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John Sutch Cranes slinger Nile Harwood-Jenkins has swapped his career in the classroom for one in construction as he embarks on a new life in the crane industry.
Nile, 32, joined Sutch’s over six months ago after turning his back on a 10-year teaching career working across schools in Lancashire and Merseyside. And now, in his first year in the blue and yellow of John Sutch Cranes, he says he not regretted a ‘second of it’.
“I wish I had done it years ago,” Nile said.
“I just love working in construction and I feel like I’ve really found my place and home at John Sutch Cranes.
“There’s guys here that have worked for John more than I have been alive and I’m picking up all that experience. Every day I am learning something new. The job just suits the way I think and the way I approached things in my teaching career.
“I enjoy problem solving and working through the safest methods to sling loads. You look at jobs you’re on and you think ‘I helped build that’.
It’s been a great start to his life at Sutch’s with Sales Director Paul Parry trusting Nile to work on one of John Sutch Cranes’ biggest North West jobs – the £365m Co-op Live Music Arena in Manchester where the team are impressing everyone, from contractor BAM Construct UK to the Co-op Live’s backers.
Nile, from Prescot, and enjoying life ’10 minutes away from the depot in Bootle’, spent four years of his life studying for the day he was awarded is Professional Graduate Certification in Education.
That’s three years in at the University of Cumbria in the Lake District for a Foundation Degree in Outdoor Education and then a further 12 months at the University of Central Lancashire up in Preston.
While he says working with young people did have its moments, he just felt his calling was elsewhere.
Nile didn’t have to look far as being around construction work through his family and friends, he applied his teaching mind to becoming a slinger and potentially a crane operator of the future.
Nile threw all his weight behind reinventing himself; reading, studying and immersing himself in anything and everything to do with crane operations.
Accreditations soon followed for the Liverpool lad and soon he was on his path to crane life. He worked across a number of different agencies before landing at Sutch’s and he's not looked back.
It’s a far cry from what he was experiencing this time last year as he taught young people both inside and outside the classroom, including people in NEAT (not in education, employment or training).
“I’d done 10 years and it was really stressful,” he added.
“There are a lot of hours - as there is in construction, but I’m more freely available at home now than I have been in teaching. Because when I leave construction sites each day, there’s no planning or marking to do”.
“When I look back I’m around for my family more now, than I was when commuting back and forth from a school in Preston, whereas the yard is only 10 minutes away.
“I’ve been away a few times to Immingham, Grimsby and Boston on jobs and I really enjoyed the crack with the team and just absorbing everything that goes on on site with different colleagues.”
There are other benefits, too.
He added: “I’ve not only found the right job for me and something I want to do for the rest of my career – hopefully for John Sutch – I’ve bettered myself. It’s made a big difference to family life.”
It’s moments like these when owner and MD, John Sutch, walks across the yard to see how his new recruit is doing and ‘to wish me well before Christmas’.
“I’ve got so much respect for John and what he’s done and the business he has created. The people make it, it’s like one big family here and everyone is looking out for you. John said as much himself to me. Stuff like that is not lost on me – you don’t always see it, you do here.”
Paul Parry added: “Nile is a credit to himself. He’s worked tremendously hard to get where he is today. It takes a lot for someone to change a job, nevermind a career. Working with cranes is the furthest thing away from what he was doing teaching students.
“We have been really impressed with his work, his enthusiasm and determination to succeed. He has a bright future here. The industry is lucky to have him."
