“My name is Justin, I’m co-founder of Embankment Group, alongside my two incredibly skilled business partners, Nathan Warwick and Sam Thorne. We launched Embankment Group (specialists in ecology recruitment) towards the back end of the pandemic when our former employer decided to remain a remote operation, working this way just wasn’t what we’d signed up for we enjoyed each other’s company, we wanted to learn from each other (you never stop learning, by the way, no matter how senior you are in a job), and as sales people in a recruitment startup, our camaraderie gave us a level of motivation that you simply don’t get from collaborating on teams’.

But here’s the problem: there’s a major skills gap in the ecology sector that makes filling ecology jobs hard, and I mean really hard. It was already tough before the pandemic, and now it’s bloody ridiculous. The habits and demands of our nation of workers has changed… remote and flexible working is here for good (and for the better). Our lives are more balanced, we are being given more autonomy to work, and in turn….to live.

The demands of long survey hours, late nights completing bids and reviewing urgent reports for designers and developers take their toll on employees. We’ve also reached a point (actually we’ve been here for some years) where emerging Ecologists just aren’t getting the same support and training they were five or so years ago. Combine that with a growing shift towards freelance working, and the skills gap is widening at a frightening rate.

So how do we fix it?

From a job market perspective, I see too many fledgling Ecologists stuck in a cycle of seasonal work for big consultancies. These businesses should offer longer-term employment options, not just six-month contracts. I also firmly believe freelance work should be something you turn to when you’re at the top of your game. If you leave mainstream employment too early, without the development you need, you narrow your options, reduce your job security and are unable to pass on knowledge and skills to junior Ecologists.



Whatever the solution ends up being, Embankment Group exists to support the incredible people working in the ecology sector. With the tireless work of our clients and most importantly, YOU….hopefully the tide will turn.”