Plant A Career In Horticulture

WSNLA is spreading the word about hort jobs

Plant

a Career

In

Horticulture! Most people, including students studying horticulture, have a limited view of careers available in the horticulture industry. The WSNLA Careers task force is taking steps to change this.

Last month, your WSNLA President Katie Miller (Skagit Horticulture) and Vice President Kirsten Lints, CPH (Gardens ALIVE Design) attended career fairs and networking events at WSU and University of Idaho to promote horticulture careers and connect students and emerging professionals with your WSNLA career center listing. Reflecting on their involvement, here are a few thoughts from their participation in these initial five career events that spanned their 3 day visit.

At all events, students were fully engaged and asked pointed questions to learn more about the horticulture industry. In all, 2500 students attended with 250 students directly contacted about careers in horticulture. While networking events provided a targeted approach to connect with agriculture students, the general career fairs provided an opportunity to connect with a broader group and expand our reach to tell the story of careers in horticulture.

The Future of Horticulture.

The plants provided by Cascade Tropicals helped to play a key role engaging with students. Plants are the centerpiece of what connects us all to the industry. In order to receive the free plant, students were asked to complete a survey. Data collected from 190 student survey’s has already helped inform the task force’s future outreach strategies. The two graphs to the right highlight some of the information collected. The graph on the top right breaks down which parts of the industry interest students most. Located on the bottom right, this graph displays the variety of student majors interested in careers in horticulture.

The diversity of study outside traditional horticulture degrees was an unexpected, but pleasant, takeaway. Conversations with engineering, data analyst, marketing and computer science students were especially noted by the task force. Kirsten Lints observed it was apparent students were seeking knowledge about how their skillsets can be used in non-traditional industries. Maybe even more specifically how they can connect their professional skills to their personal interests and passions. This provided a perfect opportunity for Katie Miller to share about the robotic innovation needs for the greenhouse industry with engineering students, and all the ways data analysts can help revolutionize how business is managed by growers, retail garden centers and landscape companies.

Student connections were not the only ones made. The task force connected with a variety of department faculty. Follow-up with these contacts will create opportunities for virtual career panels to connect directly with students in the classroom and open conversation about the needs of the industry to electrical engineering and crop and soil sciences.

Overall, general enthusiasm for plants is high! Students and faculty were seeking out the WSNLA table, among 330 other professions represented at all events, were seeking out the WSNLA table to learn more about the industry and to share their horticulture stories and passion for plants. The task force’s take away being that even the students that were not seeking careers in horticulture are still connecting with our industry as customers!

If your passionate about this work, find out how you can get involved on the next page.