Q&A with Colby Williamson

EquipmentShare is rapidly expanding across the country, and is hiring the best and brightest from the industry to drive strategic growth. One recent hire was Colby Williamson, director of talent acquisition.

Williamson, a United States Marine veteran with an impressive post-military résumé, joined EquipmentShare in May 2023, and hit the ground running with enthusiasm and passion for building the future of construction.

‍So, Colby, how did you get here? What led you to EquipmentShare?

A former coworker shared with me an incredible opportunity to help the recruiting team scale. I did some research on the company and realized what an opportunity this would be and how lucky I would be to work for EquipmentShare.

‍You’ve worked for some impressive companies, including Meta, Chewy and Amazon. Tell us about your previous experience as a recruiter for these companies?

When I started out my military-to-civilian career transition, I realized that becoming a Recruiter would be a great way to continue serving others. I was following what Amazon was doing with military recruiting and I just wanted to get my foot in the door. I never thought of myself as the smartest person in the room but knew that I would be the hardest working in the room.

Previously, I felt like tech recruiting was the pinnacle, but the more time I spent supporting operations, the more that I realized they are the backbone of most companies. Our drivers and technicians are an essential part of building this company and building America. 

‍You say you wanted to be a recruiter — was that always your dream job? 

I joined the Marines as an infantryman and served in Iraq. When I was transitioning out of the military, I realized I wanted to have purpose in my next role and have a career where I could help others. Recruiting is more than a career for me, it's truly a calling and an honor to help change lives. 

‍What parts of your military experience help you in your role today? 

More than anything, I believe in mindset. I learned at an early stage what servant leadership truly means and I’m still working at it. I think being able to overcome adversity, always looking at the positive side of things, simplifying difficult challenges and putting others first, is more rewarding than any sort of job title or promotion. 

‍Tell me more about your current role as director of talent acquisition.

My function is to develop and inspire recruiters to go out and seek out the best talent and create a great experience for candidates.  When we inject great talent into the company, we can keep growing. There will be lots of challenges, but this is really fun for me.

‍What are the biggest challenges in attracting and retaining talent for the construction industry? 

Overall, we have a massive labor shortage for skilled trades like drivers and mechanics in the United States. That’s our biggest challenge. We need skilled people. We have to create pipelines for early- career trades candidates and build new career paths that they can take and excel at. It’s one of the greatest economic challenges our country faces, and we can be a part of changing that. 

‍What can we do to continue to make EquipmentShare a Better Place to Work?

We need to advocate for diverse talent and continue telling the story of our mechanics and drivers and yard techs — they are our most important people. If you or I don’t show up tomorrow, this company will keep going, but if our branch employees — the drivers, the techs, the yard workers and the rental coordinators — don’t show up? We wouldn’t be able to do it without them. 

Are you looking to help build the future of construction and join an amazing team? Come work with us!

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