Forest Works Supervisor - Thetford Beat - East England Forest District Brandon, East of England, England
Job description
Details
Reference number
Salary
Job grade
Contract type
Business area
Type of role
Operational Delivery
Working pattern
Number of jobs available
Contents
Location
About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
Apply and further information
Location
About the job
Job summary
East District Work Supervisor – Thetford
Do you have the skills and enthusiasm required to join a busy beat team managing the nation’s forests in East Anglia?
The role
Forestry England is seeking people keen to develop their forest operations management experience to join our Forestry and Land Management team working across a multi –purpose forest environment at Thetford Beat in East England Forest District (EEFD).
The Work Supervisor assists the Beat Forester to plan and organise tasks and is critical to enabling staff and contractors to achieve establishment, harvesting and maintenance programmes.
The district
East England Forest District, covers an area of 35,000 ha from North Norfolk to Brighton; including Thetford Forest and the outlying beats of Sandlings, Kent, East Sussex, Chilterns and Thames Chase Community Forest. The District has a varied landholding including the largest lowland pine forest in England at Thetford, community woodland on the outskirts of London at Thames Chase, and a range of mixed woodland, many of which are on sites of Ancient Woodland.
There are numerous sites of conservation interest designated across the District, including Special Protection Areas to conserve the breeding habitat for the Woodlark and Nightjar, Special Areas of Conservation, Sites of Specific Scientific Interest, Areas of Outstanding National Beauty, Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland, County Wildlife Sites and Scheduled Monuments.
The District offers outdoor recreation, leisure and wellbeing activities for hundreds of thousands of people each year at its recreation centres. Forestry England’s whole freehold estate is dedicated for public access on foot, with numerous small carparks and informal access points.
The beat
Thetford Forest lies in the heart of East Anglia. The forest is approximately 20,000ha with an annual felling programme of around 80,000tonnes and an establishment programme around 1million trees a year.
We carry out a significant proportion of these programmes with in-house staff, and are committed to developing new recruits through formal apprenticeships and trainee schemes and a broad range of internal technical and professional courses.
Management of Thetford Forest is divided into four beats. Thetford West, North, South and East. Thetford North includes the woods in North Norfolk.
These posts are based at the Santon Downham office near Brandon, Suffolk with a requirement to travel to work in other beat woodlands and on occasion elsewhere in EEFD. Meetings and training events may take place in other parts of the country.
Job description
Purpose of the Job
The Beat Team work in a focused, motivated, enthusiastic way to plan and implement economic, social and environmental work programmes and projects that effectively, efficiently and safely meet the Forestry England Strategic Plan aim of “Connecting everyone with the nation’s forests by creating and caring for our forests for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and business to grow”.
The main responsibilities of the Work Supervisor are to:
- assist the beat forester in all aspects of the day-to-day management of the beat and in planning, organising and supervising forest operations by staff and contractors to ensure agreed work is delivered safely, effectively and efficiently
- assist the beat forester by taking a focused interest in developing and coaching the operational team it is anticipated that this will come in the form of demonstrative and verbal communication
- accurately collect site measurements and observations and use these in monitoring outcomes, assessing site conditions, updating records and informing decisions
- communicate appropriately with colleagues and all stakeholders including landowners, neighbours, contractors, customers and members of the public
These roles involve a mixture of office work and time spent in the forest. The job is varied and wide ranging, requiring close team working to continually re balance priorities as unplanned situations arise that need dealing with whilst maintaining momentum to deliver planned programmes.
A guide to expected Works Supervisor tasks:
- Promoting a safety-first culture
- Ensuring through site set-up and supervision that all operations comply with safety and environmental legislation and meet the site specification
- Building team spirit and nurturing staff knowledge and skills
- Collecting site hazard information and using it to ensure site plans are accurate
- Undertaking surveys that support sustainable timber production such as weeding assessments, stock density, mensuration, basal area checks
- Maintaining a site monitoring diary
- Collating site and job records, providing evidence for site management decisions and informing programme plans
- Ground truthing and updating forest inventories and maps
- Carrying out boundary, tree safety and infrastructure inspections
- Overseeing stock control of materials and maintenance of equipment
- Maintaining yard and estate safety and security
- Organising legally compliant handling, storage and disposal of operational and 'gifted' waste
- Keeping objective information flowing between craftspeople and the forester
- Engaging formally and informally with customers, neighbours, stakeholders and members of the public
- Drafting job specifications for staff and tender documents for contracts
The normal start time is 7am and a standard working week is 37 hours, but the duties of the post require you to work flexibly at times, including participating in the rota for out of hours emergency cover.
Person specification
Your previous skills, interests and experience within the forestry and land management sector need to reflect the responsibilities of this role.
Previous practical experience in productive planting, vegetation management and chainsaw felling should be referenced within your submission.
Climate, disease and public pressures are leading to many changes in how we practice forestry both now and into the future.
You will be interested in developing your existing technical skills and experience further and be willing to continue to adapt and change.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
- Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers
- 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing by 1 day per year up to 5 years. This is in addition to public holidays
- 3 days volunteering a year
- Continual Professional Development: Support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies (such as the Institute of Chartered Foresters)
-
Free parking at Forestry Commission sites and free entry to forestry arboreta
- Up to 15% discount at Forest Live Events, 5% discount on Forest Holidays, 15% at Go Ape, 10% discount at Forestry England shops
Things you need to know
Selection process details
The successful candidate will be selected by application and interview including site-based practical assessment.
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete:
1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
2. A Personal Statement (no longer than 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience are suitable for the role.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
The selection panel will be looking for applications that demonstrate the best fit with the role by considering the evidence you have provided to show you have the skills, abilities and experience needed for the role.
Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application and reduce your overall score.
Selection
Applicants will only be invited for interview if they achieve a “pass” for each section of their application form. If we receive more applications that meet the criteria than interview slots available we will invite applicants on the basis of the highest score in the experience section.
The highest scoring candidates will be asked to attend an interview and site-based assessment at the Santon Downham IP27 0TJ.
Interview
On-site interview provisionally arranged for week commencing 20th June 2023.
The interview will include behaviour-based questions, where we will be asking for evidence from your previous roles, and questions to see whether your strengths reflect those needed in the role. After the questions you will be asked to complete a short assessment where you will be presented with a worksite scenario and asked to respond to what you see as if you were the site supervisor.
Please bring appropriate outdoor clothing for the weather on the day and steel toe capped boots. Other PPE will be provided if required.
Further Information
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Any move to Forestry Commission from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.
Reasonable Adjustment
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Recruitment team
Further information
