Advice on coming off the tools
There comes a time in every climbing arborist's life when being on terra firma begins to sound attractive and when that time comes there are lots of options for a continued career in arboriculture. We have years of experience in advising on this and whether it's management, training, surveying, consultancy, or even recruitment, if you want to stay in arb there's something for everyone.
It is as well to mull this move over as early as possible because you can maximise your chances of a smooth transition by being well prepared. We recommend climbers in their 30s to start thinking about which aspect of working with trees is the most personally rewarding so that they can follow whichever of the paths below might suit best in a relaxed and affordable way.
So, what are the options?
If you came into arb via an academic route and have a Level 3 or 4 you'll be ahead of the game, and eligible to apply for lots of positions across arboriculture, but if not it's not too late to get qualified later in your career. If you came in through a vocational route, you'll have lots of experience, this will help you achieve the qualifications necessary for your next step (and in some cases higher qualifications might not be necessary).
The following list is a guide to some of the off-the-tools arb roles and information about the best way to head for each role wherever in arb you're coming from. Click on the link next to the position you're interested in to read a brief description of the experience, courses and qualifications which will help you into the role.
| Arb area | Role | Link to advice on how to get roles like this |
| Business | Supervisor of a tree-gang | |
| Owner/manager of a tree work company | Getting into the business side of Arb | |
| Arboricultural estimator/contracts manager | ||
| Surveying and Inspecting: | Assistant tree officer | |
| Tree surveyor | ||
| Utility arb surveyor | Getting into surveying | |
| Tree officer | ||
| Senior tree officer | ||
| Training/Education: | College technician/instructor | |
| College lecturer | Getting into training and education | |
| Senior college/university lecturer | ||
| Researcher | ||
| Consultancy: | Arboriculture/woodland consultant | |
| Senior arboriculture consultant | Getting into consultancy | |
| Expert witness |
The Arboriculture Association offer more information on academic qualifications, which can be accessed in full by clicking here.
Aside from qualifications it is important to try to gain experience in areas that interest you. Whether this is in estimating, training, customer service, visual tree assessments, BS5837 or one of the many other skills arborists need, the more you have on your CV (and in your comfort zone) the easier it will be to land the role you want when the time comes.
We are very happy to help so if you have any questions, you can email us at admin@ctcrecruitment.co.uk or call us on 01743 344466.
Beccy & Kate
Ps. There's more on these issues in our blog, which you can read by clicking here.
