Trainee Machine Operator

Job summary

What you’ll do…

As H&M Trainee Machine Operator you will help deliver the district’s business plan by efficiently using purpose-built forestry machines and working as part of a dedicated team to plan and carry out the extraction of timber to roadside, whilst minimising the impact on the forest environment.

You will work closely with the North England FE Fleet direct production team and management, to plan operations, ensure that forest machines reach and maintain effective utilisation levels, meet district targets for outputs and specifications, and ensure all health and safety issues are addressed.

The successful candidate would initially be on a 2-year fixed probation period, with promotion to follow if/when we deemed them suitable and up to the task required in accordance with our expectations during regular performance reviews, which will take place throughout the 2 year period. Please note, if the successful candidate is to leave during the 2-year probation period, you would be required to reimburse us fully for the costs incurred during the probation process for training, equipment etc.

Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.

Where you’ll work…

The successful candidate will have Forestry England, North Forest District, Eals Burn, Bellingham, Hexham, Northumberland, NE48 2HP as the reporting office, but will be working remotely anywhere within Kielder Main Block. They will work as part of a team, with no lone working until they have gained the "FMOC Articulated wheeled base over 2.5t with forwarder" ticket.

Job description

•Be interested and positive about what you and the team are trying to achieve.
•Enhance the economic value of the forest through efficient site planning and operations.
•Take responsibility for ownership of problems in your area of responsibility.
•Listen to, understand, respect and accept the value of different views, ideas and ways of working. Provide advice and feedback to support others to make accurate decisions.
•Ensure that levels of service are maintained; flag up risks or concerns including health and safety or environmental, to meet customer and business requirements.
•Readily identify opportunities to share knowledge, information and learning and make progress by working with colleagues on the worksite.
•Carry out weekly daily and weekly maintenance of the machine. Report all faults and damage to MES and the Forest Works Manager or Forestry Works Supervisor and record on machine maintenance log. Assist MES mechanics with repairs and servicing of forest machines and maintain a good working relationship with the workshops.

Any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.

Person specification

Essential professional and technical experience
•You must have a full UK driving license; however, Forestry England is willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by any other means.
•You must be a competent IT user with experience in MS Office suite of applications.
•You must be self-motivated and be able to learn and solve problems practically and safely.

•You must have a flexible approach to remote working and be happy to work as part of a team.

Desirable professional and technical experience
•Confident communicating and as such, is relatively comfortable conversing with operators, mechanics and hauliers to learn and build experience of working sites.
•Interest in expanding the knowledge of areas related to the role in order to develop.

Qualifications
•Training will be given for Abrasive Wheels and Working at Heights, as well as undertaking a formal training program for the Forwarder, to obtain an NPTC Level 2 Award in FMO

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• This will be a simple assessment under supervision by one of our fully trained operators, and will involve using the forwarder machine crane to lift up and move cut timber products.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,959, Forestry Commission contributes £7,810 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Benefits…

Alongside your salary, Forestry England contributes an average of 28.97% towards your pension. You will become a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.

• 25 days holiday a year, raising by one day every year’s service, up to 30 days (pro-rated for part time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays.
• STaR is our employee benefits scheme offering discounts on everyday supermarket shopping, as well as other things such as hotel stays clothes, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, Headspace wellbeing app.
• free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
• a commitment to lifelong learning through career development. Forestry England will support your career development in a variety of ways, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

Read more about the benefits on the Forestry England website.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Technical skills.

How to apply…

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

You will be assessed on a technical skill and strength based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

We will carry out an interview in the Bellingham Office Conference room, followed by a practical assessment out in the field. This will be a simple assessment under supervision by one of our fully trained operators, and will involve using the forwarder machine crane to lift up and move cut timber products.

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

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).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : FC Recruitment Team
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Attachments

Forestry England Job Description - H&M Trainee Machine Operator Opens in new window (pdf, 135kB)