Experience of 5<25’s Scheme

I had the pleasure of being a part of the first round of 5<25’s scheme, and it has had such a positive impact on my own personal career as well as my family’s business.

The 5<25’s scheme has allowed my confidence to grow significantly in advising customers and being more independent, which has helped the business by allowing me to take the lead on larger and more complex jobs and clients for myself, whilst still gaining hands-on experience. I have been able to secure multiple new contracts as a result of this.

The level 2 qualification has been invaluable for my learning, with the species-specific behaviour and biology knowledge which I use daily in my work, as well as the environmental awareness necessary to perform my job to a high standard, particularly on rural jobs like farms with more non-target species.

For myself, the scheme has really opened my eyes to the variety of roles and personalities that work within pest control. Getting to meet and talk alongside other young people has made me feel supported and reassured, knowing I have a great network of others just like me. As well as this, the mentorship I had received from Duncan and others throughout the NPTA, Killgerm, and Syngenta has been invaluable to me and getting advice from people with real experience has been great to apply in my work.

I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the industry and who wants to understand how interesting and diverse pest control truly is.