A major managed farmland near bangalore company recently complained to me that they had over 3000 jobs to fill in the Midwest and they could not find trained talent who were willing to take these jobs.
I know this might sound crazy if you are someone looking for a job or if you are in an industry where you are laying people off rather than having jobs to fill. However the media doesn’t report on the jobs that are available they are more likely to report on the loss of jobs in America.
As a consultant and trainer in the agriculture industry (I grew up on a working farm so I have first hand knowledge of the mentality of agriculture people) I told the CEO on the phone that they had a PR problem. Interestingly about two weeks later there was news media coverage on CNN about jobs available in the agriculture industry.
There are a number of reasons why recruiting and retention is a challenge in the agriculture industry such as younger generations like Generation Y (those in their 20’s) are shying away from labor jobs and are more attracted to technological fields and that Generation X (those in their 30’s) do not want to be away from their families for long periods of time and thirdly that Zoomers (Baby boomers 50 and to about 28) are retiring.
But these reasons do not have to be seen as a negative when looking to recruit and retain specifically for the agriculture industry, rather there is an opportunity to focus and ‘sell’ the positives to each of the demographics so that we are providing custom lifestyle values that will entice talent to the industry.
