Arborist position at Purdue University

J

jeffclark

Arborist VIII in Grounds at Purdue University, West Lafayette IN (Job Number 0900555)

PAY IS $16.02

Description

Inspect, maintain, and manage all campus trees and tree related issues. This includes hazardous tree evaluation, campus tree inventory, pruning, removal of dead limbs, tree removals, plant diagnostics (disease and insects) as well as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tree protection activities, natural disaster response and recovery efforts. Handle debris and limb removal (up to 75 pounds), and pesticide application for trees on campus (up to 70 feet tall). Climb trees with height up to 70 feet with rope and saddle.

Qualifications

Required:
High school diploma/GED
Four year experience in tree care management
Consideration will be given to an equivalent combination of related education and required work experience in equipment operation such as wood chipper, aerial lift, chain saw, and other equipment
Ability to read, write, and speak English in order to effectively communicate and understand supervisors, co-workers, and customers
Ability to work in a variety of weather conditions
A valid driver's license
Ability to lift and carry 25 to 50 pounds frequently and 75 pounds occasionally
On 24-hour callback for emergencies
Obtain commercial driver's license and 3A pesticide applicator's license within first 180 days of employment
Obtain ISA arborist certification within 3 years of employment
Maintain licenses and certifications including successful completion of required medical examination

Preferred:
Computer Experience

Additional Information:
Overtime may be required on an as needed bases
A check of criminal conviction records will be made for employment in this position
FLSA: Non-Exempt (Eligible For Overtime)
Retirement Eligibility: PERF Contributions Immediately

TO APPLY FOR THIS POSITION visit the Purdue University Employment site at www.purdue.edu/jobs and click on Staff Positions job number 0900555


Tammy J. Johnson
Human Resources Specialist
Physical Facilities
Purdue University
Phone: 765-494-5940
Fax : 765-496-6267
Office Hours: M-F 7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
tammyj@purdue.edu
 
That's pathetic. $16 an hour on 24 hour call? Pathetic.

I'm sick of over educated suits offering up minuscule wages for jobs ten times more difficult than they have themselves. They don't even know what work is.

The idea that someone is only worth a decent wage if they have an advanced degree is ignorant. No doubt the people who decided on $16 an hour get three times that much to sit around in meetings all day, deciding nothing, stroking each others egos, knifing each other's backs and then retiring to the office/cubby to surf the net for a while, then head out a little early for happy hour. As if that's what they deserve for going to school and partying for six years instead of actually going out and really working gaining real experience.

I know, I've been in those meetings, I was a senior manager for a global non-profit. I use my brain more in a tree in 2 hours than I ever did in a day wearing a white collar. Management is simple, you just have to be tolerant of spoiled idiots.

Enriched education is great. Pretending it makes one person more valuable than another is a lie and is what makes poverty so pervasive in a country flush with resources.


Morons.
 
Pay is a little low but I think I see a retirement plan. That is more than I can say for even the biggest tree companies can offer. That and I bet the insurance is really good too.

I know it say 24 hour on call but I bet its a 7-3pm job all the time day in and day out. Again that is more than I can say about all other tree companies.
 
Jman, I'm not comparing to other tree companies, I'm comparing to people who get a LOT more money than that to do simpler, far less challenging and dangerous work with little or no supervision... namely HR managers who set wages. I'm sick of the false dichotomy between white collar and no collar workers. White collar work isn't worth nearly the difference in pay, in fact, I question whether it's worth ANY difference in pay.

$16 an hour isn't enough to risk personal injury when an office worker is making $60K annually. They don't use their brains or experience any more than a skilled climber, probably less. Enriched education does NOT automatically equal more value.
 
The pay is a bit low for this type of work. However the benefits are great: health insurance, pension, retirement, vacation + sick time, regular hours (7-3:30 daily).
I am not sure what the 24 hour call back is all about, I've never been called. No customers complaining, no quotas, no boss pushing production and working at your pace were not mentioned in the job description.
 
shoot if i was in the area I would entertain taking this job. I've work a city job during the summer before i graduated and it was awesome. Pay isn't great but everything else makes up for it.

And Blinky I hear ya. There are days I'm at work saying to myself I'm not getting payed enough and maybe I should be somewhere else. But I still keep going to work. Sorry derailing this thread. At least your getting constant bumps.
grin.gif
 
You can't raise a family on $16 an hour, I don't care how good the perqs are. It's shameful that a college with plenty of faculty making over $100K (with those same or better benefits) won't give a staff arborist a decent wage.

We are in a rich country yet we pay highly skilled people doing dangerous work poverty wages and pay spoiled college kids with ZERO experience $40K to $60K. What makes them so much more valuable?
 
I've thought a lot about this issue and what Blinky wrote really hits home. It is time for a change. The climbing arborist needs much better representation in this industry, and the perceptions need to shift.

The question is how to go about it. The associations are made up of a lot of members that are business owners or managers, so the wages and conditions of the skilled climber aren't well represented.

Part of the problem is that to be an arborist, you don't have to know how to climb or tie your knots or actually prune a tree. In fact, the "pro" arborist these days might spend their whole career on the ground and make way more than the climber in the tree. Something's wrong with that model.

jp
grin.gif
 
Yep, and it extends waaay past arboriculture. The idea that laboring work is less valuable than office work is a sham. It's why there is such imbalance right now.

I've been on both sides, working as an engineer and as a manager before tree care and I can tell you, the so called 'stress' is all artificial, caused by spoiled rotten types in high positions making pointless demands. Technical work itself requires experience and concentration... so does grading a road or walking steel... never mind fighting fire or climbing a dead tree... but nobody's safety is at stake in an office.

I think everyone should go to university... the one they WANT to go to, not just the one that will 'accept' them. But no way does going to college make a person that much more valuable. The people who didn't go are not under a rock the whole time, they're working and gaining experience... why is that not equally compensated?

People should be paid based on how long and how well they do their job, not what job they do. Try running a university for a month without someone to take out the garbage... Schools make a LOT of trash, it would accumulate fast. You could go longer without the Dean and their staff than you could without the maintenance crew.
 
I've only skimmed through this thread, but I see an opportunity of a lifetime for those hungry for an education. Man, I'd milk this position for everything it's worth and try to show what one can do with an education from Purdue. (I'm single :))

Joe
 
Ok..I didn't read the entore thread, but here's what I think about the position. I am currently the Grounds Manager for ETSU. We are a regional State University here in NE TN. Wages suck. That is a fact. Benefits are great however. We have good insurance, great retirement, 12 days of sick leave and 12 days of annual leave yearly, 13 paid Holidays, free education, and I am home every day at 3:00 every day. The pay is rain or shine, guaranteed and I have never seen anyone killing themselves to get the job done.
 
There's a lot of merit to that kind of job... it's attractive to me too... but I know for a fact I can't keep a roof over our heads and food on the table at $16/hour... and I live cheap. For a single guy wanting to learn, that's great I guess, assuming there is someone to learn from... but young single guys should be busting balls and older guys trying to get settled should be doing staff jobs. And older guys with families can't live on that kind of wages.

Purdue is capable of paying a LOT more, they just don't value that kind of work... because they are spoiled and clueless about how 95% of the people in this country live and work. They think school is hard and labor is easy.

What was it Kissinger said? "Academic politics is so vicious because the stakes are so low."
 
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