Access Officer

Career Profile

Job Summary:

The role of an access officer is to promote the interests of climbers, walkers & mountaineers in a particular area. It could involve operating at a national level on policy and strategic issues or locally on site-based access and land management issues, or mixture of both. Some of the work is office based and other aspects involve travel to different places, depending on the location and scope of the role.

Job Tasks:

The tasks for this role can be very varied. Examples of what is regularly involved in this role include: negotiating access to crags or land, putting up signs and restrictions, updating websites, writing articles, travelling to sites, meetings, planning, creating resources such as leaflets and posters. You might lead and organise events and will likely spend some of your time working with members of the public as well as other professionals.

Skills Needed for this Job:

To be successful in this role you will need to be an excellent communicator with a strong interest in the environment and conservation. Excellent knowledge of access and conservation issues.

Working Hours:

Mainly 9.00-17.00 but this will vary with evening meetings and weekend events sometimes on the cards.

Income:

In paid roles, you can expect to earn between £22,000-£30,000. Similar roles may also exist at lower levels of pay, along with many volunteer positions. will vary with some volunteer positions as well.

Training & Qualifications:

Many people working as an access officer will have a relevant degree, such as conservation, ecology or environmental science. You can enter this role without this, but are likely to need relevant employment history and/or a background of getting involved in conservation projects. If you’re interested in becoming an access officer, volunteering can give you the skills and knowledge you need to meet the requirements of the job description of an access officer. To get started in the sector, many jobs within the National Park Authorities and the National trust offer a good grounding and a ‘foot in the door’.

You will need to have both a keen interest in access and an up to date knowledge of current access issues.

Mentors/ Industry information:

Funding is being cut by local councils as their budgets are stretched. The first jobs to go are often with the parks and recreation departments, meaning there are fewer jobs available within this sector as a whole than there may have been in the past. This results in a competitive marketplace for people wanting to enter the field. You may want to consider finding an access officer job description online to help you identify and build up the exact skills, experience and qualifications that employers are looking for. You could also speak to access officers in the industry and do some shadowing to help work out if this is the right job for you.

Good places to start your search are: The BMC, National Parks (Peak District, Snowdonia), National Trust and individual Councils.