From rope splicing to cranes, horses to tractors and pole running to chainsaw carving this years' APF was a sight to behold. The place thronged with arborists, foresters and tree lovers of all types.

This year the show was laid on in collaboration with the Arboriculture Association. At our stand we collaborated with Keely from Tree Life to bring training and career advice to anyone happy to stop for a chat. We also ran a competition offering two FREE courses which was really popular (closing date Sunday October 2nd at midnight – more on that here).

Our stand was a few steps down from the Acorn Tavern but even without the sound of people having the odd tipple to raise money for the NSPCC that there was a sense of jollity in the air. The weather was kind and the atmosphere one of relief at being back to outings of old.

We had a visitor from the other side of the world! Jim came to see us from Active Tree services in Australia hoping to take home a bunch of arborists and consultants. We didn't find him any on the day but if you know anyone who might be interested we're sole agents for a some amazing roles so do spread the word.

Amongst other industry friends we met some in real life for the first time. Sean Thompson, an ever cheerful presence on Instagram at @atattooedarborist, who was splicing away happily at the Honey Bros stand.

We had really interesting chats with Steve from ArbTalk, and his son, on several topics including arb aprenticeships. Steve, and his merry ArbTalk members, have helped to introduce me to the industry, they aren't averse to putting me right and we've has some honest and interesting conversations on the forums.

We also met Ohil Swainston from Perennial, an amazing charity working hard in this sector. More on that soon!

It was incredible to watch the pole climbing competition progress and hear the support for it. Here's a link to a video compellation of the event by Britclip on YouTube.

The other slightly mind-blowing thing was the chainsaw carving... incredible! Here's a taste of some of the talent, starting with the winner, by chaoinsaw artist William Lee, while it was in progress.

And here's Mike Burgess with his nearly finished bear seat!

 I don't have the names of all the chainsaw artists so please don't hesitate to contact us to add any you know of.

More from our experiences at the show coming soon!

Kate & Beccy ????

Do you have a favourite tree? I had a think about this recently and really enjoyed reminiscing. 

When I was about 8-10 I lived in Gibraltar . There was a tree behind our flat called Old Tom. 
I’m not sure what type of tree it was. It was great for climbing. It's still there; I've just checked on Google Maps. 

I was not a good climber but I could do some of the ‘crossings’ which all had a name. I can’t remember the name of them all but I could do ‘zebra crossing’. Only the older, really competent climbers could do ‘Highest Point Crossing’. Looking up from my safe spot I would watch them cross nimbly from one branch to another, so high in the air. I can still remember exactly the base of the tree and where the trunk divided and left a gap in the middle for your foot. And the lumps it had kindly grown, like on a climbing wall, to help me up. I don’t remember there being an amazing view. It probably wasn’t very tall anyway. I think when we were in the tree we didn’t look out of it, being in the tree was the excitement.

Sadly I don’t have a picture of it but my sister Valerie says she can send me one. This is her memory of it: Highest point crossing was terrifying; you had to swing your legs and loop them over the next branch and then grab the branch above in the middle and swing across. I can't believe we used to do it! There were 3 knobbles, left, right, left up the two boughs, to get to the first proper branch on the right, I remember those knobbles very clearly! Someone fell out trying it, Fraser? Not sure but remember his being terribly winded and me realising just how dangerous it was. Marjorie the doll tried a few times after that but I don't think I ever did again.

My brother remembers being too little to climb it but once leaning his bike against it in an effort to use it as a ladder. I don't think it worked. He was only 4.

Do you have a favourite tree you'd like to share? If so Instagram is a great place to do it. We are @ctcrecruitment (click here to go direct). If you're not on Instagram you can email us at admin@ctcrecruitment.co.uk. We'd love to hear your stories.

Thanks and happy arb-ing, Kate (& Beccy)

If CV writing feels stressful we're here to help. It's probably easier than you think and one of the issues we find is that people often overcomplicate things. Think of it as neatly organised planting, less is more.

In the current market the most important thing to get across is your skills, qualifications, and experience in arboriculture. Putting all this in a few words as possible really helps your potential employer to see where you'll best fit into their team.

To help you we've put together a simple blank CV below which you can copy and paste into your chosen document.

It's important that you consider the role you are applying for when writing the CV. Whether it's a climbing role, tree Inspecting or groundwork there will be something in an advert which had appealed to you and that can come across in your CV. For example, if you're keen to get into a Tree Officer role and are studying for your Level 3 or PTI let the employer know. You may well be the best candidate for the role even if you haven't started your studies, it might be that you're a Level 2 but have loads of tree ID experience. It all counts and could get you the position you want with the promise of further training as an added bonus. It could even be that the location is ideal for you and would fit really well into family life; employers want a happy team so even the 'soft stuff' matters.

If a section of your career is self-employed it's important that you put in your start and end dates (month and year) and mention the employer you worked for in each instance. Potential employers will be very keen to see how you've spent your time being self-employed and the more detail you give the more credibility you'll have in their eyes.

If you're in any doubt we're always happy to help so drop us an email at admin@ctcrecruitment.co.uk letting us know what sort of roles you are interested in and we'll answer all the questions we can (with over 20 years of specialist arb recruitment experience on the team we'll usually be able to help).

If we don't have a vacancy that currently appeals, it's still worth dropping us your CV to the email above with a list of your dream jobs; we have new roles coming through the pipeline all the time so it's definitely worth a try!

Hope this helps and Good Luck!

Beccy & Kate at CTC Recruitment

Your Simple CV template for jobs in Arboriculture

First and Last Name

Tel:

Email:

Address:

Skills: (eg: driving license, all chainsaw tickets held, aerial rescue, aerial chainsaw, team leading experience, machinery qualifications such as MEWP & chipper, surveying, handheld device experience, PA1, PA6, pricing experience)

Education: (list your basic education here. School/college, and the qualifications achieved)

School/college:

Exam results:

List education history by repeating the above as necessary.

Experience: (in time order – newest first)

Employer:

Role:

Start Date:                     End Date:

List employment history by repeating the above as necessary.

Hobbies & interests etc: (not obligatory… just if you want to add something more personal)

Copyright CTC Recruitment Ltd 2022

If you've tried to recruit an arborist of any kind over the last few years you'll probably know what we mean when we say that it's no walk in the park. We are usually successful as long as the job offer is right. It also helps when the candidate understands that the benefits of employment over day rates... but what can we in the industry do to make it easier for candidates and employers in the long run?

Solving problems usually starts with good communication and we'd love to see more discussed around this issue. We think that there are three problems that could be approached differently to make it easier to find and place candidates in an industry where the perception of pay scales are still artificially inflated because of outdated and often dubious sub-contracting practices.

Firstly, many arborists new into the sector are tempted by apparent high day rates but when you break it down and take holiday pay, pension provision and other benefits into account this is clearly a misconception. The amount of paperwork needed to manage a contracting role is often not understood by an arborist new into the industry and can come as a nasty shock at year end. Then there's the lack of security in contracting which for many is a risk too far these days. Making clear the advantages of being on a payroll really helps a candidate to make a fair decision when comparing the many jobs available to them.

Compliance is well understood in the industry generally. Arborists and employers know how important it is to have up-to-date chainsaw tickets and LOLER and AFAG approved equipment is accepted as par for the course. Why then is there still so much confusion around adhering to sub-contracting employment regulations and what is considered to be proper contracting and what is tax evasion? As employers we, and all our clients in that area, comply with regulations and save massive headaches in the long run.

Lastly, and this is a hard one, pay scales need urgent discussion. Arboriculture is a skilled industry, not without risks and should be valued accordingly. Raising wages is not an easy thing to do, especially in Local Authorities, but if vacancies are to be filled a respectable offer is the fastest way to ensure success.

On reflection it seems that if all parties in the arboriculture industry could work together towards proper employment practices and better wages for qualified arborists it would be a much more compelling and heartening space in which to work.