Attention to detail is carefully honed while training in the military, says E-5 Staff Sgt. Joshua Derins, and that precision was a huge benefit in his transition to civilian work as a hardwood flooring installer.
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Attention to detail is carefully honed while training in the military, says E-5 Staff Sgt. Joshua Derins, and that precision was a huge benefit in his transition to civilian work as a hardwood flooring installer.
“I was very meticulous with whatever I did to make sure it was perfect,” he says of when he started at West Berlin, N.J.-based DoveLin Enterprises. "The military definitely helped with that transition.”
Derins joined the Air Force in 2011 and spent the next two years at bases in Oklahoma, Texas, Seattle, Florida, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Germany, Scotland and England.
“There was a lot,” says Derins, who joined the 227th Air Support Operations Squadron (ASOS) following training. "I control aircraft and I'm the one who calls in the airstrikes, so I have to travel around the world to control different aircrafts.”
Derins transitioned to the reserve side of special operations in 2015, but is still frequently called in for military operations. In 2015 he used his VA benefits to begin earning an associate’s degree. When he and his wife had a baby, he decided to seek out hardwood flooring work, following a friend into the industry. He reached out to Helmets to Hardhats, a program that connects military personnel with construction job opportunities as they transition from active duty military life. Soon after, he was hired by DoveLin as an apprentice.
“I guess I was a little intimidated, because I'd never really done anything like that,” Derins says of wood flooring. “But most of the guys were pretty open with helping me. I felt like as long as I showed initiative and drive and I wanted to learn, nobody really gave me any pushback.”
Having held a leadership position in the Air Force, Derins says at first he had to remind himself to “take a step back” in the new job.
“Because obviously I didn’t have the knowledge to be taking charge yet,” he says. But it didn’t take him long to remedy that. After two and a half years, he was promoted to manage jobs.
He’s been with the company for four years now, and also installs other types of flooring, though hardwood remains special to Derins.
“Something about hardwood floors catches people’s eyes,” he says. “They stare at you when you’re installing it or staining it. Anything you’re doing on a wood floor, people are amazed at the transition.”
International Standards & Training Alliance (INSTALL) began partnering with Helmets to Hardhats in 2016 to connect veterans with floorcovering job opportunities. Veterans interested in joining the Helmets to Hardhats program can email here. Contractors interested in sponsoring a veteran in the INSTALL apprenticeship program can contact INSTALL Executive Director John McGrath here.