No experience, no worries: Caroll Norman retires after 29 years

Spanning nearly three decades, Caroll Norman’s career has been built on saying yes before she had all the answers, learning each role as it came her way, and holding her own in a male-dominated industry.

From the early days in Nangwarry mill, moving through to the office, into the stores, and finally moving across the carpark and into another office to start winding up as an accounts officer – Caroll has been there and done that.

We were lucky enough to catch Caroll just before she retired and set off on a cruise, to chat about her career journey and of course the friendships along the way.

Caroll, thanks so much for taking the time to chat. Really keen to talk to you and hear your story and maybe some wisdom…

“Thank you for taking the time.”

Let’s start from the start – where did it all begin, and how did you get to OneFortyOne?

“I started with Carter Holt Harvey (at Jubilee) in 1997.

I worked in the mill on the LVL line, which was laminated veneer. You laid up sheets of veneer one after another and cooked them in a hot press. It was very labour-intensive, but we rotated hourly, so you weren’t doing the same thing for eight hours straight.

When one of the girls in the front office went on leave, and I was approached to cover the role for three months. I had no experience, but they said ‘You already know what you’re looking at. We just need to teach you the next steps.

I took it on, and on the last day, I said to one of the bosses ‘If anything else pops up, give me a yell.’

I was always interested in doing something different and about three weeks later he rang me and said ‘I need to talk to you about a job.’

The job was in the store at Nangwarry. The Friday before I was supposed to start there, the manager quit and they told me they were going to train me to do his job.

I again knew nothing, but trained for about six weeks and was there for the next five years.

When they downsized Nangwarry, someone said to me, ‘Why don’t you just move back to Jubilee? It saves the travelling.’ They didn’t have to tell me twice. I packed up my gear that day and left.”

Were there particular people who supported you throughout your career?

“There were some challenges, but I have had some great workmates along the way.

Having friendships at work especially in the early days helped too. Friday nights after work at Nangwarry, at the old weighbridge, we’d have a couple of drinks and pizza. One of the girls used to bring her guitar and we’d sit for hours, sometimes in the car park, just talking after work. It was a very good atmosphere.  I made lifelong friends out of it.

More recently in the years of Dan Oneil, Alby Heesemans and Phil Clark, this had a big influence on my work ethics and roles.”

So you and Steve were both working? How did you go balancing work and life while your family was young?  

“Balancing all this work while Steve was working too, wasn’t always easy at home. We’ve supported each other throughout it.

Steve and I have been married since I was 18, so forty-three years. We’ve got three wonderful children and eleven amazing grandchildren.

At Nangwarry, I did afternoon shift for six years. Steven did day shift. We left notes on the bench for each other. I was there through the day and he came home at night and looked after the kids and just did what had to be done. We’ve always been a team.

You’re finishing up in the forests finance team, it’s mostly women you’re working with again?

“It is – the girls I work with now I’m so glad I’ve got to know, I’m going to miss them all desperately.

We have monthly chats, sitting around and talking about where we were at, whether it’s challenges at work or outside of it. You pick up when someone’s struggling, even if they don’t share the detail. The communication is important. If people know what’s going on, they tend to accept it better than having things sprung on them.

When I was going through everything with my mum and had to leave suddenly, not once was I made to feel bad. People just covered the job. It made a real difference when the group rallied.

I was able to wind down with work too, doing two days a week and picking up a few extra hours when people went on leave. That’s been great to just go at my own pace.

Once I’d made up my mind that I was going to retire though, that was it. Steve and I decided we were not going to work until we were seventy and not have time to do some of the things we want to do.”

I’m guessing you already have a bunch of retirement plans…

“In September I’m off to Fiji with a girlfriend. She rang me and asked if I wanted to go on a cruise. I straight away said okay!

She hadn’t even said where, but I didn’t care. So we’re off and once I’m back I’m going to do some volunteer work for a company supporting people with disabilities.

Steve and I have done a fair bit of travelling too, we spent six weeks in Europe last year and we want to do some more travelling around Australia. No plans, just pack up the car and go for a drive. No bookings. Just drive, and if we like it somewhere, we’ll stay for a few days, see the sights, chat to the locals, then keep on driving. We’ve done that before, going from here to Ceduna over three weeks. So we’ll see even more of the country.”

Just this time you won’t have to be back in time to go to work?

“That’s it.”

Sounds amazing.  Thanks again for taking the time to chat, Caroll –  we’ll wrap up with some wisdom – what have you got?

“Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

A little bit of understanding goes a long way. Question things, don’t do it just because I tell you to do it, try to understand why something is done the way it is.

Once you understand what you’re doing, you can make the most of it.

To finish off, remember, take opportunities even before you think you’re ready. You’ll figure it out.”