Woodland Officer
Scottish Forestry
- Department
- Scottish Forestry
- Location
- Hamilton
- Openings
- 1 post
- Grade
- EO
- Salary
- £36,987 to £39,459
- Closing
- 16 days left
- Profession
- Other
- Contract
- Permanent
- Security clearance
- BPSS
- Working pattern
- Full-time
Job summary
About the team
Our Woodland Officers are part of the Conservancy operations team. We have five Conservancies across Scotland and these teams are responsible for all regulatory case work, including felling regulations, environmental impact assessment and plant health. The teams are also responsible for delivering all aspects of the Forestry Grant Scheme across Scotland.
What you will do
Our Woodland Officers have a key role in delivering the Scottish Government’s priorities for forestry including woodland creation and expansion. You will carry out grants and regulation work, provide guidance and professional advice to woodland owners and managers and promote sustainable forest management.
Your time will be divided between field visits and working from the office or your home, to assess and process applications and ensure compliance with the UK Forestry Standard and relevant grant conditions.
When you join us, you will be enrolled onto our Woodland Officer Operational Development Sessions (WOODS), a structured programme to further develop your skills, knowledge and expertise and help you become fully proficient in your role.
You will be supported on your journey with ongoing guidance from your manager and input from our Learning and Skills Development team.
What they’re looking for
- Success Profile
- The Success Profile below set outs the essential and desirable elements that make up the vacant position – you will be expected to demonstrate these elements in your application and during your interview if invited..
- Experience
- Essential:
- Experience of working on your own and as part of a team.
- Good organisational skills and proven ability to prioritise work.
- An understanding of the rural sector and ability to effectively communicate with landowners and land managers both verbally and in writing.
- Good IT skills and a working knowledge of Microsoft packages.
- Desirable:
- Knowledge of the Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme and felling regulations.
- Experience in forest management and the practicalities of successful woodland establishment.
- Technical
- Essential:
- Forestry, environment or land management qualification, to at least HND level.
- Desirable:
- Student, associate or chartered membership of the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF).
- Behaviours
- On the application form you will find four free text boxes to provide your behaviour responses. You are required to provide evidence against the following behaviours on your application.
- Behaviour 1 and Lead Criteria: Managing a Quality Service
- Behaviour 2: Working Together
- Behaviour 3: Making Effective Decisions
- Behaviour 4: Communicating and Influencing
- Driving licence
- This role requires you to have a full UK driving licence, however, we are willing to consider any proposals that would allow you to do the job by other means.
- Travel
- As this role involves working with colleagues across the conservancy, there will be regular travel involved which may include overnight stays away from home.
- What we offer you
- If successful, you will be entitled to a wide range of benefits, the detail of which can be found here.
- Additional information
- We believe it’s important to create an inclusive and supportive work culture, and we welcome applications from everyone, regardless of background.
- It’s important you complete the entire application form in sufficient detail. This will give you the best chance of being invited for interview and/or assessment.
- Where a vacancy attracts a higher number of applications, only ‘Behaviour 1 - lead criteria’ will be assessed at sift stage. However, it is still important that you complete the entire application form in sufficient detail, as there is no way of knowing that a vacancy will have a high number of applications.
Job description
Main Duties
As a Woodland Officer, you will:-
- Assess and process applications for the Forestry Grant Scheme, forest plans and felling permissions;
- Undertake regulator roles in delivery of the Forest and Land Management Scotland Act and Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017;
- Undertake the regulation and management of tree diseases;
- Promote sustainable forest management;
- Network and engage with other Scottish Government agencies and other organisations, to increase public knowledge and community participation in forestry;
- Investigate cases where unauthorised felling is reported;
- Be responsible for line management of an Assistant Woodland Officer or student placement (this is dependent on the structure of the team in your Conservancy).
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Selection process
To apply, please click the link to apply, and complete an online application form on our website. Too read more about the selection process, please see Success profiles for candidates , Scottish Forestry.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Practise before you apply
Civil Service panels score every answer against the Success Profiles behaviours at EO level. Practise STAR answers and get them marked against the same framework.
3 free questions · No card needed
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