Hire a forklift operator in Greater Montreal
Hiring a forklift operator turns on two specifics: the truck type and stacking height on one side, the shift on the other. Until the posting names them, the interview is what uncovers them. This page gives you a job description to copy, the requirements Quebec's regulation actually imposes, and eight questions that tell a dock operator from a narrow-aisle operator.
Job description to copy
Replace what is in brackets, then post it as is.
Forklift operator
Location: [city], Greater Montreal · Schedule: [day / evening / night], [number] h per week
Pay: [to be set] (benchmark: median $22/h in Quebec, $21/h in Montreal (Job Bank))
Responsibilities
- Load and unload trailers at the dock, staying within the truck's rated capacity
- Stack and unstack pallets in the racking, including the upper levels
- Feed production lines and picking zones with materials and empty pallets
- Inspect the truck at the start of every shift and log any defect that takes it out of service
- Confirm stock moves on the scanner and in the warehouse management system
- Wrap, label and weigh pallets before shipping
- Swap the propane tank or the battery following the site procedure
- Respect traffic lanes, pedestrian right of way and the operator restraint
- Take part in cycle counts and flag inventory discrepancies to the supervisor the same shift
- Keep aisles clear and report damaged racking or pallets without delay
Requirements
- Forklift training meeting section 256.3 of the RSST, theory and practice, on the truck type used at your site
- Authorization to operate issued by you — only trained and authorized people may run a forklift on site
- Refresher training at least every three years, per the CSA B335 standard
- Sixteen years of age or older
- Experience stacking at height or in narrow aisles, if your warehouse has them
- Reads rack location codes and is comfortable on an on-board terminal
Assets
- Runs several truck types: counterbalance, reach, stacker, order picker
- Current WHMIS training (SIMDUT in French) for warehouses that store hazardous materials
- Cold storage or food-grade warehouse experience
- Hands-on experience with the warehouse management system you run
- Able to run the hands-on portion of forklift training for new hires on your own trucks
- Functional French or English depending on who shows up at your dock
What we offer
[benefits, insurance, shift premiums, training]
Forklift operator pay benchmark
| Region | Median | Offered in postings |
|---|---|---|
| All of Quebec | $22/h | — |
| Montérégie | $23.28/h | $22.50 (284) |
| Montréal | $21/h | $22.66 (134) |
| Laval | $21/h | $23.20 (29) |
| Lanaudière | $22.74/h | $20.96 (69) |
| Laurentides | $20.80/h | $21 (53) |
Median published by Job Bank (NOC 75101) and median offered in job postings (6 months, February to August 2026); in brackets, the number of hourly postings.
Eight interview questions
- Which truck types have you operated, and which one are you most comfortable on in a narrow aisle?
- Walk me through your start-of-shift inspection: what do you check, and in what order?
- When did you last refuse to lift a load, and why?
- How do you know a load is over your truck's capacity at the height you have to place it?
- You are seated and the truck starts to tip over — what do you do?
- Tell me about a time you damaged a pallet, some racking or a wall. What happened next?
- Who gave you your forklift training, when, and on which truck type?
- Which shifts can you work, and which ones do not work for you?
Timelines and difficulties
Two things stretch out a forklift operator search. The first is training. A card from a previous employer does not excuse you from training the person: the Règlement sur la santé et la sécurité du travail requires the training to cover your workplace, its specific conditions and the truck type they will drive for you. In its forklift safety checklist the CNESST adds two habits that sit outside the regulation but that it asks you to check: assess the operator's skill and knowledge, and keep the result. Budget for that training rather than demanding it at the door — a posting that requires a current card rules out people a one-day course would qualify. The second is the shift. Evening, night and weekend roles draw fewer candidates, and a posting that saves the shift for the end of the interview wastes everyone's time. Name the truck type, the stacking height and the shift in the posting itself. The pool narrows, but the people who do show up fit.
We run this search for employers in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore. Our recruitment service: warehousing and distribution
If the placement does not hold six months, we replace it.
The replacement is on us. You do not pay twice for the same role.
A role to fill?
Fifteen minutes on the phone is enough to know whether we can deliver your mandate, and to tell you straight whether the salary range holds.
Talk to a recruiter