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The 29th Annual PLANET Student Career Days held March 19 through 22 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md., proved to be more than just a competition among students proving themselves in landscape and horticulture events. For more than 80 lawn and landscape contracting companies with booths at the event’s career fair, recruitment was just as much a competitive event as paver installation or irrigation assembly.
“The industry has become so strong that there’s a huge demand for landscape students – so much so that there aren’t enough students to fill all the available positions,” said Steve Cohan, program coordinator for the Univeristy of Maryland’s department of natural resource sciences and landscape architecture. “We’ve never seen a career fair so aggressive as it has been this year. In the future I’d like to coordinate a career fair that’s open to the whole university to showcase the opportunities in the green industry to other students.”
Several first-time participants in the career fair were among the companies vying for qualified graduates to fill full-time and internship positions. Juan Vila, president of Vila & Son, Miami, Fla., said he was hoping to find soon-to-be grads for each of the company’s three branches in Miami, Orlando, and their newest location in West Palm Beach. Likewise, Tony Sposato, owner of Sposato Landscape, Milton, Del., was interested in finding some new full-time employees and said he enjoyed the atmosphere and opportunity the career fair afforded his company as an employer.
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“This is our first time at Student Career Days, so we’re really gathering resumes and meeting people,” he said. “Whether we find new employees or not, it’s the networking that’s really the important part. This kind of event helps us get our name out and the students will remember us when we come to future career days. A lot of the students are underclassmen and aren’t getting ready to graduate, so even though they might just be looking for internships now, by the time next year rolls around they’ll be looking for full-time jobs.”
Southern Illinois University junior Bekah Bruns echoed Vila and Sposato's comments that the career fair was an exiting opportunity for everyone involved. “This is my first Student Career Days and all the students who attended last year told us that it would be great – and they were right!” she said. “It’s really amazing the number of employers that are here and how many opportunities the students have to get their names and experience out there and find a job in their field.”
So what are those employers looking for in potential new employees? A few seasoned career fair participants shared some insights into the characteristics successful candidates exhibit.
“Over the course of the Student Career Days event, we’ll probably interview 15 to 20 candidates and it’s great if we get one or two new hires from that,” said Ben Gandy, director of horticulture for Scapes, Atlanta, Ga. “What we do is take names and prequalify candidates during the career fair and set up times for interviews later in the day. We’re not necessarily looking for someone with technical experience – at this point, it’s really about their character. Are they ready to work? Are they enthusiastic? Are they passionate about what they do and the career field they’re getting into? Those are the real characteristics we look for.”
Gandy also said employers need to remember that, for many students, career fairs may be their first-ever interviews. As such, wide-eyed amazement, nerves and a less-than-formal state of dress aren’t uncommon and employers should keep these states of mind in perspective when interviewing candidates.
Damian Barber, a branch manager for TruGreen LandCare, agreed that ambitious students are what his company looks for at career fairs and mentioned that his original position with TruGreen came when he was a student at SUNY Cobleskill.
“I participated in Student Career Days when I was in college and that’s when the opportunities at TruGreen were presented to me,” said the career fair veteran. “Since then, TruGreen and a number of other companies have made tremendous commitments to events like Student Career Days and that’s really important in such a growing industry.”
Barber said TruGreen is looking to expand and was expecting double-digit hiring at the career fair to fill positions at branches throughout the country.
