Dan Macmaster
What are your main responsibilities or activities in your current position?
Log procurement, logging supervision, forestry manager. I am in charge of all log permitting and buying for our company. I organize the logging operations and I am head of forestry.
How does your current work relate to your graduate degree?
Time management, accessing resources, dealing with pressure and highly stressful situations. It was not necessarily the material taught that was the most useful, but the skills I developed and improved upon that best prepared me for this position.
What do you like and what do you find challenging about your current position?
It is challenging to have hundreds of workers that depend on the decisions I make. In addition, small rural towns that would need the forest industry and our company to survive.
Is your current career path as you originally intended?
Yes. Managing in the forest industry.
What motivated you to pursue graduate work at UBC?
The MSFM program was exactly what I was looking for.
What did you enjoy the most about your time as a graduate student at UBC?
Working with the instructors.
What key things did you do, or what attitudes or approaches did you have, that contributed to your success?
Maturity. Most of the forest industry is seeing young students enter the work field. They lack loyalty to a company and will float from job to job. You need to be dedicated and work hard for your position and pay.
What is your best piece of advice for current graduate students preparing for their future careers?
Be open-minded. Make connections. Network while being a student. Go to as many conferences as possible and have business cards ready.
Did you have any breaks in your education?
I was a high school teacher for 15 years, then I went back to UBC for my MSFM degree.
How did you find out about/obtain your current position?
I completed a project in my masters program that focused on a private land project for the company. They hired me immediately and promoted me to manager.
What challenges did you face in your graduate degree, or in launching your career?
Willingness to relocate and start a life somewhere else.
How are jobs normally posted and filled in your organization or industry?
I have 3 MSFM graduates on my staff. I would post in local papers and on canadianforestryjobs.com