KateH

What an amazing story! So glad you still enjoy it 😊👍

Thanks Patrick, we met a couple of family arb set ups at APF, which was nice. Word of the career seems to travel through who you know rather than careers services or advice from schools. It is making interesting reading. Kate😊

Thanks SprucePirate! 👍 Have a good week.

Thanks for sharing Mike. It's so interesting reading all the stories about how people got into arb. It all seems to be through someone already known or happenstance... no votes for careers advice yet and I'll be surprised if there are before the end of the week. Have a good one 😊

Amazing!

Another completely different story, thank you Jules. This thread is going to make an interesting read. Congratulations on making a shift in your career. Out of interest was it easy to find the information you needed to do it? Kate

Thank you, Steve! It's going to be an interesting poll, I think. Kate 😊

Hi Arbtalkers, we sent out an Instagram post yesterday asking this question and have had some fascinating replies so thought we’d ask here too. To see the Insta post and join the conversation click here but can you take a moment to answer this questionnaire too? We are keen to find out how people get into arb (and by default perhaps get an insight into how people don’t hear about it too!). If you'd like to tell us more, please comment - we'd love to hear from you. We're running the poll for just over a week and will share the results afterwards. Thanks, Kate & Beccy

Our client is an established Arboricultural Consultancy in the Midlands. Due to a collaboration with an ecological company, they are now expanding the service they offer to meet the changing demands caused by climate change and are seeking an Arb Consultant to assist with these new projects. This role is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to play an important role in the delivery of a diverse range of arboricultural and environmental work. Candidates should be qualified to a Level 4 in Arboriculture and have circa 3 years post qualification experience in a consultancy role. You should also be proficient a using GIS mapping and AUtoCAD software. The role will involve some national travel but is primarily office based. In return a salary of between of between £35- £37kpa plus 33 days holiday (including banks), professional membership and CPD allowance. Please reply here or email us at [email protected] quoting ref: 2471 Thank you, Kate & Beccy Report this job Save

Arboriculture Consultant Opportunity + Residency in Australia Have you ever considered emigrating to Australia? This is a rare opportunity for arborists age 35++, and their dependents, to relocate to a supported, long-term position in Aus. A leading environmental consultancy in is looking for career arborists to join their team across Australia including Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Tasmania . Our client is an independent Arboricultural and Environmental Consultancy who specialise in offering technical Arboriculture assessment, planning and research across Australia with a Head Office in Melbourne (which is where placements and initial training would begin). They are a world leader in urban ecological management with their own laboratory and state of the art equipment. Full training is offered, and this opportunity is seen as a long-term career choice. A successful candidate will have a proven track record in Arb Consultancy with a Level 6 or above (a minimum Level 4 in Arb plus Lantra Professional Tree Inspection certificate and competent industry experience of at least 3 years can also apply). Ideally with a background as a climbing arborist, experience in working with Local Authorities would also be beneficial. A generous package, including covering the substantial Visa costs and supporting the move is offered. Visa sponsorship is undertaken by our client. It can take up to 12 months to process and help is offered along the way in finding accommodation and arranging school places. To hear more about this unusual opportunity contact us at [email protected] or call 01743344466 quoting ref: 2463 Thanks, Kate & Beccy

Our client is a large independent environmental consultancy. They are looking for an Arb Surveyor to join their team in East Anglia, covering Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. This is a blended home working position with work being carried out as a mix of the Cambridge office and home and is offered on a part time or full time basis. The role will involve carrying our Utility Arb surveys so you should have a good knowledge of VTA and be proficient at specifying necessary works to third party contractors in accordance with best practice. You will also be required to negotiate with landowners to agree necessary works and carry out post works audits. You should be educated to a Level 3 in Arboriculture and have UA5 and at least two years' surveying experience. You will need a driving licence and the use of your own vehicle.In return a flexible working contract is offered, which can be full or part time and a salary of up to £28kpa . To find out more or apply please email your CV to us at [email protected] quoting Job: 2470 - Thanks, Kate & Beccy

Good to meet you too. We really enjoyed it. Thanks for coming by. We’ll be in touch soon 👍

Hope that everyone who went to APF2022 enjoyed it - we did and hopefully met a few of you 😊👋 If anyone is interested and didn't sign up for our competition on the day I thought I'd drop it in here as it closes Sunday 2nd Oct (hope you don't mind). You can do it through our website here: Contact us - CTC Recruitment WWW.CTCRECRUITMENT.CO.UK Thanks! Kate (& Beccy)

Look forward to meeting 😊

We'd love to say hi if you're coming to APF this year. Whether you're new to climbing, experienced and thinking forward to when you might be on the ground more, or have already downed tools we'd love to say hello. At our stand will be Beccy, Kate and Cherry the dog (all from CTC) and Keely (from Tree Life AC) will be with us 10-3 each day. Together we have decades of experience in the industry. Keely is able to help those looking to further their education in arboriculture and is a font of knowledge in the sector. Beccy has been placing arborists at all levels for two decades and, along with Kate (me - a relative newby) can advise on career paths and may have just the job for you on the books! If you have any queries we can help with in the meantime, or if you're not able to come and have questions, drop them in below and we'll be in touch. Photo credit; Juddy There's also the opportunity to WIN either a Lantra PTI or a Fungi Recognition and Response Course with CTC Recruitment and Tree Life AC. We are here to support arborists at all levels over the phone, on social media and in real life at APF 2022. Let us know where you are in your career, what you enjoy and what your ambitions are and we'll help wherever we can. We'll also enter you into the competition with the chance to win a FREE course with the highly regarded training team for Tree Life AC. To enter: Say hi at the show but if you're not attending you can either email us at [email protected], click here and follow the instructions or use the QR code below. *Small print: The course financial values are £450+vat and £120+vat respectively but it's the value to a career we're interested in. There is no cash alternative – the winners will be decided by Tree Life and CTC Recruitment and the judge's decision is final. We're doing this to spread the word; start conversations; support Arb careers and the industry and hope you'll approach the competition in the spirit intended – thanks. Winners announced Oct 2022. Hope to see you there if youre going. Kaye, Beccy and Keely www.ctcrecruitment.co.uk [email protected] Tel: 01743 344466 www.treelifeac.co.uk [email protected] Tel: 0116 260 6939

That's really interesting. We place arborists in lots of roles but your comment makes sense too. Thanks, Kate

Maybe. I'm just trying to understand the industry and struggling to see whether there are different groups with voices and agendas (it feels that way) or if it could be spoken for as a whole. Kate

It probably does but that doean't make it less relevent I think. @Mick Dempsey's idea of discussing issues and how to deal with them is a good one and it certainly seems to have provoked a lot of conversation. Thanks for commenting. Kate

I'm so glad you set that up - it's been a really interesting read. Thanks Mick.

This thread is fascinating and has been a little surprising. I cannot believe I read the word ‘union’! I’d like to put in my five pence worth, but before I do I want you to know this: I have only been in the industry 6 months. I sit behind a desk recruiting all types of Arb people from trainee climbers to consultants. I speak to Arb employers and job seekers on a daily basis. I know that I don’t know much and am still learning the industry. The comments I make are my opinion based on my experience and very general, I’m not tarring everyone with the same brush… just saying what I see sometimes. I’ll probably speak out of turn and expect to be told so (hi Mick!). I am enjoying being in the industry and speak to nice people every day 😊. Here goes, some issues I see are: The industry appears to be divided and I have yet to find anyone speaking for it as a whole… is there even a whole and where does it start and end? If a group can’t be defined it can’t have a voice and if it has no voice it can’t seek change. There is sometimes a lack of professionalism in the industry. Drugs, alcohol and especially poor time keeping/attendance come up a lot. The wages are too low in employed roles; Local Authority and private firms. We know that the solution to finding more arborist for these roles is to raise wages (and we push for that all the time) but LA banding needs a change at Gov. level and I’m not sure the margins are there for private companies to pay more. The grey area around whether a sub-contract worker is in disguised employment or working for a number of clients muddies the water. HMRC do not seem to be helping because they put in rules that they then do not enforce when push comes to shove. This puts everyone in a difficult position (those trying to do things right and those skating on thin ice and getting away with it year in year out) and does not help with transparency of discussion around pay in the industry. Arborists are qualified specialists (whether climbers, Tree Inspectors, Tree Officers etc) but it seems that the industry is not well understood or respected. Not enough arborists want the employed jobs that are on offer (it feels like there just aren’t enough arborists on the market but I’m not sure that’s true… maybe they just don’t want employed roles?) Not enough people are coming into the industry. Climbers looking to come off the tools don’t always plan ahead and have fewer options in the industry when they do (or they have to leave it) than they would have had otherwise.

Hi Mick, I have heard climbing arborists described as 'vertical waste removers' which may sometimes be what they are doing but I'm sure not all the time. And 'that article' on subbing published in the AA was not wholly respectful. That said I don't really mean respect on a personal level, I mean that the role is not properly valued, financially or otherwise. Kate

I think this is an issue. The general lack of respect for the skilled and dangerous job climbers do blows my mind. I feel that this may be partly a lack of education; people just don't see the job in their daily lives so don't know about it. It's deeper than that though I think. Which is why I wrote in my recent article that climbers should 'have respect for themselves and their fellow arborists and hold each other up'. That probably shouldn't come from a desk worker and I know it's not everyone (the Canopy Climbing Collective for example seem to do just that) but the negativity that often seems to surround the role frustrates me. Kate

Hi and thanks for all the responses. I have tried to edit the post to pop in a comment that it's not about getting off the tools in your 30s, but I can't work out how so it's here instead. It's about starting to plan ahead at that point so that when the times comes a climber has all the options that they want available to them. I have appreciated all the comments so far (the serious and the humorous... I will never get the line 'smelling like a bin dripping raccoon' out of my head - thanks Mick!) and am learning as I go. Beccy and I will be at APF, along with Keely from Tree Life, and would be interested to carry on the discussion with anyone who wants to pop by - stand D11c. We're also offering a couple of prizes which are in the theme of planning for getting off the tools...link below.

Hi Tony, apologies if I've replied to this twice. I thought I had but now can't see it in the thread. Anyway, my point wasn't to suggest that 30 is an age to stop. It was that if at that point a climber starts to plan ahead then they'll be prepared and able to go on to something they want to do when the time comes. We are often asked to find other Arb roles by climbers who want to come off the tools. This is the reason for the post really. We're looking to start conversations and help people to work towards technical roles by having the right knowledge about what qualification/experience is needed for the roles they want. I just said 30s as there are probably 10 more years to plan for what's next and thinking about it in the 40s can be a bit late and narrow opportunities. Hope that makes sense. Kate

Hi JW, thanks for your comment. It's definitely helpful to draw a distinction between the 'subby' who is pretty much employed and those who are actively sub-contacting their services to a number of clients. We definitely aren't trying to tar everyone with the same brush, more to open a discussion around a difficult topic (that seems to have worked 😬). Your point about how those in the industry are valued is a huge one and is something I'm trying to understand. Climbers are highly skilled and do a dangerous job. As a relative new-comer to the industry (and to be clear, one who sees it from behind a desk) I have been shocked at the pay offered for what climbers do. We explain to employers, Local Authority and private companies, on a daily basis that they need to be competitive and pay a fair wage but it's like pushing water up hill and probably needs tackling by the industry as a whole. This seems impossible when there doesn't seem to be anyone who speaks for the whole industry... unless there is and I'm missing something? Thanks for your input and for seeing that we're not meaning to criticise; rather to open discussion and understand the situation from other angles. Kate