Employee Spotlight: Cali Goes Vancouver

There aren’t many things that can make a person pick up their whole life and move to a new place — especially when that move has to happen in only four weeks — but an amazing job can be good motivation. Still, when this whole journey began on October 31, I had no idea what kind of roller-coaster ride I’d started.

My old grind

A few months back, I was just a technician working my normal routine. I’d wake up, go to work at 8:30 a.m., work on cars, and then go home. As much as I love working on cars, repairing people’s daily drivers wasn’t exactly fulfilling. There were no turbos, no coilovers, no stage 3 clutches, and — most of all — there was no challenge, no way to better myself. There was satisfaction in learning and in becoming a better tech, but even though I had a great boss, I didn’t exactly find myself waking up looking forward to the day. My motivation was declining and I knew it was time for a fresh start.

Pacific Northwest-bound

Since I moved to Vancouver, I’ve gotten two responses when people ask me where I came from. It’s either the classic, “I hate Californians!” (Of course, I can’t blame them. Many Californians are snobby, drive too fast, and don’t use their turn signal enough. So, it’s understandable that the locals are pissed off that their area is getting contaminated by newbies.) However, I’ve also been asked, “What brought you up here?” And, to that, I get to reply, “I got recruited by an awesome company that I’ve wanted to work for since I was 19.”

When I first saw Luke post that CorkSport was hiring, I wanted to hop all over it. But after reading the job description, I didn’t think it was right for me. A few weeks went by and I hadn’t thought about it again, that is, until I spoke with Barrett. I asked if anyone had been hired yet and the answer turned out to be a negative — they were still looking. Next thing you know, I’m getting asked if I might be interested in the gig. One thing led to another, and a day later I’m on the phone with Kim. Turns out the job was a better fit than I first thought!

It’s quite the elaborate interview process at CorkSport. We don’t have revolving doors here, and they needed to make sure that I was the right fit. Over the course of a month and a few interviews, things were looking good and it started to become much more real that I could actually end up working for the biggest name in Mazda Performance. They already had a strong idea of what they had in store for me and where they wanted to see me in six months. Everything came together and they offered me the job.

I remember when I first got my MazdaSpeed a couple years ago, I thought about how cool it would be to work at CorkSport. It was apparent to me, as well as fellow modders, that CorkSport has fun doing what they do, and that they love their customers and the Mazda community. It’s ironic that, not too long after I first thought CorkSport would be a great place to work, the windy roads of life brought me to the moment when I received a formal job offer from them.

After a long talk with my girlfriend and my family, the decision was made, I accepted the offer, and we started packing boxes. I was leaving my family, a beloved Mazda community, and a bunch of friends behind for a clean professional slate, but I knew I was gaining the room to grow, and more opportunities than ever before.

Part of the team

A few weeks and a million questions later, here I am writing a CorkSport blog and getting settled in. I must say that, so far, my favorite part about this process has been dealing with and getting to know our awesome CorkSport customers. I’ve been writing postcards and throwing in little goodies, the same things I used to get with my parts when I was a customer — a little something extra makes all the difference! My daily job is helping people make their cars faster, lower, and cooler. I’m living the life!

On another note, no other company I’ve worked for has been so welcoming and helped me to feel at home so quickly. It’s not easy to pack up and move your life, but it didn’t take long for Luke, Vinny, and me to become best buds. Working on cars has now become more of a hobby, and all my tools now go good use on side jobs, like other Mazdas in the community. No more beat-up, dirty hands from repairing people’s daily drivers is a nice change, and my girlfriend is probably happy about that as well. Ha!

That’s, essentially, the long story short of how I was recruited to work at CorkSport and made the jump from the Bay Area to Vancouver. I’m glad to be a part of this awesome new team, and to have the opportunity to keep growing and learning.

Until next time, ladies and gents!

Cheers, Brett