Page 12 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Fourth Quarter 2024

I WANT A
JOB WITH
A PURPOSE
I HAVE AN
INTEREST IN
INNOVATION
I HAVE AN
APPRECIATION
OF THE
WOODS
CULTIVATING
FUTURE
FORESTERS
I WANT AN
OPPORTUNITY
TO EARN
A LIVING
How the Forestry Industry Can Attract Young Talent
By Eric Kingsley, Northeast Region Coordinator, Forest Resources Association
No matter what sector or state, anyone I talk to tells me that recruiting and
It’s no secret that the forest products sector needs to attract people into the industry.
retaining talent is one of their significant challenges.
I once spoke with an industry leader about this issue and was told what should
be strikingly obvious: If we want to attract people to our industry, the industry
needs to be attractive. This has made me think about what makes the current and
future forest industry attractive and how we can position a career in the woods or in a
mill as a career path for people to explore.
What Makes the Forest
Industry Attractive?
• While the forest industry need not
be the most financially rewarding job
a potential employee considers, it does
need to provide a level of base pay
and benefits that allow the individual
— and perhaps a family — to have
the opportunity to earn a living and
provide a benefits package that
addresses health and retirement.
Money (and total compensation) isn’t
everything, but if the job isn’t paying
enough to provide a living, it’s going to
be tough to attract people.
• People like to work in the woods,
and the forest industry provides very
real opportunities to spend your days
outside, away from an office, doing
something productive. Recent research
shows that logging and forestry rate
very high for on-the-job happiness and
meaningful work, and low for stress. On
a recent mill tour, a couple of employees
expressed to me how much they like
being part of a team and how much they
like the tangible progress they make
each day.
• Many young people are in search
of a job with a purpose — one
that places a strong emphasis on
sustainability. The forest industry fulfills
10 ncforestry.org / FOURTH QUARTER 2024
this requirement better than most — the
growing, managing, and harvesting
of trees embraces the responsible use
of a renewable resource. Producing
products that store carbon and provide
environmental benefits, the industry
contributes significantly to sustainability
— something many workers say is
important to their career choice.
• We’re at the beginning of an exciting
time in the industry (note — “exciting”
and “stable” are not synonyms). Paper,
lumber, pellets, and other products are
going to be the dominant products for
the near future, but there are so many
emerging ways to utilize wood on the
near horizon. Mass timber, biofuels,
biochar, and many other products are
at the beginning of their evolution. I
recently toured a house 3-D printed
using wood fiber. Will all these products
succeed? Of course not, but for people
drawn to innovation, the forest
industry provides a vast frontier.
Of course, for any of this to matter,
we must communicate these benefits
and opportunities to young people,
expose them to the opportunity, and
work together to make the forest products
industry an attractive place to work.
I encourage each of you to find a young
man or woman who might be interested
in the industry and spend a day with
them. It turns out that being exposed to
opportunity can lead in great directions.
Will You Take the Challenge?
I want to challenge each of us to find a
student (or students — two or three isn’t a
whole lot more work than one) and expose
them to opportunities in the forestry
industry. From forestry to logging to
manufacturing, our industry offers a full
range of opportunities for young people to
find and grow a career.
What to Do on Your Tour Day
Show them your job and the jobs of others
in the supply chain. Walk them through
forestry, logging, and manufacturing. Here
are some things I have done when taking
students out:
• Ask questions about what they know
about the industry and listen to their
answers. In many cases, the knowledge
can be incorrect or incomplete, but
it lets you know the base level of
information that exists and can tip you
off to areas of interest to pursue.
• The Forest Resources Association has a
great Wood Supply Chain Schematic
and video that lets you walk through
the process of growing, managing,
and harvesting a forest and the range
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Explore additional Woods to Mill
articles by visiting FRA’s website.