Starting in the industry

[mikeshipman]

Hi guys

 

I'm currently in the process of leaving the Army and have been considering this as a possible career. I was wondering if I could get any general advice about the best ways to get in, i've been looking at doing various courses as I can get resettlement funding from the army.

 

The other thing I've been trying to find out is what sort of wages can you expect starting out and how much work there is in different areas. I've seen a lot of jobs advertised around London but my wife and I are looking at moving to Manchester and there seem to be far less jobs up there.

 

Any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

[Steve Bullman]

Hi Mike,

 

Theres 2 companies that advertise on Arbtalk that specialize in army resettlement, you are probably aware of them already but here are the links.

 

Kingswood Training Services Great Training, Great Facilities, Great Results! %%excerpt%% - Kingswood Training Services

 

TKF Chainsaw Training Courses, Tree Surgery, Pesticide Training, ELCAS Business Management Courses, throughout Yorkshire, UK and Ireland

 

Either of those companies will be able to give you plenty of information regarding the resettlement.

 

Regarding wages, these vary drastically. I'm not sure what the rates are in the army these days, but its probably fairly safe to assume you'll be taking a pay cut, particularly at the start. In general everyone seems very busy at the moment so its probably a good time to be looking to get into the industry. Might be worth starting a thread in the employment section, along with your contact details...Theres plenty of firms on here in the Manchester area so you might find something.

 

Best of luck

[tomh]

Hi mike,

 

I was in the same position you are now earlier on in the year. I did my cs30 31 38 39 woodchipper and stump grinder all in a 4 week package at kingswood. You also do a business start up project which is excellent. This is all elcas funded. I have also now done cs 32 40 41 and wind blown in Cornwall all elcas funded and from it get a Lvl 3 sub diploma in forestry and arb. Getting touch if you need to know anything.

 

Tom

[Dorset Treeman]

Hi Mike, I was in the same situation 10 years ago when I left the Navy. I did the 4 week course at Kingswood and then a 3 day course on how to create a cv and do job interviews (something you never learned on the forces!). They told me I would struggle to get a job in the arb industry on this course. I sent out a letter to some local tree surgeons and got offered 3 jobs. The reality is the starting money is poor (around £13,500 back then) which was a bit of a culture shock as I had been on more than double that. 10 years on and I have my own small company and earn about the same as I did on the forces, but don't have to answer to anyone anymore which is nice. Remember you might not have experience but hard work and turning up every day on time count for a lot in this industry and generally that's installed in you in the forces so you should be able to get work pretty easily. Any more questions, feel free to PM me.

[mikeshipman]

Thanks for the information guys. So would you say overall the industry is growing at the moment?

[Steve Bullman]

Everyone I speak to is certainly busy

[MattyF]

Thanks for the information guys. So would you say overall the industry is growing at the moment?

 

 

No !!! It's sitting still, I recon its reached its peak which was inevitable, plenty of new guys coming in under cutting everybody getting work and going bust when they can't pay the bills or realise it's a lot harder than they first thought thought and quit... The knock on effect is we are still charging and making roughly the same as 20 years ago when the industry started to boom.

But!!!! If your good at your job impress the customer and offer good value I'm sure in time you can build a good business it just takes time.