The event, held at Snows Timber in Glastonbury, was designed to raise awareness and understanding of the opportunities available in the timber sector, and attracted 19 advisers from local schools, the Connexions careers service and from higher education.
The advisers admitted they had little or no knowledge of the £2.4bn timber trading sector. “I’ve had thousands of students come through over the years and not one has raised the possibility of going into the timber sector,” said University of Bristol careers adviser Brian Staines. “This type of event is incredibly useful.”
Snows managing director Jim Peryer said he saw careers advisers as an essential channel through which old-fashioned perceptions of working with wood can be dispelled.
“The recruitment problems we face at Snows are mirrored across the sector,” he said. “This is because we haven’t done enough to promote the hi-tech nature of our industry.”
Speakers at the event included Dick Gossling, the Forestry Commission‘s woodlands officer for Somerset; Jon Dyke, senior lecturer in carpentry and joinery at Bridgwater College; and Tom Jenkins, distance learning programme director at the University of Wales, Bangor.
The event also featured a Q&A session with Doug Pierson, a management trainee at Bradfords Building Supplies, and Dan Heffernan, a graduate of Snows’ management training programme.
“We need your help in raising the profile of the sector and generating interest in our modern timber business,” Mr Peryer told the careers advisers. “From graduates to vocational trainees: we have opportunities for all.”
The next event will be held in conjunction with either NETTA or Bristol & Western Channel TTA in spring next year.
