Experience Experience Experience .......

Shaun619

Member
Location
dundee
Every job posting I ever see requires experience. I get machinery these days is very expensive but why cant I try something new? Spending my evenings after work enquiring about a career change. 95 percent of the time not even a response. Starting to think its impossible to get back into farming after time in another career.
 

eagleye

Member
Innovate UK
Location
co down
Employers always want experience as its less training required. Willing to learn and listen to advice on how to do a job can be more vital. As more work is done alone operating machines/tractors its more difficult to learn alongside an experienced operator. Dont have the answers but finding someone who actually WANTS TO WORK is more difficult..................
 

Shaun619

Member
Location
dundee
That's exactly what I am having trouble getting across. I am 27 been working for 12 years not a day off long hours a regular thing. Grew up on the farm my father worked on. First few jobs around school was washing out the grain sheds two seasons at the potatoes and the dressing learning the tractor. Then that's where I feel I messed up I never realised how lucky I was and didn't push hard enough to get a permanent job and moved into warehouse work. Hasn't been a bad gig I can drive most kinds of forklift these days and I've worked my way up as far as I can where ever I worked. Trying to get back into farming just seems impossible.
 

wdah/him

Member
Location
tyrone
how are u selling yourself, have u any skills that transfer from current career to farming, ie u might have experience of some things or transferable skills.

rarely experience from one farm is the same as another farm experience
 

Shaun619

Member
Location
dundee
how are u selling yourself, have u any skills that transfer from current career to farming, ie u might have experience of some things or transferable skills.

rarely experience from one farm is the same as another farm experience
I feel I need to rethink my sales pitch...A lot of my current job is planning on a go, planning my own day, reacting to things as they happen, handling abnormal loads and being out in all weathers. Away to pay the money in my next time off to put tractor and telehandler on paper.

Btw sorry for the rant of a post I've hit the frustration wall :) Just hoping for some good advice from the good people here :)
 

wdah/him

Member
Location
tyrone
that first paragraph with a few examples of how it would relate to farming should be enough to make a man think about giving u a chance.

a person at work is applying for a new position, iread the form they are putting in. it reads well but i thought it needed examples of how u have shown what u claim to be fit to do, as it will often cover a few points-motivation, experience, problem solving and forward planning often work together. very few can sell themselves and some than can sell themselves cant do the work they claim.

i have progressed through the factory from line work to now maintence and this is my wall, to much to learn and no one really to train the bits i dont know, however i was aware of that issue and working a way around it now. i never did a good interview in my life there but the person asking the questions drew the correct answer from me however you will not get that i feel with a farm interview
 

Shaun619

Member
Location
dundee
Then start your new sales pitch here.
Geographically where are you? Does that matter to you?
what are you looking to do?
Other than planning and reacting, any other skills/qualifications? -
Someone reading this may know someone who is just looking for you!
In answer to your questions...

Geographically where are you? Does that matter to you? based in angus scotland. Willing to travel a fair distance for a commute. Relocation for a few months is a possibility. What would hold me back is I have a permanent job now. To take a seasonal job would need to be along the lines of "If you do well enough there's a chance of fulltime"

what are you looking to do? I would love to work for a contractor to be honest. Doing different things seeing different places. Have a large interest in the big kit (with a soft spot for the old)

Other than planning and reacting, any other skills/qualifications? Good customer service skills from dealing with lorry company's arranging loads, ordering materials, making good relationships with lorry drivers when dealing with them so there more likely to do me a favour if required.

I think I will just rewrite my C.V so its wording differently including the above.

Thanks for the advice. It is appreciated.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Plenty of big spud/veg farms need forklift drivers - yes it’s similar to what your doing now but other days could be working land, maintenance on machinery or feeding livestock/loading lorries etc. I know a few guys who drove forklifts on industrial units both mast and telehandlers that got fed up of the same old day in day out, went to work on farms as highly skilled mast operators and ended up doing a total variety of work.
 

curlietailz

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sedgefield
Why not take a few courses and get your Tickets
such as 360 digger, chainsaw, telehandler, even PA1.2.3.4.5.6 etc
These can all be done while you have your existing job and you will then have Farmy skills as well ?
Google Ag training in your area. Lantra maybe
 

Mc115reed

Member
Livestock Farmer
In answer to your questions...

Geographically where are you? Does that matter to you? based in angus scotland. Willing to travel a fair distance for a commute. Relocation for a few months is a possibility. What would hold me back is I have a permanent job now. To take a seasonal job would need to be along the lines of "If you do well enough there's a chance of fulltime"

what are you looking to do? I would love to work for a contractor to be honest. Doing different things seeing different places. Have a large interest in the big kit (with a soft spot for the old)

Other than planning and reacting, any other skills/qualifications? Good customer service skills from dealing with lorry company's arranging loads, ordering materials, making good relationships with lorry drivers when dealing with them so there more likely to do me a favour if required.

I think I will just rewrite my C.V so its wording differently including the above.

Thanks for the advice. It is appreciated.

I think you need too be looking for work on a potato farm... good forklift drivers are few and far between that are man enough too lift boxes up into the sky ... Once they have. Faith in you a good employer would then give you some relief tractor work at planting time probably on a plough or bedtiller... then before you know it you’ll have the experience you desire... your not gonna be driving a contractors forager in the first year of your career move but it’s a route in...
 

Shaun619

Member
Location
dundee
I think you need too be looking for work on a potato farm... good forklift drivers are few and far between that are man enough too lift boxes up into the sky ... Once they have. Faith in you a good employer would then give you some relief tractor work at planting time probably on a plough or bedtiller... then before you know it you’ll have the experience you desire... your not gonna be driving a contractors forager in the first year of your career move but it’s a route in...
A route in is all I need. Thanks
 

HAM135

Member
Arable Farmer
Keep trying,in the next few weeks there will be plenty of the big spud growers looking for willing hands,start off in the grading shed and if you show potential you will soon move into more field work,decent pair of hands are not easily found.
 

toquark

Member
I’ll second the Ringlink idea. If you can operate a forklift I’m sure there will be work available, especially on the big arable farms in Angus. I worked for them in Aberdeenshire through school and college and learned loads.
 
Last edited:

capfits

Member
@Shaun619
As Kenny and Ham135 say speak to Machinary ring.
In a months time there will be lambing work aswell if it is an interest.

As an aside we have in recent years
taken on an apprentice
hosted 3-4 lambers every year
and for the last few winters I have trained up a young person to feed my cattle, and get used to loader, tractorwork.

I can assure that not all these individuals are from an agricultural background,and it is not always easy.

It will be next October before I start off another young person if interested, you may count!

At the end of the day if wedo not give others a chance we will struggle for good labour, and if they go work elsewhere well they usually are good ambassadors for you and the wider industry.
 

Tractorstant

Member
Location
Monaco.
I would say that your CV needs a professional re-write and more targeted towards the job you want to get. A good covering letter too. Forget the experience bit for now, I've had 3 main jobs in my life all vastly different from one another, with little or no experience going from one to the other, trust me.
 

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