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www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
THE LAND — OCTOBER 15/OCTOBER 22, 2021
Making connections with colleges bolsters ag recruiting The famous quote in the iconic more of the entry-level positions. movie “Field of Dreams” of “If you Jeff Rogers, an agriculture faculty build it, they will come,” still member at Minnesota West applies to many situations more Community College, works closely than 30 years later. Ironically, the with agriculture professionals in corn field turned baseball field was our region to extend the learning just recently purchased by Hall of environment outside the classroom. Famer Frank Thomas in hopes “Connecting students to the agrithat people will still come in droves culture industry and developing to the ball field in Iowa. relationships with experts in the TALENT IN THE GREENSEAM Contrary to the symbolic baseball field is high priority for our profield, just by posting an open agrigram,” Rogers said. “Guest speakBy Shane Bowyer culture or food job on an online ers, field labs, and tours of industry website does not mean college are an important part of the curricWays to connect to ulum to expose students to technical graduates will be flocking to submit their resumes. Recruiting potential skills and career opportunities.” higher education: employees is difficult — especially in As Rogers mentioned, the partnerInternships/Co-ops these competitive times with so many ships are a two-way street. Schools Company/Farm tours available positions to choose from. want to connect to industry for the Although, there are some agriculture Classroom presentations students’ and faculty’s benefit, while organizations making the best of companies need to connect schools to Mentoring students what is available to them. attract talent. There are a number of Mentoring faculty Most companies in the region are traditional methods for companies Attend career fairs looking to fill positions at all levels. If and schools to engage, yet in this the needed employees are post-seccompetitive environment the organiServe on advisory board ondary students, organizations need zations need to develop more creative Partner on research to engage directly with the schools. approaches as well as be more proacProvide scholarships Last month’s “Talent in the tive. GreenSeam” column was focused on Sponsor an event Riverland Community College looking towards collegiate business Agricultural Science Instructor Nick Provide equipment students for agriculture and food Schiltz agrees. “At Riverland we have positions. This column explores ways Attend a student club an advisory board that is very helpful to engage with schools to attract stuin providing insight into new opporSocial media posts dents to your business or farm. Even tunities as well as helping make conthough this article in centered on nections for our students,” Schlitz post-secondary schools, many of the same principles said. “Work-based learning is increasingly becoming can be applied to high schools for attraction into
Intern in the Emma Heinzig
Benson, MN School: University of Minnesota – Twin Cities Double-major: Human Resources and Industrial Relations; History Internship with Compeer Financial Have you always wanted a career in Ag? Not necessarily. I’m from a small farming town, but I didn’t know much about having a career in Ag that wasn’t owning & operating my own farm. As I got older, I realized that there are so many different careers related to Ag and rural development that are more on the business side. I’ve become very pas-
sionate about rural development & helping rural areas get the resources they need. After working with Compeer for almost a year, I think I’d really like to continue working for an Ag-related company in the future. Why did you choose an internship in the Ag industry? I’m from a rural community, so I have a strong connection to the Ag industry. I know that if the famers are suffering, so is our little town. I’ve become very passionate about rural development & helping rural areas get the resources they need. What are you learning on the job you did not learn in class? How to actually apply the things I’ve learned in class. You can lecture about Learning & Development, HRIS, Benefits, etc. all day long. Applying the things that you learn in the classroom to real-life situations is a whole new ballgame, and I’m getting to do that a lot at Compeer. What surprised you about the internship? That everyone is constantly learning. I went in feeling super intimidated and kind of like a kid, because I’m still in school
more important to both the students and employers. The more learning-by-doing we can do the better for all.” Four-year institutions are similar and also put resources into career development to develop these relationships with companies. An example of a company with strong collegiate partnerships is Christensen Farms. The company is one of the largest family-owned pork producers in the United States with nearly 1,000 employees and 1,500 contract partners. So yes, they definitely need talent. “Connecting or engaging with higher education institutions, from two-year and above, has been a key priority to source individuals to be a part of our team, from within our farms to more of the business-related functions, such as finance, HR and many others,” Christensen Farms CEO Glenn Stolt said. “Historically, we’ve had longstanding history with ag-centric colleges such as the University of Minnesota, South Dakota State University and Iowa State University. In recent years, we have focused on engaging with other schools, including Minnesota State University, Mankato, who offer those more business function-related programs to students. The simplest way to say it is our business is extremely complex that requires and welcomes hard working, committed, values-based people with a vast range of backgrounds, skillsets and experience.” Compeer Financial, with 1,300 employees across 43 Midwest locations, is another company takes pride in creating and fostering relationships with higher education institutions. “We enjoy connecting with students in-person and virtually, attending career fairs, events and club See GREENSEAM, pg. 10 and this is my first professional experience. There are things others know how to do that I don’t, and vice versa. Everyone knows how to do their job, but there’s a lot more “I’m not sure. Let’s look it up/try it out” than I expected. I realized that it’s okay to ask questions and not know everything off the top of my head, because everyone else is in that same boat. In what ways has your employer worked with you to be flexible for your student life and classes? Compeer lets me set my own schedule during the school year, and operates on the idea that “school always comes first”. They understand that I’m a student first, and that I sometimes might get my internship work done during hours outside the regular 9-5 business day. What is your favorite animal? It’s a tie between a housecat and a giraffe. What is your favorite food? Pasta! Who is your favorite musical artist/band? Lord Huron or Taylor Swift, depending on the day
