Degree vs Chartered Forester

[Dave110]

I have a question for those of you who are in a role that will involve recruitment in the forestry sector. For example the role could be for an assistant forester, head forester or even to aid selecting a consultant.

 

Lets say you have 2 applicants who both have extensive practical - 'on the tools'- forestry experiance and can also do tasks such as management plans and survey work. One of them has a BSc or Msc (degree) and the other is a chartered forester with no degree; who do you go for?

 

In short; what will make you more employable, academically, a degree or chartered status?

 

I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

For the record this is purely out of interest after a recent discussion at work, i dont have 2 applicants waiting on your responses!!

 

Cheers,

Dave

[5thelement]

Do you not need a degree to be a member of ICF these days?

[Toad]

5 hours ago, Dave110 said:

I have a question for those of you who are in a role that will involve recruitment in the forestry sector. For example the role could be for an assistant forester, head forester or even to aid selecting a consultant.

 

Lets say you have 2 applicants who both have extensive practical - 'on the tools'- forestry experiance and can also do tasks such as management plans and survey work. One of them has a BSc or Msc (degree) and the other is a chartered forester with no degree; who do you go for?

 

In short; what will make you more employable, academically, a degree or chartered status?

 

I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

For the record this is purely out of interest after a recent discussion at work, i dont have 2 applicants waiting on your responses!!

 

Cheers,

Dave

Not necessarily related to forestry, but chartered status is normally achieved by having degrees and relevant experience or lots of experience. Either way the person needs to thoroughly prove their understanding of the subject. Personally, I've known a lot of people who are chartered and are useless, and a lot of people who aren't chartered and are good. Lots of people with degrees who are terrible, and plenty without degrees who are more than competent. Just comes down to the person involved.

[rodp]

Just remember the old saying, "Academia and common sense rarely walk hand in hand".

[Sutton]

Before I stopped needing to advertise in Yellow Pages back in the 00s, I used to be contacted by forestry students on degree courses looking for Woodland Management experience. I tried out five students over 7 years and I can say that academically aka theoretically, they were very good on paper.

 

That is, they could talk the talk, if you know what I mean.

 

If you want to employ someone to write reports recommending x or y or z and occasionally point a finger at what needs doing, then you have your answer. Forestry is also about how not just what and when. The question of how comes from experience of being hands on or coming up from the tools as well as being mentored with those with even greater experience. That's how I learnt and I've tried to pass on a bit too

[Dave110]

9 hours ago, Sutton said:

Before I stopped needing to advertise in Yellow Pages back in the 00s, I used to be contacted by forestry students on degree courses looking for Woodland Management experience. I tried out five students over 7 years and I can say that academically aka theoretically, they were very good on paper.

 

That is, they could talk the talk, if you know what I mean.

 

If you want to employ someone to write reports recommending x or y or z and occasionally point a finger at what needs doing, then you have your answer. Forestry is also about how not just what and when. The question of how comes from experience of being hands on or coming up from the tools as well as being mentored with those with even greater experience. That's how I learnt and I've tried to pass on a bit too

I completely agree, that is the reason both my theoretical applicants have extensive experience actually cutting and working in the wood. I am very firm in my belief that any form of manager or consultant will need to have served their time on the tools, to really understand silverculture and forest planning.

The thing is that in our current times many employer's want a degree over practical experiance.

 

I have worked with many forest managers/head foresters that are fantastic, they started out on a saw and worked into the 'pen & paper' management side of things. I have also worked for many terrible types who generally go via their text book through lack of practical understanding...

 

It seems the general view of those who have posted is that hands on experiance trumps degrees and fancy letters? I agree but im not sure how wide this view is as i see more and more roles requiring a degree and pushing out the practical worker who has served their time and done things the right way (in my opinion).

[Dave110]

9 hours ago, Sutton said:

Before I stopped needing to advertise in Yellow Pages back in the 00s, I used to be contacted by forestry students on degree courses looking for Woodland Management experience. I tried out five students over 7 years and I can say that academically aka theoretically, they were very good on paper.

 

That is, they could talk the talk, if you know what I mean.

 

If you want to employ someone to write reports recommending x or y or z and occasionally point a finger at what needs doing, then you have your answer. Forestry is also about how not just what and when. The question of how comes from experience of being hands on or coming up from the tools as well as being mentored with those with even greater experience. That's how I learnt and I've tried to pass on a bit too

I completely agree, that is the reason both my theoretical applicants have extensive experience actually cutting and working in the wood. I am very firm in my belief that any form of manager or consultant will need to have served their time on the tools, to really understand silverculture and forest planning.

The thing is that in our current times many employer's want a degree over practical experiance.

 

I have worked with many forest managers/head foresters that are fantastic, they started out on a saw and worked into the 'pen & paper' management side of things. I have also worked for many terrible types who generally go via their text book through lack of practical understanding...

 

It seems the general view of those who have posted is that hands on experiance trumps degrees and fancy letters? I agree but im not sure how wide this view is as i see more and more roles requiring a degree and pushing out the practical worker who has served their time and done things the right way (in my opinion).

[Mark J]

If both candidates were of a similar capacity in terms of practical experience I would probably veer towards someone with BSc./ MSc. qualifications as there are skills such as statistical analysis and business management that you learn on those courses, that's not to say that the MICFOR candidate might not also be fluent in those skills. Someone with a level 6 NQF qualification could become chartered in a couple of years. 

[Dave110]

5 hours ago, Mark J said:

If both candidates were of a similar capacity in terms of practical experience I would probably veer towards someone with BSc./ MSc. qualifications as there are skills such as statistical analysis and business management that you learn on those courses, that's not to say that the MICFOR candidate might not also be fluent in those skills. Someone with a level 6 NQF qualification could become chartered in a couple of years. 

A very useful response, thank's. I have no experiance with degrees or chartered certification (i have been lucky and managed without) so this is all good information.