In early April the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association hosted the 4th Annual Career Day in partnership with the NH Division of Forest and Lands. Team Hancock’s Karla Allen attended the event to talk with students about opportunities within the industry and Hancock Lumber.
We asked Karla, one of our log procurement team members, to share her experience from this event and thought we’d bring her words directly to you.
Karla Allen shared, “This is the fourth year NHTOA and the NH Division of Forest and Lands have hosted a career day. I have been fortunate enough to teach at the last three. This year’s overall outreach was the best I have seen. The 750 students had a chance to talk with professionals in many different aspects of the forest industry. With 50 vendors, students could operate a skidder, harness up to climb a tree, witness forest fire training, and watch a crane take down a large tree. At our Hancock Lumber booth we scaled and graded logs and matched lumber samples to defects within a log. We discussed how the logs made it to the mill and what the lumber was used for once it left the facility on trucks.
Every year I try to urge the students to look beyond what is right in front of them. EVERY job and role is important— without one step you cannot move to the next. For example, Hancock Lumber is not just a mill with only productions jobs. How do we get the logs? With procurement foresters, loggers and truckers. What other jobs are available to mill? Hancock Lumber employs an engineer, electricians, boiler operators, and a technology team that not only fix problems, but design programs to advance the business and build tools for employees. We have sales, marketing, and human resource teams, along with accountants, safety supervisor, mechanics and much more. Beyond that, there is an entire value stream of roles and opportunities at our lumberyards, truss and wall panel manufacturing facilities—and even builders of Tiny Homes!
The teachers learn as much as the students. One teacher said he firmly believes the event changed several students’ lives and they were positively impacted. Another said she believes at least two of her students have discovered their career paths. I walked away from this event feeling so good to be a part of such a program and a company that promotes participation—Hancock proud!”
Want to explore some careers in the forest products industry? Check out the wide variety below!
