Apprentice Carpenter looking for full time work
S_S123
| Posted in Help/Work Wanted on
Hey everybody, I am an Apprentice Carpenter currently seeking full time work in any location. I am hoping to find full time work in any part of Canada or anywhere else for that matter as I have lived here my whole life and would love to further my knowledge on the different building styles and customs. To give some info about myself I am 21 years old and extremely passionate about carpentry. I am fully focused on becoming the best I can be and believe every day is an opportunity to grow and become better then the day before. I would love to send out my resume, letters of reference and pictures of my work to anybody who is interested. Please reach out if so!
Replies
I have a business in the U.K. where I act as a sub contractor building for a luxury hospitality company. We build high end cottages, cabins, and glamping structures for the hospitality industry. The company I’m working for has doubled their revenue every year consistently since they started business 5 years ago. They are always hiring as the work keeps taking off. It would require relocation to the U.K. They made an exception for me as I have a lot of experience and can handle just about anything construction related, by allowing me to act as a sub contractor and set my own work schedule, pay, etc. My main business is as a general contractor in the states, so I could not sign as a full time employee as I spend half the year with my business in the states. If I were to be alright moving to the U.K. permanently I would go as a full time employee, but my family, business and life are in the US. If you prove yourself, I’m sure they would possibly allow this for you as well. It requires travel all over the world. We build for the most luxurious clients in the world and often get to stay in rooms, cabins, etc built for celebrities. Also, the country you see is amazing as we are out in the middle of beautiful landscapes for most all projects. The projects are very challenging as you are in the middle of no where with no life line quite often. Just getting to the site is often a challenge. It’s a good job for a carpenter that is interested in seeing the world and learning a lot of different construction methods, built at a high level. I was hired in at the management level as my task is leading a crew on these builds all over the place. My experience with hiring process will probably be a bit different than yours, but it might be worth it to you. Could be a good fit for a young guy like you. Interested? I can pass your resume along to the owners. I do not want to give out the company info on this forum as I can get in a lot of trouble with owners if I do this. If you are comfortable sending a resume I can pass it on. Also, for your resume you’ll want to google how to create a U.K. resume. They do it a little bit differently here. Regardless of how it all works out good luck to you. Nice to see a young man that is pulled to this kind of work. The world is experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, we need you. Good luck to you.
Jlyda, thank you very much for your response. What you are describing sounds like a dream come true in my eyes. First I must say I truly appreciate you reaching out and commend you for your success and the knowledge and experience you have gained. I am very interested in the company and the work you are describing and would love to send over my resume/any other supporting documents if necessary. As you mentioned I modified it a little according to what I found online for a UK resume. Let me know what you think. Is it possible to send you a message on here or by email? If not I could attach it to this post I suppose. Again, thank you very much for lending a helping hand; its priceless and means the world.
No worries, happy to help. I can tell you are committed to the craft and are starting out in a similar fashion as I did a life time ago. I will reach out to HR in the next few days. I will see what they recommend as far as collecting a resume. I believe they will not approve of me releasing contact info on this forum and it’s not really relevant or interesting to the other members here as well. They’re always looking for energetic help, you do not sound like a clock watcher, but someone that has a willingness and energy to learn. Europe is basically shut down right now. No one is in the office. I’m stuck remodeling a flat in my neighborhood alone (social distancing). It may be a little while to get a response from them as only the owners are working right now. I’ll let them know that you are Canadian, so they are aware of all that goes along with that. I do believe your Canadian citizenship helps with all the visa stuff. In the meantime (if you are comfortable with it) you could possibly attach a resume on this chain with your name and contact info blacked out to protect your identity. I can pass it on to them in email as well. If they are interested I’ll get back to you. I’ll put in a good word for you. I could use another North American on my sites. I’m the only one right now, I’m outnumbered by English and Scottish men. I would consider you for my US company, but I’m shifting that business into purely investment properties. Only building and renovating my own property from here on out. I have 2 other guys that have worked for me for years. We’ve made a pact that it will just be us until the day we can’t do the work anymore.
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Great! Will pass it on. Very impressive resume for someone just starting more official training then most. A bit of advice, if you are not able to secure employment here, I would encourage you to seek out production framing positions. It’s not the most glamorous work and is a grind, but my belief is you need a grind at first. It’s not a forever job. I graduated at a young age from trade school as well. The knowledge I learned helped expedite my advancement in my career immensely, but there is a pace and work ethic on a production job that can’t be mimicked in a school setting. If you can match your education with work ethic and real world application you’ll advance quickly. Continue to seek out informal education as you will find there are probably quite a few things your education did not cover. You always need to stay on top of the new technology. Methods and materials change a lot faster these days. Also, biggest advice I can give. Once you’ve reached a point in your career where you feel very confident in your abilities and can do just about as good of a job as your boss (or better) demand better pay. If you can not find an employer that values you start your own business. I started my business at 29, should have started earlier.
Good luck! And good on you for asking here.
Thanks for the advice. I have actually had production framing in mind for a while now. Reason being I enjoy framing and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity while im young. Im finding that the majority of custom home/reno companys in this area sub out the framing aspect of their new builds. Unfortunately though the offers/interviews I have are postponed due to the virus. You are definitely right that jobsite learning is invaluable!
Thanks Andy!