Gamekeepers jobs

trouble

Well-Known Member
While hare shooting today i bumped into a chap i havent seen for a while , nice cheerfull lad , honest hard working sort whos been keepering since school . Anyway , turns out the shoot he was on , working single handed and doing first class job , closed down and of cause he lost his house and due to this has had to give away dogs aswel . Poor bloke , the spring seems to have gone out of his step and he wasnt full of jokes and having a laugh as usuall . Point is he tells me that last spring he sent off about 50 letters with his CV containing his contact numbers Email address and stamped addressed envelopes , he got 3 replys ! Then he tells me about a headkeeper i know on a large estate we all know , who phoned him and asked him to send all his details for an up coming position , happy days , wrong this headkeeper never replyed either . Just what is wrong with this industry , time was you sent a letter and got a standard reply one way or the other , now it seems times are so hard some estates and shoot owners are steaming off stamps for their own use rather than print off a letter . Dont these people realise the stress involved in loosing a job , your home and everything else then to be left hanging on to hope of a reply at the very least . It sickens me to the bone , what are your thoughts
 
Sorry to here about your friend trouble although I can't see where BASC could become involved, what would you expect from them?

3 reply's is pretty poor and at the end of the day. It is not as if they need to reply with a letter, a quick phone call or e-mail to say sorry/we nothing avalible would only take a second. If some one goes to the effort it is only fair to reply in return, even if it is a token jesture. But were all 50 letters to advertised jobs or was the majority of it a stab in the dark in which case it could be considered unsolicited mail?

I'm very fortunate in the fact that I have never been put out of work and the thought is not something I really want to even consider.

The majority of keepers don't seem to do very well these day's, way back when in the day's of big land and property owners yeah a stalker might have been some one but in this day and age it seem the majority people take house ownership for granted and with the rise in house prices that occoured over the past few years a stalkers wealth (thats probably the wrong word) has reduced as a result as the equity gained by his fellow man in other occpations grew (as long as they were a home owner). I considered a full time stalker/keepers job and even applied for a few but in hindsight I'm glad I never got any where, but I'm sure there are many others who did the same thing and got it and do not regret it.
 
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We hold a register of 'keepres looking for jobs and put them in touch with any shoot we hear of thats looking for new 'keeper.

I have a meeting on monday about this service as it happens to see how it can be made better and more active,

I have seen more shoots shut in the last 12 motnths that I can ever remember.

David
 
Guys you should get him to contact the Gamekeepers Welfare Trust. They will be able to help him with housing and the jobs register. The contacts are Helen Benson http://www.gamekeeperswelfaretrust.com/ helpline 01677 470 180

I assume that this is the jobs register BASC hold?? Gamekeepers Welfare trust look after keepers and is supported by the NGO, CA (and one can only assume not BASC if they are once again duplicating the good work of others or worse still taking credit for it!!).

Helen has helped me out with jobs in the past and three keepers I know last year landed decent jobs through her.

The NGO do a lot of fundraising for the Welfare Trust and it something we should help with, you never know when any of us will need the help of the welfare trust especially in this climate.

Good luck to him.
 
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The trust was started with the help of GCT and BASC back in the early 1990's, as it says on the trust's home page.

Its supported in terms of donation and fundraising by many organisations, its indipendent of BASC but BASC have been actively involved with the trust since it started, as have others as I say. The trust is there to help any keeper, not just those who are members of BASC, NGO etc

The BASC register of keepers looking for a job is not related to the trust, its simply a service we offer for our BASC gamekeper/ syndicate members. With over 1000 affiliated game shoots, many of who will have a full or part time 'keeper, and 5000 'keeper members it make sense for us to offer this service to hlep both groups of members

David
 
Our estate office recieves 2 or 3 e-mails a week and a couple of letters a month mostly from young kids looking to gain some experience in keepering part time from colledge or straight from school. Or from people looking to change direction after having been made redundant in this or another field.
I make a point of reply to everything and pass on details /contacts where I can, or keep them on file for future ref if interesting.
But I have to admit it is wearying to keep on replying negatively to so many.
 
Sorry to here about your friend trouble although I can't see where BASC could become involved, what would you expect from them?

3 reply's is pretty poor and at the end of the day. It is not as if they need to reply with a letter, a quick phone call or e-mail to say sorry/we nothing avalible would only take a second. If some one goes to the effort it is only fair to reply in return, even if it is a token jesture. But were all 50 letters to advertised jobs or was the majority of it a stab in the dark in which case it could be considered unsolicited mail? .
dropped by to see if he wanted to come roost shooting today , i came away with 2 terrier bitches that ill look after till he wants them back . His job applications were for advertised positions not unsolicited mail . As for the headkeeper who phoned him , well if your a keeper you will have heard of him , he works on a very large very private estate that everyonehas heard of in the east . This position was filled by a friend of the headkeepers son .
 
We hold a register of 'keepres looking for jobs and put them in touch with any shoot we hear of thats looking for new 'keeper.

I have a meeting on monday about this service as it happens to see how it can be made better and more active,

I have seen more shoots shut in the last 12 motnths that I can ever remember.

David
David , i think BASC , NGO and The Shooting Times should address this situation with some kind of code of conduct for people advertising positions . The Shooting Times should look into this very deeply as by allowing these adverts they are in some way reckomending these buisnesses
 
Horrible state of affairs for any working man to be in, wouldn't wish it on anyone. Hope this bloke's luck changes soon and he finds the break he needs.
 
The problems of people not replying to people who apply for jobs seems to be the same in agriculture, you have to put it down to bad manners. The tied cottage situation needs to be looked into, with perhaps the employer and employee having to pay into a fund, that would enable a employee to find accommodation should there employment come to a end. As estates and farms change in the way they are run it is time that the tied cottage as part of your wage was removed, as how many keepers or farm workers will be allowed to stay on the estate/farm when there retirement comes.
 
It is very bad manners not to reply to a letter, even if the business cant help at the time.

There is little that a magazine like Shooting Times can do to force advertisers to respond I suspect. I know we have had problems in the past with one or two advertisers not living up to expectations and members certainly get in touch with us about it and we contact the supplier to chase up the order, if its not forthcomming we give the member guidance on how to get thier money back.

It costs quite a bit to advertise in shooting mags, so I would have thought that if the jobs not there then the shoot would pull the ad and save money.

A magazine can refuse to carry an advert of course.

Its very tough out htere at the moment, we had three more of our shoots disband last month, OK they were DIY shoots and no one lost their job, but it makes the point I think.

We will soon be contacting all our shoots plus a database of hundreds of other commercial shoots in the next couple of weeks to ask ,among other things, if they have any positions free.

David
 
2 e-mails and 1 letter today from young lads trying to get a toe in the door . One attending keepers college with already some working experience . The other two still at school with the youngest 14.
We have not had a position advertised for 10yrs, so i assume they are finding us on the internet.
Times are tough, right enough but i think the next generation coming up are looking at a seriously shrinking jobs market and possibly long term unemployment for all but the lucky ones.
 
It's always been the same, I remember at the age of 15 putting out 70 plus letters and only getting 1 or 2 replies. That was long before e-mail. I'm sorry, there is no excuse for not responding, even a generic e-mail or letter, at least the person knows. It's nearly as bad as advertising without giving the location! Who in their right mind will apply for a job without knowing anything more than its in North Scotland!

As said these jobs involve families, schools partners careers, they expect keepers to be professional, maybe some of the employers and agents should leed by example.

I wish him luck, it's a stressful time, I know!

Maybe try "rural recruits" just google it, I think George may have some seasonal stuff.
 
The Shoot on our Estate has just seen the end of their lease, my Guvn'r decided not to renew the lease for idealogical reasons [His own].
I have seen half a dozen or so Head Keepers come and go, the good and the bad, what galls me is the present Keeper is the best we have had, non confrontational, hard working and dedicated. Being the Deer Stalker on the Estate I am out at all hours and as we all know, you see a lot, the patterns of work that the Keepers put in, this Keeper is the hardest working I have seen.

He has no job to go to, he is not in any way my best mate, but he is always polite and helpful. In three weeks time he is out of the tied cottage, two small kids and his missus. Times are hard, in the next few years it is not going to improve. As a stalker on "His" ground I am a nuisance but in the past 4 years we have only had one confrontation{ my idiot son shooting a nice Muntjac Buck that the Keeper didn't want shooting]!

I would recommend him very highly, as he would be an asset to any shoot of whatever size.

Regards Nick
 
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