which provide the convenience of one-stop shipping.
Midland Transport is currently seeking Professional Female Drivers/Trainers to further develop our Professional Novice Driver Program.
Female Driver Trainers will be paired with female students driving team on a dedicated run.
The selected candidate will be a self-starter with a strong work ethic and a “Can Do” attitude.
Qualifications:
- 2+ years of safe tractor driving experience
- Class one (1) driver’s license
- Clean driver’s abstract and criminal search
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Positive and enthusiastic attitude with a commitment to provide Superior Quality Service
Key Responsibilities:
- Willing to take a paid two day course to become a Certified Driver Coach
- Willing to run a dedicated USA/CAN (Michelin) team run
- Training and coaching new female drivers in a team environment
- Provide efficient, reliable, professional service to customers
- Work with variable shipment weight and freight handling equipment
- Maintain company equipment standards
- Process daily pickup and delivery records
Benefits of Joining Midland:
- Paid uniforms
- Additional premium coach pay rate
- Extensive benefits including RRSP matching and 3 weeks’ vacation upon start
- Paid 4 day orientation course, including food and lodging
- Ongoing training and advancement possibilities
- Safety and fuel bonus paid quarterly
- Competitive mileage rates. Paid picks, drops and wait times
- Please click here for
full rate card
Please note that all qualified Driver Trainers are welcome to apply.
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Mar 12, 2019 | BLOG
My name is Jordan, and I am a professional driver. I want to learn to drive truck. Currently, I drive school bus. I have maintained my B now for two years and love what I do. The precision movements, the attention to detail, the constant testing of my spacial awareness, and circle checks, please! To some this all sounds like a burden, but to me it is both gratifying and fulfilling. I take great pride in what I do and I believe that shows in my work.
Like most, I obtained my G1 as soon as I was able. That night, my mother took me out for my first “lesson”. I had of course, like any other delinquent teen, driven many times prior. Little laps around the block when I was just supposed to be switching the cars in the lane way, (sometimes a little further). But nothing like what I experienced that night. A couple of wrong turns left us on a road that emptied onto the 401. We should have stopped and switched, but under my mothers direction, I merged onto the highway. There were three of us in the car, a 1992 forest green Dodge Shadow. I remember the sound of the horn as a truck came up behind us and my Dad in the back seat shouting “Punch it! Punch it!” as he maintained a death grip on my head rest. I looked in the mirror and read ‘MACK’ spelled backwards and kept the pedal on the floor. I laughed as the adrenaline pumped through my body. I knew we were fine, I knew even then that I had full control over the vehicle and that I may have upset the driver with our poor choice, but we were safe. And I was hooked. I drove everywhere from then on. I was good. I am good. I wish that I had been exposed to racing at that time in my life. It is my dream to race. Although the two jobs are very different, they both require a immense amount of skill and a formidable grasp on the movements of the vehicle. That is why I want to drive truck.
I am a professional driver. I started my career as a driver about 5 years ago, a little later in life than most. So far my age has not stood in my way of being awesome and learning new things. My life had just changed rather unexpectedly and I found myself a job working as a car jockey at a local car and truck rental company. I did detailing, customer shuttles, shuttling rentals from city to city as well as small maintenance. What I learned from the experience was that driving the bigger vehicles was the highlight of each day. From there I moved from position to position getting the experience I needed to achieve the credentials I wanted. My goal is to climb my way through opportunities until I achieve my AZ License and am teaching driving to others.
Written and submitted by: Jordan Janse-French
Jordan asked us to share her story in hope of inspiring others to explore the trucking industry.
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Feb 21, 2019 | BLOG
I don’t know about you, but I am always looking at ways to make what I do on a daily basis easier. We only get twenty-four hours in a day and if your driven to succeed or work with someone who is, you want to use your time wisely. This often turns us to technology, it saves us time, money and makes us better but there is so much of it and so many players in the technology space.
One of the players Is ISB/MEE. Have you ever driven down the 401 West and looked over to the right just by the highway 25 exit and see a big beautiful building with the pond out front and wonder what they do and who they are? The company ISB/MEE is one of the largest suppliers of document sourcing organizations in the world. You name it they can probably get it for you. For our industry that means things like driver abstracts, criminal record searches and driver history. The big deal is they do it at lightening speed which is important when your trying to get drivers insured and on the road. They are experts and very good at what they do. They are the chosen service provider of many brand name transportation companies. Fast, affordable, accurate, this is the best way to describe ISB/MEE.

Michael Thompson
This month, in a couple of weeks at the TTSAO Conference, Micheal Thompson, CEO of RSB Global Services (ISB/MEE) is the keynote speaker at the conference where he will talk about technology in our industry. He has broken his presentation into three groups;
- Top Tech Products; to help your business, things like facial recognition, 3D Printing and assessments.
- Technology Disrupters; things that could disrupt the industry like E- Commerce, Drones and Uber for trucking.
- What Does the Future of Trucking Look Like; in reference to social media, the cloud, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and quantum computing.
This excites me and it’s not because I’m a technology geek, it excites me from the recruitment and retention end of our business. In order to hire the right people we must use the right tools to gather correct information in order to insure the driver. This technology is not only important to the companies its important to the person on the other side of the desk, the people your hiring. They want to see our industry using technology and they want to work for companies who are using it. Understanding what is out there to potentially disrupt our industry is important so we can be prepared to challenge and defend the disrupters.

With the TTSAO Conference on February 27th and 28th you need to get registered, there is limited space left. The TTSAO Conference is billed as highly educational, very affordable and is attended by all industry sectors; schools, insurance, carriers, government, and suppliers. Day one will feature meetings led by both the TTSAO Insurance Group and the TTSAO Carrier Group. Both groups will talk about important issues they are working on collectively with the industry and government. The annual general meeting is on Day 1, followed by a networking cocktail party that gives you a chance to mix and mingle with other industry people. At the cocktail party there will be a conversation between Dave MacDonald, President of Revolution Staffing and Glenn Caldwell, Vice President, Corporate Development of NAL Insurance on the Power of Networking. Other agenda items on Day 2 include; Social Media for Business Strategy led By Kimberly Biback of Sharp Transportation, Best Practices For Training featuring leaders from Bison Transportation, Quail Transport, KRTS and CHET moderated by Geoff Topping of Challenger Motor Freight, Kelly Henderson of the THRSC will moderate a panel of industry association leaders from the PMTC, OTA and the Fleet Safety Council to discuss the value of industry associations and how you can benefit from them. This year’s conference will also feature the presentation of the first TTSAO/ PayBright Instructor of the Year.

As President of the TTSAO I know I speak on behalf of the entire board of Directors that we are proud that the TTSAO is the only association in the Province of Ontario which number one objective is representing the best interest of our full member truck training facilities. The TTSAO includes strong representation of insurance, for hire and private trucking companies, industry associations and suppliers. The companies who are members of the TTSAO represent tens of thousands of people who are employees in the transportation industry across Canada.
I want to thank the entire TTSAO Board of Directors who have been actively involved in the success of the association over the past two years. Your commitment of time, knowledge and expertise has made our association better and our industry stronger. Never under estimate the power of the donation of your time.
Kim Richardson has been in the Transportation Industry for 34 years. Currently he is the President of Kim Richardson Transportation Specialists Inc. a family owned and operated business which has won multiple awards. Under the KRTS group of businesses is Transrep Inc. and The Rear View Mirror. Kim is currently on the board of directors for the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI), on the board of directors with Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC), on the membership committee of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), on the advisory board of the Women’s Trucking federation of Canada (WTFC), and in the past, Chairman of the Board for the Truck Training Association of Ontario (TTSAO) and Chairman of the Board for the Allied Trade Division of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA). Kim is a proud Husband, Dad, Grandpa and loves his community of Caledonia. He can be reached at krichardson@krway.com or phone 1-800-771-8171 ext. 201.
Kim Richardson regularly blogs on The Rear View Mirror
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Feb 16, 2019 | BLOG
So I’m running Fort Nelson BC to Whitehorse Yukon, hauling groceries every day. I see some very beautiful scenery, climbing Steamboat, driving through Muncho Lake, etc. Gorgeous even on the worst days.
This is hard to see, but down in the shade is a grader cleaning the edges on Summit. There are usually sheep on this cliff, and it’s a stiff sharp hill, with a guardrail that has saved trucks from sliding off.
This post is for the hard working folk who take care of the roads so I can get you your food. I can’t do my job if you aren’t out there. You can’t eat if I don’t get out there. We work together to create a safe country where everyone has food, shelter, an education, meaningful employment and a worthy lifestyle. Thanks to the the guys who care enough to actually show up and do their job. It’s easy to do on a beautiful day like this. Not so easy when the road has 12″ of snow, and tractors are running off the road by the handful.
Our job is a whole lot easier when you four wheelers slow down, move over and let us pass in a SAFE PLACE. Please look ahead, and think is this a place I would just love to run off the road? If it’s not, then please maintain speed, do NOT STOP or pull over in a corner or on a hillside. If a truck is lining up to pass, they will be the judge of when it’s safe. Let them make that decision.
This moment (see picture) was a time for me to stop, as the road was blocked by someone doing their job.

I didn’t mind the wait. Please don’t criticize these hardworking drivers, they are making it safer for you.
Written by Carrie Dillabough
Photo Credit : Carrie Dillabough
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Feb 3, 2019 | BLOG

After 10 years in the commercial livestock industry 6 months ago I decided I was done. Done with the late nights, snow storms I had to power through, last minute dispatch, missing holidays and bailing last minute on plans. I wanted a life. With my management experience finding a new career shouldn’t be that hard, right?
You’re just a truck driver…
I started to hear this a lot, I started to really believe it. A dispatch job came up with an established but rapidly growing company. They just werent ready for me yet. Wait til the new year. I wasn’t shy about my intentions and my coworkers knew it had nothing to do with the company or the industry, I was just tired. I was at the apex of my career. My company had spent 4 years building me a near show quality kenworth that always turned heads and it was no secret how much I loved that truck. I’m sure “Kenny” was the envy of many and I smiled every Monday when I pulled the shop door open. Hell I even talked to him like he was listening! I carried on doing my job like always and waited for the new year.
And then December 17, 2018 happened and it all changed. can’t even say the date without tearing up.

You’re just a truck driver…
December 17,2018 at 10:55 am a 78 year old woman failed to look and pulled out 300’ in front of my loaded cattle liner on a 100km/h stretch of busy highway. As I dove into the oncoming lane, full on the brakes, she noticed me and dove into the oncoming lane with me. I tagged her, caught the snow in the ditch, started down a 12’ embankment hitting a major cross road hydro pole just behind my head. The pole ripped the bunk of my truck in 1/2 and stopped me almost instantly and the truck laid over. I grabbed my dog, who was amazingly unharmed, and climbed out the roof of my truck and walked sockfeet in the snow to the front of my truck. Is she ok?? She was walking down the road in a daze. Ok whew!!
4 of my coworkers that I had been running with were minutes behind me and raced to help me. Big hugs all around, “here take my jacket” and “let me get you a cup of coffee!” It’s all gonna be ok. I was never so sure that I belonged.
Maybe I’m not just a truck driver? Maybe I’m family.

My small company (about 30 trucks, only 6 company trucks) commended me the next day!
The owner shook my hand, offered me his play toy – a jacked up little flat top Pete that rarely leaves the barn. Our shop manager sat down with me. “If you’re going to stick around, I need your wish list for your next truck” Wow…. I was on the spot. Stay or go, now was the time. All I could say was…. “there will be very be another Kenny, id like a Peterbilt”
So here I am, 6 weeks later. The flood of texts and phone calls, the hugs and handshakes from customers. Guys that genuinely cared. All my plans changed in a second and I cried every day for 3 weeks. I realized I’m not just a truck driver. I’m a valued member of an amazing team of drivers with a company that’s got my back!

Don’t be just a truck driver. Be a lady, be a gentleman. Be a teammate. Let people know that they matter because it means so much. This story isn’t about me, it’s about the people around me that help
Make my job amazing.
Ps the dispatch job came up and I politely declined. My Peterbilt has been bought and is currently being customized to my specifications. It’s amazing how things change in a second.
Maggie McCaskie