Steady money over high pay?
Your best bet is to find truck driving salaries that are steady and consistent, because a lower steady wage wins over sporadic higher wages almost all the time. (You know the story of the tortoise and the hare?) Good benefits, overtime pay, and safety or performance bonuses, are also positive things to note.
This means the highest paying companies might not be the best. Sometimes you may even have to work your way up the ladder, or prove yourself for the best paying trucking driving salaries in that company.
This is a common question I get,
“Who is the highest paying company to work for?”
Remember it doesn’t matter how high the pay is if you aren’t busy within that company. Sitting in a truck stop comparing wages to someone making more than you means nothing if you’re working lots of hours and they aren’t. The wage on paper doesn’t always mean money in the bank.
Truck Driving Salaries are higher among rig movers and heavy haul jobs, but work can be sporadic.
Oilfield work is often considered seasonal work for many people even though it’s done year round. Oilfield trucking is usually the busiest in the fall and winter months. We already discussed spring break up in the previous section, and the summer months are about as easy to predict as the stock market.
Most companies prefer to have drivers trained and in place ready to go for the fall. Typically, the best time for a jobs search is a few months ahead of the busy season. Smaller companies with less working capital tend to scramble more at the last minute. They still may be good companies to work for, but can’t carry the additional overhead of guaranteed truck driving salaries in slower times.
Truck driving salaries and Entry level truck driving jobs in the oilfields
If you’re a new driver and looking for paid truck driver training, you may want to inquire with some of the fracturing service companies. They have excellent training and resources for both experienced, and new drivers.
Well-servicing companies offer more stability through economic downturns and some of them will offer apprenticeship programs for on the job truck driver training. The truck driving salaries may be lower than the industry average for experienced drivers, but this is fair considering they’re giving you a new trade you can use for the rest of your life.
Frac service companies are a good place to look for jobs for driver training programs and those looking for big company stability and benefits.
Halliburton, Calfrac, Trican well service, Canyon, Sanjel, Boreal, Schlumberger, and Baker Hughes are some of the better and bigger well-servicing companies. These companies are great places for experienced drivers and new drivers that are looking for oilfield driving careers.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the answer you’re looking for right away. Hiring practices vary depending on the season and the economy. Student truck driving jobs may be more difficult to find in a recession.
The positive side with these companies is most of them pay a base truck driving salaries plus job bonuses. This means you could make a guaranteed salary for the month no matter how busy it is. The busier you are, the more you make in job bonuses on top of your truck driving salaries. Some of the programs they offer can be pretty attractive to drivers that are non-residents.
If you hit them at the right time, you may be able to lock into a fly home program working 15 on 6 off, or some other schedule. Fly home programs are where the company will pay your flights home for your days off. Most of these programs also have local paid accommodations provided for their employees when they are working.
It’s not just new drivers that work for these service companies. They pay well, and often work with your situation to accommodate your needs. As we talked about in the previous section, they have guaranteed base truck driving salaries that will carry you through the spring break up period.
When choosing a large company with multiple locations it’s helpful to talk to others about where the best “Home base” town is for that company. If you end up in one of the slower bases, you may be disappointed. Grande Prairie is often the busiest home base for a fly in, fly out program. It’s common to make substantially more money in Grande Prairie that Medicine hat or Red Deer.
