Arboriculturist : Employers and vacancy sources

Typical employers of qualified arboriculturists and arborists include:

• commercial tree care companies employing their own staff, as well as self-employed professionals, carrying out a range of work for a mixture of domestic and business clients (e.g. treating trees in gardens, undertaking tree felling for county councils, or routine tree maintenance for universities);
• conservation organisations, such as the National Trust , covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the National Trust for Scotland  and English Heritage , who own areas of land needing tree maintenance;
• government departments, in particular the Forestry Commission  
• botanic gardens, such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , who employ their own arborists and arboriculturists, and arboreta;
• universities, colleges and schools;
• local authority planning and environment departments employing arboriculture or tree preservation officers.

The work in this setting is often less hands-on than in other roles and can involve site visits, tree surveys to assess health and safety, recording tree locations, answering enquiries from the public, planning tree planting schemes, and overseeing contractors' work.

Overseas work or travel is also possible, especially where there is extensive timber production, for example in New Zealand, Canada and Scandinavia.

Self-employment is another option, either as a craftsperson or as a consultant working for a variety of clients, such as domestic sites, private estates or businesses.

Sources of vacancies

• Search graduate jobs on this site.
• The Environment Post   
• Horticulture Week  - especially craft-level jobs.
• Horticulture Jobs  
• Royal Forestry Society (RFS)  
• Forestry Commission  
• Arboricultural Association   
• Countryside Jobs Service (CJS)  
• Arbjobs  
• Local Government Jobs   
• Guardian Jobs  

Recruitment agencies rarely handle vacancies.

Get tips on job hunting, CVs and covering letters and interviews.