Careers in forestry / landscaping / ground managment and assosiated trades.

[ex-member Raikey]

Hey Guys,..

A strange one this, especially in todays employment/economic climate, but,..

what is the above area like at the moment ?

everyone has a general veiw of the trade they are involved with, and i wondering how it is in general?

the reason is,...broken down as briefly as i can,..

i work as a manager in a pretty large transport company.

The job is affecting me mentally and physically,..

i was woken by a customer this morning at 4.15 am,.

i did not get off the fone until 9.15 am

the cherry, was the call i just took whilst on the throne!..

i would like to look into re-training in any of the areas above,...

not wanting to have a rose tinted veiw of it, i know every "game" has its stressfull, political , red tape aspects that frustrate us,....

but i would like to possibly do a forestry degree ??

i have a family

i will be mortgage free by the time i,m 40.

my wife has a full time job in a school.

i still posses hands on skills in the engineering side of the job which could suppliment our income from side jobs or evening work,...

i realise i may seem somewhat ungrateful in a way and you may say "stick with what you got" etc,.."think yourself lucky" etc,..

i have been around the houses with the old, "buckle down" routine for the last 3 years,..

just looking to see if i can end up with a job i actually enjoy,..

any comments are more than welcome,...

ps,..i,m not just wanting a back rub and a "it'll be ok" although i'm guessing i sound like i need a councellor first !!

hahaha

thanks for listening,..i feel a bit better already,..

Cheers

Stu

 

[ex-member Raikey]

i must add, i have no massive aspirations to earn £££££££

i would be happy behind the controls of a Bob Cat or shoving a wheel barrow.

 

[Shewie]

I was ready to pack in my IT career next summer, move up to Scotland and start a HND in Countryside Management, with all this talk of the quangos going or getting restructured I've had to put it on the back burner again.

 

[resnikov]

Funny you start this thread, I work for a Scotish Bank thats layed off lots of IT staff and is in the process of laying off more. I will find out if my job is safe at Christmas, what fun Christmas will be if its not.
So I am thinking of retraining and one of the things I am thinking about is forestry or land managment. So I will be very intrested as to what people have to say.

 

[ex-member Raikey]

i know thats why i,m a little embarrased,

i have a job,..a secure one,..i think lol,..

its my long term mental health i,m more worried about,..

and physical,(BP is up)

i,m not being forced as such but i feel i must explore it at least,...

a friend of mine inspired me ...

he had a similar job,...

got like me,.....

walked out one afternoon

his hobby was the guitar,

so he went to university to study music, and delivered takeaway pizza in the evenings,..

he's a full time music teacher now, works in schools and even a prison or two !??

he plays in clubs at weekends

he's always smiling.

 

[calibanzwei]

I know how everyone feels - 10 years of customer services and I want out, so started back at college this September doing a L2 Diploma in Environment and Countryside Management with either the L3 on from it or a specific L3 in Forestry and Arboriculture next year.
I may still be working p/t in customer services, but I too smile more knowing I'm on the path out

 

[om2ae]

Hi

I work as an ecologist after retraining 10 yrs ago, best thing I ever did!!

The consultant 'game' is still growing but it has taken me 8yrs to get here, I spent at least 2 days a week volunteering with local wildlife trusts etc. and probably spend at least that now a week, mostly evenings now as I'm a licenced bat worker and GCN worker and trying to get dormouse.

You would need a degree, plenty of experience from volunteering.
I got my first countryside job by doing the above and have worked my way up, firstly as a ranger in a country park, when working for the WT and then as a council ecologist, all the time increasing the skill base by volunteer work. I got my bat/GCN licence two years ago, for consultant work these are important.

Not really sure what is going to happen now the spending review is coming, this is partly why I moved to the public sector and consultantcy, there is more jobs. but they normally require a skill e.g. bat licence.

Hope this helps
Martin

 

[ganstey]

Hi Raikey,

I can really sympathise with you. I gave up my job in IT to look for something more satisfying. After a couple of years scraping by I got a job in environmental education with the Forestry Commission. Best thing I've ever done! However, I was on a one-year fixed-term contract, which ended just after the Government announced a blanket ban on recruitment throughout the civil service. For the time being I'm back at my old job as a contractor, but yearning for my education job to come back.

Please note that I have no dependencies and so have a lot more freedom than you, even though I have a mortgage.

The best decision I made whilst looking for work was to do lots of voluntary work in the area you're looking to move into - I got my job as a direct result of the voluntary work I did (and still do). I'm sure your local Wildlife Trust would bite your arm off (so to speak!) if you offered your labour on one of their reserves.

Feel free to ask on here or drop me a PM if you think I can be of any help. I got lots of moral support and sage advice from people on here, which finally tipped the balance and made me jump. OK so it didn't work out quite as I'd hoped, but I have absolutely no regrets over doing it.

G

 

[Nagual]

I was wanting to to HND / Degree in Countryside Management, but just couldn't afford it. If I had started I'd be either finished or just about to. What sort of jobs are out there just now - well the long and short of it is, jobs are thin on the ground, and more often than not it's one of the following two things that gets you the job you want:

• It's not what you know it's who you know
• Being in the right place at the right time

I am aware of just how badly a job can affect your sense of well being, and it can quickly become very self consuming - I hope everything works out for you, in the way you hope it works out!

I'm applying for an apprenticeship just now at the young age of 39.. wish me luck!

 

[The Big Lebowski]

I did a two year course in scotland in gamekeeping and estate managemet. Well worth thinking about as it was block release... two weeks on the estate, two in college.

Great fun with anything from brashing woodland, three point linkage and tractor driving, clay pidgeon shooting, rearing phesants, stalking, the works!

Just something to think about, TBL.

 

[Minstrel]

A couple of years back I was in a position to go in search of a job that I actually enjoyed; for me that meant a job in countryside management/warden, working with a Wildlife Trust, National Trust, RSPB...etc. In my naivety I thought I would be able to find work in the sector without qualification or experience - it didn't happen, who new??

I was lucky in getting a six month contract in The Lake District with The NT but not in conservation. While there, it became apparent that I wouldn't get work without a qualification and/or experience so I enrolled in an HNC in Countryside and Environmental Management in Scotland. The course was a year long and covered a lot of ground with 12 separate modules. Toward the end of the course I started applying for work but without success, then, lucky again, I got a job working with the Little Tern colony in Prestatyn for 3 months over the summer - I asked why I'd got the job over others, the answer was twofold. One was the qualification and, two, was my involvement in the ringing of The Manx Shearwaters we encountered on study tour from college and my obvious delight at being part of it.

As that contract drew to an end I'd sent applications to all corners of Britain...again, nothing but rejections. Having followed up on a number of them I found they had as many as 90 applicants, some of whom had qualifications over and above what was needed. Just as I started to despair and began applying outside the sector I received a call from Hartlepool Borough Council inviting me up for an interview for 'Countryside Technician - Apprenticeship'. I was interviewed and offered the job a couple of days after. With that, I moved up to Hartlepool 2 weeks ago and I start next Monday

I do feel VERY fortunate, but there is always an element of making ones own luck.

Given the financial situation in the country and the cutbacks we're facing it might not be the best time to be looking for a job, especially as you already have one.
That said, I have sneaked in 3 days voluntary work with the team I'll be working with next week and I'm happy as a pig in ****

Good luck to you Stu.

 

[robin wood]

I think Minstrels story is pretty typical of the field.

I worked for the NT as a warden 20 years ago and basically got in by being in the right place at the right time. Back then there was only Merist Wood and Bangor doing countryside training courses but still there were more graduates each year than new jobs. Now there must be dozens if not hundreds of courses and not many more jobs. I was working on an NT estate this week and had one of the NT volunteers working with me. She had done a 2 year countryside management qualification followed by 6 months volunteering for the NT at Swanage then applied for this position. That is she applied to work for another 6 months for free and there were 29 other hopefuls. So to get your job you need a qualification, work experience (volunteering) and most important to be in the right place at the right time so volunteering lots of places helps. It also helps if you are mobile, if you have family how many estates are there within an hours drive and how many jobs?

I enjoyed my time with the NT but if I was starting out now I would do some other outdoor work, landscaping etc. I have friends that do it and if you don't mind pushing a barrow, cutting leylandi and walking behind a mower then you could get a paid job tomorrow. If you have a bit of entrepreneurial spirit buy a van and a mower, leaflet drop all the posh houses in your area and you'll be in business yourself. No need for training to mow lawns and trim hedges, always demand and not many folk want to work hard in all weathers. It is very little different from working for the NT in practice though the public perception is maybe not a glamorous.

ps seeing you are in Yorkshire dry stone walling is another profession that is fairly easy to train in, currently good work and not many folk can cope with doing it full time for a long time. Pays pretty well too.

 

[ex-member Raikey]

wow!

thanks so much for the time you put into some of these gents,...

Robin Wood, it was your bridge building thread last night that got me back onto the train of thought,..



looking at these tho i think i need to do some volenteer work alongside any course i choose to do,....

one thing is certain,,,i cant do it whilst in my current position thru lack of time,.....

i deffo need to do more research ,..the drystone walling thing seems a nice niche and would naturally give exposure to some lovely places,

 

[Peter_t]

i don't think there is a big call for landcsape work at the moment. a freind of mine has just been made redundant because lack of work, people just cant afford it now.
im a tree surgeon and things arn't great either.

i would like to try forestry, i sometimes do woodland work taking down wind blown trees, cutting overhanging branches and cutting coppice for firewood and i love it im tempted to spend a year or two in sweden or norway as a forest worker sometime.



pete

 

[baggins]

As with everything at the moment, alot of who, not what you know.
I've worked outdoors most of my life and and currently trying to find a new job. i've found that the wider your range of experience and having a willingness to learn are great factors to get into this field.
I am a forester, tree surgeon, hard and soft landscaper, pig wrangler and all round builder. The only qualifications i've found that are usefull are the practical ones; chainsaw, spraying,tractor driving etc.
I have an HND in forestry management which, while interesting, has never seemed to be a hiring factor.
As everybody else has sugested, get out there and volunteer as much as you can. Write to all your local trades, like landscaping firms, tree surgeons and the like. You'll have to start at the bottom, stick dragging and soil humping, but it's good for the soul (and the spare tire). I really do hope you can make a go of it; you'd never catch me with a bit of rope round my neck, staring at a tv screen playing with a small rodent and a type writer
baggins

 

[Shewie]

.... you'd never catch me with a bit of rope round my neck, staring at a tv screen playing with a small rodent and a type writer

Quote of the year

But annoyingly true

 

[ex-member Raikey]

Grrrrrr,..

i,m not a typical "suit" hahahaha

i do wear one everyday,..and sit with the mouse etc,....

but i sort of evolved into it ,.....i did my apprenticship in PCV/HGV Diesel engineering,....

drifted into the diagnostic side of things when every other "fitter" shy'd away from using the laptop,,,

then came climate systems and refrigeration,...

next thing i know i,m training a network of service dealers and giving tech help on the phone,..

this put me in the workshop control/management position,..

then the gaffer asks, "do you want this dept?" so it goes,.............................

next thing, i,m 38 and shouting at my kids cos i got a report to finish and they want me to play with the lego,,,

sometimes i get bogged down with the management nonsense and think .."I,m actually just a Bus Mechanic in a suit"

is 38 really too old for a complete shift in direction??

 

[Shewie]

is 38 really too old for a complete shift in direction??

I hope not because I'm only a couple of years behind you and hoping to change my life for the better too.

 

[ex-member Raikey]

I hope not because I'm only a couple of years behind you and hoping to change my life for the better too.

wanna start a business? lol...

 

[Nagual]

is 38 really too old for a complete shift in direction??

Perfect time for a change, you've got bags of experience from work and life, you've had enough time to reflect on yourself and examine where you've been and where you want to go. You've reached a point in your life where you can stop and say without doubt or guilt, that you've made mistakes, you know what they were and have no intention of repeating them. With the knowledge you have, you step forward afresh ready to learn new skills, to face new challenges to develop and grow, both in work and your personal life.