PPC111 | Meet the member

Carl Hoult is Head of Technical Operations at Abate Pest Management, based in Wymondham in Norfolk. 

Carl recently achieved Master Technician status, making him part of a very small cohort of people alongside Chris Cagienard, Dee Ward-Thompson, Martin Rose-King and Natalie Bungay.

Master Technician is the highest level category for people on the BPCA Registered CPD scheme and the criteria is pretty stringent. 

PPC spoke to Carl about joining this fairly elite group of technicians and how he found the process of applying for Master Technician status.

PPC| Let’s start at the beginning: how did you end up in pest control? 

CH| I was teaching martial arts with my brother and, by chance, one of the guys training there as a student was a Service Manager for Abate. He asked me if I wanted to do some weekend work helping him tackle some cockroaches, and I had no idea what that would entail but I said, “sure!”.

So I ended up in King’s Lynn checking shipping containers for cockroaches and I realised I much preferred that to babysitting other people’s kids in martial arts class.

That’s the very short version.

My role at Abate has evolved since then. I’m a robust generalist; I’ve gone from doing technician work and field biology, to managing operations after we acquired Monitor Pest Control. And now I mainly do surveying, health and safety, and tech training.

In fact, I was joking with Karen [Dawes] at PPC Live in Harrogate, saying that I felt like a fraud getting a Master Technician card when I haven’t done a technician role in about six or seven years.

PPC| Speaking of which, congratulations on your new Master Technician status! How did you feel to find out your application had been successful? 

CH| Pleasantly surprised! And I didn’t realise how few people there were with the Master Technician badge. In all honesty I thought there would be hundreds, but it was really cool to learn there are only a handful.

PPC| What made you apply for Master Technician?

CH| I hope you don’t take it off me for this answer, but honestly: boredom. I was doing my NEBOSH, and it’s gruelling and I loved every minute of it. But I needed a break from doing that over Christmas. I saw the Master Technician application and I thought, “yeah, this looks like a pretty cool thing to have”. Which I know sounds like a mad reason for applying!

It’s the weirdest thing though, because I didn’t necessarily do it for the best reason but once I got it I couldn’t believe how proud I was to have it.

PPC| It’s quite an in-depth process, how did you find the application?

CH| The application is huge, the amount of stuff you have to include is immense. But in the end I really liked it, it’s basically a big trip down memory lane. I had to sit and go through all these folders of old jobs, photos and it was really quite nice. It’s a reminder of all the things you’ve achieved, because life moves so fast and it’s easy to forget what you’ve done.

And you get to reflect on some of the unusual stuff you’ve been lucky enough to do, like the time we netted a sloth enclosure because a zoo knew we had the expertise for it. And that’s because we’d done a lion enclosure at another zoo, which we were hired for because we’d done a project for containing cats with FIV.

It was all referrals on the basis that “you know how to stop animals getting in or out of places”. So just like that we went from cats to lions to sloths, all because we had a transferable skill from pest control. And it all went in the Master Technician application, a great way to show we’re more than just rat catchers. 

PPC| What was the hardest part of the application? 

CH| Easily, it’s “why do you think you deserve this?” We all probably feel that sense of imposter syndrome, so it’s really tough to talk yourself up. It’s easy to fall into the habit of believing that you’re just doing your job and there’s nothing special about it. 

I was lucky enough to have plenty of evidence to back up my application, especially when it got down to the tasty stuff, like the time we dealt with black widow spiders.

PPC| Have you always been quite keen on development and learning?

CH| I came from quite a strong training background, I was the UK’s youngest master diver at one point. So I’ve always been big on training and instruction and qualifications.

When I joined Abate I did all the in-house training, and then I suggested to the business that we do the RSPH Level 2 Award in Pest Management. This was before we joined BPCA membership, so it wasn't a requirement for us yet. The focus was always more around on-the-job training in most pest businesses at that time.

But we had BRC sites and the specs were starting to include more strict criteria, such as being a BPCA member and being Level 2 qualified. I got my RSPH Level 2 in around 2014 and since then I’ve done my RSPH Level 3 too, and then Abate joined BPCA in 2017.

PPC| At what point did you realise you wanted to take your development as far as possible?

CH| Like I said before, I can’t sit still and wanting to learn is in my nature. And I’m quite keen to encourage our team to be that way too, I want to bring everyone up to the highest levels they’re capable of. I’ve worked with people before who want to sit above everyone with their knowledge and not share it, but that’s not how a team should work. 

I’m not interested in bragging rights when it comes to this stuff, but I did send a message to the work WhatsApp group when my application was accepted.

A couple of the team messaged back immediately to say how great it was and they asked if there was anything they could do to achieve something similar? So that was a really nice moment where they resonated with that drive to develop themselves professionally. 

You’ve got to lead from the top, and I know I wouldn’t want to be led by someone who wants to keep development for themselves.

And it’s also something to showcase for the business too. I like to egg the team on a little and drive that competitive spirit, saying to them “wouldn’t it be great to one day be able to say that Abate has the most Master Technicians of any pest control company in the UK?”.

PPC| What tips would you have for people who would like to work towards getting their Master Technician status? 

CH| If it’s a goal you have, then start gathering your evidence now. Take a look at what’s required in the application and start building your portfolio for it. It’s easier than ever to keep a record of what you’ve done, so take photos, keep the news articles and compile your reports.

And the other thing is, you’re going to have to start getting involved in the industry outside of your day job. I know people who would tick every box on the Master Technician application, except that they don’t collaborate with people outside of their own company.

Start building your industry profile now, and then when you’ve hit your 10-year mark and you’re ready to apply, your application will write itself.

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