Between the Lines
JOB PROSPECTS and CHALLENGES in the TURF INDUSTRY
W
hen questions of recruitment and employment prospects in the turf industry come up, Tyler Bloom is a good man to go to for answers. The 2009 Penn State Turf Science graduate is an experienced golf course superintendent and now the owner of a consulting firm focused on workforce development in the turfgrass industry, so he has his finger on the pulse of current industry challenges and opportunities. We caught up with Tyler at a recent PSU Turfgrass Job Fair, where he served as a panelist and resource.
RECRUITING CHALLENGES In discussing the recruiting challenges the turf industry faces, Tyler Bloom pointed first to recent overall changes in wage and work environment expectations. Since March, entry-level wages rose 17.1-percent in the recreation sectors, according to the US Department of Labor, putting pressure on the turf industry to change in order to be competitive with other industries. Remote work has also changed the way American job-seekers think about the work environment. Offering flexible schedules, improved rewards or benefits, compensation, and growth opportunities helps to attract excellent candidates. However, the volume of quality candidates entering the turf industry from entry level to mid-level management could be better, Tyler says. He points to insufficient resources for sourcing candidates and marketing of employment and career pathways, leading to low career awareness at the community level, from K-12 institutions, and from the general public. “It is hard to engage parents or job-seekers into an industry that hasn’t been visible or competitive to other industries,” he says. In his experience, managers are often more comfortable on the field than in the interview room. They need to prioritize and appropriately designate or delegate the time and resources needed for recruitment and hiring. “If their only strategy is posting on Indeed, they will get easily frustrated when things don’t go the right way.”
GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES With every challenge comes an opportunity for growth. “I personally see a huge upside, given the rising salaries for technician and assistant manager level roles,” Bloom says. Students entering the
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18 Pennsylvania Turfgrass • Winter 2022
profession will have high growth potential, and with expected retirements and people leaving the industry, senior level roles will open up. He believes that businesses will continue to invest in ambitious talent so that they don’t lose good candidates. Also, as the industry adopts new technology, he sees an increased need for the younger generation to help manage innovations, whether on a golf course, sports turf, in manufacturing, research and development, or in sales. He sees employers becoming much more accommodating and flexible to the needs of the workforce, with time off, regular eight-hour work days, and rotating weekends. There are also opportunities for education partners to deliver their education more flexibly, with online learning much more utilized and therefore more accessible to the workforce.
QUALITY CANDIDATES, REWARDING JOBS
Who is a good candidate for a career in turf, we asked? According to Tyler Bloom, job seekers from the fields of carpentry, fishery, farming, project management, electricians, plumbers, and other trade-based careers all have hard skills that are useful in turf management. Transferable skills include the use of technology, computers, customer service, equipment operation, multi-tasking, safety, communication, and teamwork. Good candidates will typically be rule followers, thorough and accurate in their work completion, and comfortable with some level of independence and autonomy. They’ll like achieving goals consistently and efficiently in a professional work environment where they can be accountable. Mostly, Tyler says, he looks for candidates who offer soft skills and who thrive in an outdoor work environment, using their hands, and dealing with nature. A career in turf offers a job-seeker many unexpected rewards. Besides the compensation, there are the intangibles. “There’s never a day that you won’t learn something new, whether it is agronomicrelated, weather, government relations, people, or sales. There is a high level of dedication and commitment required to be successful, given the nature of the work itself. This leads to a lot of pride, competence, stability, and growth potential. I don’t see stagnation and complacency in growth potential, so someone can reasonably expect to make a strong salary three to five years after starting,” predicts Bloom. Beyond that, he says, “There’s a spiritual connection with the environment that is unlike anything else.”
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