ESSENTIAL TECHNICAL SKILLS:

This role will suit you well if you can demonstrate five or more years’ experience across a broad
range of assessments for habitats and protected species, higher level reports such as EPS
licencing, HRA and ES chapters, have a strong grasp of the evolving developments in
biodiversity net gain and be confident in UK Habs.

ESSENTIAL (NON-TECHNICAL) SKILLS:

• Coaching mindset
• Extremely well organised
• Incredible attention to detail
• Ability to prioritise competing demands on your time
• Sociable
• Excellent communicator verbally and in writing
• Understands our business and can develop systems of work

Ideally, you will also have achieved:

• Professional membership of CIEEM/RSB and are working toward chartership
• Class 2 bat licence/BMCL registered
• CIEEM’s “Accomplished” criteria for Surveying (among others)
• FISC level 4

The ideal criteria are not all dealbreakers, but certainly give you a flavour of the kind of
candidate we’re looking for.

I’VE APPLIED! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Set out below, there are four selection stages in Arbtech’s recruitment process. Before you roll
your eyes, this is actually a very, very good thing for both of us. The primary thing we’re looking
for beyond meeting the minimum criteria to do the job, is strong cultural fit. This is so that
when we bring you into the business, we’re both confident that you’ll be happy here for a very
long time, and we can continue to match opportunities with your career aspirations.
Stage 1 – CV, covering letter and competence form (by email)
You can keep your CV fairly brief – one side of A4 is plenty. However, your covering letter is something
we’re very interested in. It should tell us about you. There’s no strict format, but the following topics are
a great start: what you’re about both in and out of work; what lights your fire; what you don’t like doing;
what your long-term ambitions are and how Arbtech aligns with that; and what you think are your
strengths and weaknesses. It can be informal or formal. The important thing is to make it interesting!
Interesting cover letters are really useful as we can use them to signpost conversations in the next
stage. Finally, the competence form is simple, a one-page document which asks you to break out what
you think your technical strengths are, and disciplines that you have experience of but aren’t so
confident about.
Unless your covering letter is an absolute catastrophe or littered with typographical mistakes, we’ll
probably invite you to talk to us.
Stage 2 – Technical competence interview (in person/video call)
This is normally an informal chat with a technical person at/above your grade. Here we explore what you
said in your covering letter as well as in the competence form. We talk about skill gaps and the type of
work you’ve done before. It’s also a brilliant opportunity for you to ask questions of someone at Arbtech
who has literally been there and done it (and is still doing it)! Don’t waste this. Write a list of questions
and make sure you ask them all. There’s no time limit so take as much or as little time as you like.
This is very rarely a pass/fail stage. It’s just for us to see where you’re at, identify CPD/training needs,
and assure us both that the post you’re applying for is appropriate for your level of experience and skills.
Stage 3 – Cultural fit interview (in person/video call)
This is a semi-structured discussion about you and Arbtech. It’s also a very good opportunity to ask
anything you like (anything means anything) and get straightforward answers from our CEO, Rob. The
goal here is not to talk to each other like candidate and interviewer, but as two people trying to see if
they get on well, are on the same wavelength, and have aligned goals so that we can move in the same
direction for many years to come. It usually lasts anywhere between one and two hours, so make sure
you allocate plenty of time and are in a quiet space with a good internet connection. We’re looking to
find out what makes you happy and motivated, what you want in the very long-term and how you see
yourself getting there. We also talk about the kind of person that thrives at Arbtech and the qualities
we’re looking for in candidates, who will eventually become colleagues and friends.
At the end of this interview, we will discuss administrative points like salary and notice periods, etc.
Stage 4 – The live test/proof of work/references (in person/by email)
We will ask you for several recent, relevant examples of your work (and it must be your work exclusively,
not a team effort). If they are passable, that’s it, you’re in!
If you don’t have recent examples of your work that are in the public domain/you can’t redact, we will
organise a live test. It’s not a trick. We take something that is ostensibly very easy for you and ask you to
join one of our consultants on a live paying-client site, to do your own version of whatever we’re doing: a
simple PRA bat survey, for example. We ask you to send that back to us in a very tight time frame, so we
can get an idea of what you’re capable under your own steam – and then we have our own consultant’s
report as a perfect benchmark for comparison. We’re not looking for perfection, just that there’s nothing
glaring.
Obviously, it would also be good to have a couple of non-academic references from you, that we can
check once you’ve accepted an offer from us.
And that’s it. Hopefully, it’s “welcome to Arbtech” in the comfort of knowing that we are about
to embark on a long and happy journey!

SUMMARY

This is a unique opportunity to help shape the future of the most rapidly growing consultancy
proactive in the UK ecology sector.
Drop your assumptions, get in touch, and see where it takes you.
dreamteam@arbtech.co.uk

Please refer the Job description for details