Right applicant for the right job: growing a resilient sector
As the Forestry sector continues to face a skills shortage, Learning and Outreach Manager, Becky Wilkinson, shares lessons learned in how to recruit more a more diverse pool of applicants.
It has been acknowledged for some time that there is a skills shortage in the forestry sector but that doesn’t automatically mean that there aren’t enough people wanting the jobs. The hundreds of young people who apply every year for Forestry Roots and for the Professional Forester Apprenticeship at the University of Cumbria show that the demand is out there, we maybe just need to consider the breadth of the pathways that we are offering to let them come in.
Below are a summary of the ways that the RFS have made our recruitment processes more inclusive, and found some exceptional young foresters along the way.
Application forms, not CVs and covering letters
One of the biggest changes that we’ve made in the past 8 years of running Forestry Roots is that we now ask for application via an online form, not by the traditional model of CV and covering letter. As a sector where the main skill that is being sought in most jobs is not the skill of letter writing, we’ve taken this unnecessary filter out of our recruitment processes and seen our number of applications rise.
Application forms are beneficial to us as recruiters in many ways. They make sure that we get the information that we need and in a standardized format that is much quicker for us to read through than sifting through pages of endless variation, hoping that someone has mentioned what we are looking for. As we’ve fine tuned the questions that we ask on our application forms, we spend much less time having to go back to people to ask for extra information before shortlisting and we’re less likely to be surprised by something in an interview.
Many candidates have also told us that they found it easier to complete a form than to write a formal CV and covering letter:
- Online forms can be completed from a mobile phone if they don’t have a laptop.
- We ask specific questions so there isn’t guess work involved.
- If no-one in your family has ever applied for a job with a CV and covering letter, it can be off-putting not knowing what to write and how to lay it out.
Is that qualification really necessary?
When we first started Forestry Roots, all of our trainees had College or University level qualifications in Forestry. But then we realized that to genuinely widen the pool of talent coming into the sector, we could have a greater impact by accepting a wider range of qualifications.
By moving forestry and Arb qualifications into the “desirable” rather than the “essential” section of an advert, you show that you’re open to applicants who have maybe gained skills in other ways. We have trainees with a wide range of different qualifications, practical and academic. What we’re looking for is a passion for the job that they’re applying for and a strong work ethic, much of the rest can be taught. Most of our trainees undertake distance learning courses in Forestry or Arb while they are working for our employers, building their theoretical knowledge while on the job.
Experience not Unpaid labour
We look for young people that have some experience that suggests they would be suitable for the job but we stay well away from using amount of time spent volunteering as a selection criteria.
We regularly receive enquiries and applications from candidates who are homeless because they can’t pay rent while volunteering or who tell us that they’ve been turned down for jobs because the successful candidate has done more volunteering which they couldn’t do to that extent due to the need to pay their bills.
Employers who continue to use lengthy periods of time spent volunteering as a selection criteria are missing out on individuals with immense amounts of potential. Entry into forestry should not only be possible for those with the financial ability to do full time, unpaid work.
Visible Inclusivity
A key part of our journey in attracting a wider pool of talent to Forestry Roots has been to share the stories of those currently taking part or who have benefitted in previous years and now have fulfilling jobs in the sector. Applicants tell us that they were encouraged to apply because they could see that we championed people with similar lives to their own. The forestry sector that I know and love is a diverse and inclusive place, welcoming a wide variety of skills, genders and abilities. But we can’t assume that those who are new to our sector will know this if our public output is heavily focussed on particular parts of society.
Responding to applications
We commit to giving every applicant individual feedback on why they were not selected and to give them advice for the future. It does take time but that two minutes that we spent letting someone know that the reason that they weren’t shortlisted was because they don’t have a driving licence can make all the difference between someone taking action that helps them get the next job they apply for and from them walking away into a different sector. Its particularly encouraging when someone reapplies for future jobs having taken on board our advice and upskilled in the necessary areas. If we hadn’t reached out and told them why, they’d never have known and would have been lost to the sector.
Online recruitment
Covid changed many things about the way that we work and one of them was recruitment. When forced to do interviews online due to travel restrictions, we realized how much can be learned about a candidate in an initial online conversation.
We now do almost all of our jobs with a first round online interview before then inviting the preferred candidates to meet face to face. It lets us be flexible about fitting interviews into our working day, as well as allowing candidates to make that initial contact without needing to take 1 to 2 days out of their current study or work with all of the expense that that entails.
When we do invite candidates for face to face interviews, we support them with travel costs if it would be a barrier to them otherwise attending. We don’t want to miss out on someone with huge potential if they can’t afford a train ticket.
Demystifying interviews
Prior to interview, one of our team reaches out to the selected candidates to give them an indication of what to wear, anything to bring, how to connect if they’ve not used Teams before and how to find the location if they’re going to be travelling. We want to make sure that new entrants to the sector are able to do the best job of presenting themselves in what may be their first professional interview.
We are sometimes asked if we will share the questions before the interview and this is one thing that we don’t do. We want trainees who can think on their feet when faced with a new situation out on site but who also have the confidence to ask if they haven’t understood. We do however commit that we’re not trying to trip anyone up. We broadly want to know why they’ve applied for this job and the skills that they will bring to it, a firm basis for any job that they are applying for.
Wanting to go deeper into this topic? Have a look at this great piece on Inclusive Recruitment from the CIPD.
