Nursery Operative

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 359259**Salary**:

- £28,255 - £29,556**Job grade**:

- Administrative Officer**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Type of role**:

- Other**Working pattern**:

- Full-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 4Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- HuntlyAbout the job

**Job summary**:
FLS Plant and Seed Supply is a dedicated team of 30 people responsible for growing or sourcing the 25 million trees per year required for the forests and land managed by FLS. We do this from the only publicly owned tree nursery in Scotland, Newton Nursery, near Elgin.

Newton Nursery is currently benefiting from the biggest ever single investment carried out by FLS, including construction of a 12,000sqm glasshouse and installation of machinery providing capacity to grow up to 15 million bare-root trees, and 4 million cell-grown trees per year. This investment represents both an exciting and challenging time for the Plant and Seed Supply team; the new facilities will be a welcome upgrade, but maintaining a seamless supply of trees for our regional planting programmes whilst transitioning to entirely new ways of working will not be easy. Are you ready to join us and contribute to our success?

**Job description**:
We're seeking enthusiastic individuals to join our team, where you'll have the opportunity to work hands on with the seedlings and contribute to the growth of Scotland’s forests of the future. The role involves a variety of tasks, both indoors and outdoors throughout all seasons, some tasks may be physically demanding and may require weekend work or long days so you’ll need to be passionate about what we do.

As a Nursery Operative, you will be at the front line of growing our valuable seed into healthy trees. Activities will include seed processing, sowing, weeding and plant care, pest & disease monitoring, irrigation and spraying operations before finally sorting the trees into size and category, packing, and dispatching them to our customers. We don’t expect you to be an expert in all of these tasks already, but you must be willing to learn.

All of our nursery team are expected to be role models in relation to health and safety, plant health, quality, and biosecurity, so you will need to demonstrate high standard and attention to detail in these areas.

**Main Duties**
- Planting and plant care of tree seedlings.
- Sorting and packing trees for dispatch.
- Inventory and storage management of trees being stored ready for dispatch.
- Assist in carrying out risk assessments and take a positive approach to the health and safety of yourself and others.
- Assist in seed collections as required by the FLS Seed Resource Manager.

**Person specification**:
Essential:

- Experience and a passion for working outdoors in changeable conditions.
- Experience of working successfully, both alone and as part of a team.
- Experience of overcoming challenges and solving problems.
- Experience of communicating clearly with colleagues.

Desirable:

- Experience in agricultural, horticultural or forestry related work.
- Experience in general maintenance of agricultural or horticultural equipment.
- Experience in biosecurity controls and plant health in nursery production.

Technical

Desirable:

- Training certificates for ride on forklift and/or pedestrian forklift operations.

**Benefits**:

- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

**Selection process details**:

- Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.**Security**:
- People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.**Medical**:
**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)
- 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).-
**Diversity and Inclusion**:

- The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil