Greetings from North of the Border! I’m pleased to have the opportunity to join Thom at The Jobline as Senior Recruiter for Canada. Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be reaching out to candidates and companies in the components and mass timber world and, in future columns, I’ll be touching on design topics. For my inaugural column, however, I thought I should to give some history and context on my own career in the components industry.
I got my start in the wood truss business building trusses for Kent Trusses as a summer student between university semesters. Fortunately, Mike Kent approached me during one shift and asked if I’d be interested in doing some work in the design office. I’ve often said that if I’d continued as a truss builder, my career in the industry would have been brief because l was terrible. My assembly work certainly wouldn’t have stood up to current QC standards. I returned to university, only to return to the truss plant 8 months later to begin what has been a 37-year career in the industry. I certainly had no idea at the time that I had fallen into an industry that would become my life’s work.
I’ve been fortunate to work in design and sales for great manufacturers, leading distributors, and innovators of all kinds. Trusses and wall panels, I-joists and LVL, and time in the mass timber world have given me a great appreciation and love for the possibilities of wood construction, and I’m very excited by current developments in the off-site industry. My experience covers everything from the shop floor to the executive offices. Aside from a brief period in my mid-20’s, when I was guilty of that common arrogance of youth believing that I knew it all, probably the most important thing I’ve learned is that I always have more to learn.
In the late 1990s I crossed paths with Thom at The JobLine and (among other things I can save for a future column) together we created the Component Systems Institute (Component Design Centre in Canada). Over six years, we trained hundreds of truss and panel designers from across North America. Those were good times!
Fast forward to today and I’m looking forward to having a chance to help companies and candidates across Canada find their next great match. I know that my experience will help bring those connections together. If you want help finding that next perfect component designer or design job in Canada, please contact me. If your work is in the mass timber world anywhere in North America, I’d love to talk with you about connecting you to that next great job or candidate. You can reach me at secord@thejobline.com or 800-289-5627 ext 2. I’m also happy to engage at LinkedIn.com/in/geordiesecord.