FLS highlighting forestry as a career option for female school leavers
Forestry and Land Scotland are hosting a careers day in Inveraray for female students from across Argyll with the aim of inspiring more young females to get into forestry.
The event – to be held on Thursday 30 October – will highlight the wide variety of roles that women can do in a diverse and vitally important sector for Scotland’s economy.
Students attending the event will get to hear from FLS staff, along with representatives from Scotland’s forestry sector including Scottish Forestry, Forest Research, Scottish Woodlands, Tilhill, John Deer, Euroforest and the Argyll Coast and Countryside Trust along with land-based training body LANTRA.
FLS Rainforest Delivery Forester Hazel Walker who has organised the event said:
“I have worked with the careers teams in local school to get young people to take part in work experience or placements with FLS and this has highlighted the relatively low number of female students showing an interest in forestry as a career option. So, I thought if we could run a careers fair, for female students highlighting all the roles women do, it could be a good way to spark some interest.
“There are so many interesting jobs available across forestry. It could see you operating large harvesting machinery as part of getting our valuable timber to market, working with communities, managing wildlife and helping to save threatened and endangered species and making sure that visitors get the most out of their forest experience.
“With forestry more important now than it has ever been, the forestry sector in general is crying out for new people. Whether you start at college, sign up for an apprenticeship or learn your skills on the job, there are some great opportunities for building a career – especially for young women.”
The careers day will be held in the function room of the Inveraray Inn from 10am.
Students from schools including Tobermory, Oban and Dunoon will have a chance to quiz forestry staff on the ins-and-outs of the wide array of jobs available in the sector. They will also get to experience some hands-on activities including trying a John Deer simulator.
FLS has a strong record of welcoming young women into its workforce with opportunities to work outdoors – often in the rural areas they come from – and on-the-job training and learning.
FLS Modern Apprentice Crafts Person Kirsty Gibson said:
“I’ve loved getting shadowing opportunities with the FLS supervisors and doing jobs which contribute to the establishment of a new crop; delivering trees, visiting ground prep sites, and doing stock density assessments.
“I was the 2025 runner up apprentice for the Lantra’s Awards for Land Based and Aquaculture Skills in trees and timber and I’m now an industry champion for forestry where I have opportunities to attend STEM events and be a positive role model to the next generation joining the industry.”
Fellow Modern Apprentice Crafts Person Hannah Thomson said:
“I have always wanted a career working with trees and after my college course was defunded, found FLS had an apprenticeship course that fit the bill.
“The support, encouragement and camaraderie have been there from day one. The learning and opportunities, that I don’t think I’d have got elsewhere, are a great foundation for my career in forestry.
“It’s been an amazing year and the restoration work with peatlands, temperate rainforest and Scots pinewood expansion, has inspired me to pursue a forestry career with FLS that focuses on the ecology and environment side of things.”
Notes to editors
- Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages forests and land owned by Scottish Ministers in a way that supports and enables economically sustainable forestry; conserves and enhances the environment; delivers benefits for people and nature; and supports Scottish Ministers in their stewardship of Scotland's national forests and land.
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