Tracking down prospective individuals who want to make agriculture a career can be quite difficult.

Many farm owners are coming to the realisation that perceptions have to change and employers have to make it an attractive career and job option for potential staff members if they are wanting to attract good, reliable people.

But where can you find prospective candidates? Agricultural consultant Ian Brown explains a possible avenue to look at: “A good way of starting your search is to employ students. Those who are eager to learn more about agriculture can have a positive effect.

“Students talk to each other and employers who treat staff with respect and good working conditions will gain a reputation and will find individuals coming to them instead. It’s the age-old saying ‘treat people as you yourself would want to be treated’.”

Ian goes on to explain: “A good example of this can be found in New Zealand and Australia. Farm owners tend to look after their staff. They have realised the significance of investing in staff and or team members. Provide training opportunities, give them proper time off, in some cases providing food during exceptional busy times such as calving or harvesting. It all becomes important and individuals feel valued and appreciated for the work they perform.”

Universities and colleges have work placement opportunities for students who will get the chance to decide for themselves if the farm they are routinely placed at is a possibility for a future job. In some cases, students can be out on farms for 10 months of a year. Schools like Harper Adams and SRUC are excellent sources for potential candidates who are serious about working in the industry.

Ian Brown suggests that “employers should also consider, at some point, going to work for someone else. A son or daughter who wants to come home to work on the farm should go out and have the experience of working for someone else other than a relative. You can learn a great deal by dealing with different employers and how they want to be treated.

“A good way to experience this is to travel and work. Going to places like New Zealand, Australia and Canada can give people a good stepping stone in learning how to manage people and gain a respectful understanding of good bosses and bad ones. Young people come back more savvy, more self-reliant and learn more about responsibility.”

Farm pay packages are diverse and can differ from farm to farm for different reasons. In the past, a career in agriculture would be met typically with a low wage but farm owners and businesses are more willing to pay an attractive amount. Wages, accommodation and investment opportunities all contribute to job satisfaction.

“It is the responsibility of the farm owner to attract people who want a good job. You need to pay people well for a job well done,” said Rory Christie from Dourie Farm in the southwest of Scotland.

“You need to pay well above the national wage. Farming can be long hours, but if you give people proper time off and invest in them, they will appreciate it and stay working for the farm. We are competing against a lot of other sectors nowadays. You need to treat employees with respect and they will reward you with hard work and dedication to the farm.”

Farmers have to come to grips with what they are after in an employee. But communication is key. Some expect employees to just work out a problem without the significant training or explanation.

“The people in the agricultural industry have to realise that they are not unique,” Heather Wildman, a recruitment consultant, said.

“All the sectors have the same issues when trying to find and entice people to come work for them. Businesses have to become savvier by making themselves more competitive. Being more time-flexible is a good example of this. We have a client who works their team on 12 hour days four days a week and gives three days off. This means there is more family and social time and more time to rest. We also have clients who have four-hour shifts working on a dairy farm doing the milking. This can suit a lot of female employees that have childcare issues and works around their daily routines.”

Heather also goes on to explain the importance of staff relations: “We find the businesses that work hard on staff relations are more successful at finding the right people. Farm owners or managers need to keep an open eye on what is going on around them.

“By managing to walk around the farm to see the work that is going on, gives the opportunity to praise an individual or team for a job done well, or to deal with a problem quickly that might have come about.

“Explaining what potentially has gone wrong and not flying off the handle, means that a problem can be fixed and dealt with at ease.

“Dealing with issues and being an effective communicator is important and is appreciated by individuals and team members. It contributes to an effective ‘open door policy’ that employees will feel comfortable in speaking to you about issues that can be worked out before they become a problem.”

Traditional ideas of work are fast becoming a thing of the past. Once a person entered into employment and stayed for many years, even if job satisfaction was not necessarily met. To the new brand of students and employees, businesses have much more to compete against. People are a lot less afraid to move about from job to job or even moving to different sectors.

Agricultural consultant Tom Phillips, who works closely with first time employees and students, explains: “Today’s new wave of ‘millennials’ are looking for a long list of components when looking for a job. It’s important to them that they source out companies that they would like to work for, companies that are staff-friendly, what training are they going to get, pay packages, and where will the job lead potentially in the future (promotion, investment opportunities, etc).

“Job satisfaction is what they are after and that is a positive issue. It makes for happy and content employees. Being thanked for a job well done, training opportunities and a feeling that there is room to progress are all important issues.

“A farm business, in order to compete with other sectors, should look at marketing themselves to potential employees such as creating a web page and being on Facebook. For young people, these social networks are how they source and do their research. You have to keep up or you will be left behind.

“Farmers as a group also tend to employ people like themselves, which is not necessarily a good thing. Look at it this way – Manchester United would never employ a team of goalies!

“A farm, like any other business, needs to think about diversity on a team, areas such as age, gender, experiences and skills will all contribute to harmony”.

Key points to attracting and keeping good employees

  • Satisfactory time off and holidays.
  • Invest in training opportunities to improve and learn new skills.
  • Be a good communicator – open-door policy.
  • Be staff-friendly. Listen.
  • Competitive pay rates – pay people well for a job well done. “You get what you pay for.”
  • Give room to progress.
  • Thank staff members for a job well done.
  • RESPECT your employees – ask the question – would you work for you?