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Tuesday, February 27, 2024

First Day on the Job

Starting a new job in construction sure isn’t like it was back in the day. And that’s a good thing

By Ian DeWaard, Ontario Director

I remember my first day at my first construction job. It was a rough start.

The boss threw some 2x6 boards and three blocks my way and said, “Make these into a header.” I asked what a header was and received some gruff, and rather incomplete, instructions.

I nailed the two pieces of lumber together, then added the blocks. It was only after I had assembled the thing that it was made clear the blocks were spacers, intended to be placed between the two 2x6 pieces.

My new boss erupted with an angry and derisive response, likely because it had just then dawned on him how much of a rookie I was. Since I was obviously underqualified for that task, he assigned me to sort through a large pile of 18-foot 2x4s.

“It’s a bad order,” he told me. “I need you to sight each piece and put the bad stuff in a pile for return to the lumber yard.”

He told me to set aside anything with too large a crown to it. I asked what a crown was and received another gruff, and rather incomplete, set of instructions. “The ones with too large a bow to them.”

I dutifully picked up the end nearest one for inspection. These being long narrow pieces of lumber, they would all bend—a lot! I couldn’t tell which boards had too much of a bow, but I made my best guess and discarded about two-thirds of the pile.

Upon his return, and discovering a huge pile of discarded lumber, the boss learned that I didn’t understand what a crown was. He responded in a way that I was quickly discovering to be a predictable pattern.

If you know anything about wood-frame carpentry, this story hopefully has you chuckling. If you don’t know terms like crown and header, you’ll have some sense of the confusion I felt that first day. Mostly, I tell this story so that you have some understanding of the caliber of new employee orientation that I believe was typical for that era.

Recently, I had a chance to visit CLAC’s Bootcamp program. Now entering its third season, this program is designed to train and orient the uninitiated into the work world of construction.

In very stark contrast to my own experience, these students receive two weeks of practical hands-on training. This includes all the safety certificates necessary for work on a construction job site, an introduction to common construction terms, how to use various tools well, keep a site clean, and perhaps most importantly how to use an imperial tape measure. After the classroom portion, many students move on to an eight-week placement in the field.

Most of the skills taught are rudimentary, but to the many men and women who are responding to the call to enter a life in the skilled trades, it’s a great start. Not only does the program fast track through what otherwise might take months of on-the-job experience, it also serves as a great way for prospective skilled trades workers to determine if this is the right career path for them. While construction is a high-earning and meaningful career, not everyone is cut out for it.

Over the last several years, CLAC has been thinking deeply about how to make the construction job site a welcoming, hospitable, and receptive environment to the rookie, the newcomer, the recently landed, and to the people who have been historically underrepresented in the trades. A proper orientation that ensures the first day of work isn’t a dizzying experience seems a great place to start.

To read more about how CLAC is helping new workers and apprentices with their career journey, check out some of the many links at the Your Work tab on clac.ca.

CLAC is also positively impacting workplace culture by training new and future workplace leaders. For more information, ask about CLAC’s Supervisor Micro Certification Program, or talk to your CLAC representative about the union’s Steward Toolbox Training program.