Feminine Side of Arbo-Work

[odd_bird]

Oh..OK..thanks..Sound encouraging so far

just need to find someone to employ and train me now without taking the mickey *claps her hands in excitement*

One more question guys (and surprisingly gals), what is the normal wage for a trainee arb and how long does it normally take? Found a local ad offering 10k as a starting wage for 2 years..dunno..

[felixthelogchopper]

Hi odd_bird,

 

 

Personally I think we shouldn't distinguish between male and female arborists; but just count each worker as 'an arborist'.

 

 

 

...Unless they're the really hot ones in tight t-shirts and short shorts!

 

So you wouldn't distinguish between a male or female in that outfit?

[chestnut]

i am not an arborist (as such) but i work our copse, can use a chain saw and am damn good at climbing trees - and i love it

 

having said that - in the copse i use knives, hooks and hand saws more than chain saws - and do more pruning and hedge laying than felling (my dad likes to fell the bigun's bless him - riddled with cancer and a frail 72 - he would put many a healthy man to shame at what he can achieve in a day)

 

people (mostly men) are surprised that i love to work with and in the trees - as i am only a little girlie with no obvious "muscle" but i manage ok

 

i would like to see more women working in this environment - lets face it - we are better than men in most things anyway :001_tt2:

[Littletree]

Hi Odd Bird and welcome to the forum. Arb for women is excellent Women that decided to take up Arb usually really really want to do in the first place it so they go along way as they will work really hard and give it 100%

 

There are differences between men and women but this does not stop us doing anything the chaps do we may sometimes need to do it in a different ways to the chaps to achieve the same results .

 

I want to encourage more and more women to come into Arb its a lovely profession . Its the best thing I ever took up and I have never looked back since the day i started down this road . I now have the best job in the world .

 

I find being female really helps me get even more customers I use it to my advantage as a selling point as I get allot of women ringing up as they feel sometimes happier with another female doing the work and they are inspired and pleasantly surprised by a female doing this work and I can involve them more in the shape of what they want for there trees and gardens. .

 

If you decided to do it it will help if you can get your basic tickets CS30/31 then if you want to climb then CS38/39 once you have these it becomes easier to get in with company's . Some company's will take you on a train you from scratch but it will depend on your age . I am not far off 40 so training has not been easy to come by as they tend to take on the younger persons to train them from scratch .

 

when you get these tickets you will get plenty of sub work as a groundy or full time work with a bigger company to build up your skills ,you will get to use the big chippers all the tools and do stump grinding traffic management. you will do commercial and domestic jobs and will have a great time in the process.

 

99% of the time you will be working with lads in a team of 3 on a truck .most of the lads I have worked with are great fun and there is no problem with you being a girl if you are prepaid to work hard you will get well respected for it.

 

. Like in any job you will get the odd one or 2 that may try to bully you but just hold your own and don't put up with it even if they are twice the size of you stand your ground .

 

Good luck Girl

It will be the best choice you ever make .

 

Ps I am looking for more girls to get into the pole climbing and join the circuit if you are interested just let me know and you can come and have a try some of the next years shows.

 

Littltree:thumbup:

[Ella]

I am a female level 2 arb apprentice. I have CS30, CS31, CS38 and am on 7k. nab that 10k job straight up.

As far as whether women can make good arborists - of course they can. Men probably have a higher tendancy towards it, but the women who do persist and make it are likely to be better than alot of the blokes out there. Good technique can reduce the amount of effort needed enourmously.

At 5'0" and 7.5 stone I am definately not the butch type, but at college I am not the weakest physically, and by no means at the bottom of the class (all lads) I find that my weight holds me back far more than my strength. Gender must not be an issue. You may find (as many blokes do) that you are simply not up to it. If this is the case then so be it.

People will mock you - it happens to all apprentices as far as i can see; and people will be dubious that you can manage. The trick is to prove them wrong. then they dont have a leg to stand on. I know that my aim is not to be good "for a woman", but a good arborist regardless of gender.

And littletree - i would love to get into poleclimbing, count me in =]

[Taupotreeman]

I have managed a few women when I ran part of the arb division of Treescape. One of those was Crissie Spence who is a dead set legend. A few of the other girls were all good workers and more so because they wanted to prove a point to the lads that they could work just as hard as they could. Unfortunately we had a couple of idiots at the company who saw the girls as nothing but eye candy and a few of the more promising ones didn't stick around to take the rubbish the idiots threw at them. If the ladies lacked anything in strength they more than made up for with technique and they had a tendancy to think more about the job first rather than charging in like a bull in a china shop. You don't have to be built like a brick outhouse to do the job anyway. The more the merrier I say.

[Littletree]

Oh..OK..thanks..Sound encouraging so far

just need to find someone to employ and train me now without taking the mickey *claps her hands in excitement*

One more question guys (and surprisingly gals), what is the normal wage for a trainee arb and how long does it normally take? Found a local ad offering 10k as a starting wage for 2 years..dunno..

 

HI Odd bird

I am not sure how the apprenticeship scheme works re pay I have a feeling they can pay less i thinks the government is involved with it and the employer and they get some form of concession for taking you on but you would need to check this out.

 

there is a min wage of around 5.80 and hour if your over 21 years old and work on the books for a company .10k is just on the borders of a min wage. From my own exp with company's down in the south west the wages for a groundy without any tickets usually starts at around 55 per day and with CS30/31/38/39 then your are looking for a groundy from 60 to 75 per day . and for the climbing side for a new climber or improver then its around 70 per day .

 

For the climbing side it all goes on how good you become, your performance how much money you can make the company and how good you make the trees look. if you become really really good you can earn up to 100 a day on the books and as self employed with equipment quite a bit more as you set set your charges or day rates

 

All the best

Littltree:thumbup:

[Frank]

What's a world champions wage Littletree? Haha.

 

(well done by the way, didn't get chance to say it before)

[janey]

Gender is not the most important issue: your own individual strengths (and weaknesses), qualities and and attitude are. Don't make your gender an issue, just be the best arb' you possibly can be. I consider myself simply an arboriculturalist, NOT a female arboriculturalist, and I neither expect or get any allowences or special treatment for my gender. I don't need it - I'm good at what I do!

 

I did use to find the physical side of the job a challenge sometimes, as I'm 5'5'' and only 7 and 1/2 stone, but there are ways around this and and I more than made up for it with determination.

 

As for that 10k you quoted, that's poor, even for a trainee position. I'd want all my PPE, training and tickets supplied for that kind of salary, and I'd still want a raise!

[Mike Hill]

It will depend on your aspirations within the industry.

 

Some Arb roles gender dosn't matter any,some it does.

 

With regard to work climbing,most Woman find it more difficult physically than men.Its not easy for anyone,especially when you are new to it.

My girlfreind is a Climber for a Local Authority and does a good job within the production expectations of her workplace.However I would not find her capacity as a Climber acceptable in the same role in my Company.

 

Starting as a groundy,even on a limited basis will give you the world of insight into this industry.Also you will see Climbing in a production situation so you will know what will be expected of you.I beleive it takes about five years of climbing every day to call yourself experianced.Adding those five years onto your age now may also colour your decision.

 

At the end of the day,"nothing ventured,nothing gained".