Pennsylvania Turfgrass – Keystone Athletic Field Managers Organization

When questions of recruitment and employment prospects in the turf industry come up, Tyler Bloom is a good man to go to for answers. The 2009 Penn State Turf Science graduate is an experienced golf course superintendent and now the owner of a consulting firm focused on workforce development in the turfgrass industry, so he has his finger on the pulse of current industry challenges and opportunities. We caught up with Tyler at a recent PSU Turfgrass Job Fair, where he served as a panelist and resource.

Recruiting Challenges

In discussing the recruiting challenges the turf industry faces, Tyler Bloom pointed first to recent overall changes in wage and work environment expectations. Since March, entry-level wages rose 17.1-percent in the recreation sectors, according to the US Department of Labor, putting pressure on the turf industry to change in order to be competitive with other industries. Remote work has also changed the way American job-seekers think about the work environment. Offering flexible schedules, improved rewards or benefits, compensation, and growth opportunities helps to attract excellent candidates.

However, the volume of quality candidates entering the turf industry from entry level to mid-level management could be better, Tyler says. He points to insufficient resources for sourcing candidates and marketing of employment and career pathways, leading to low career awareness at the community level, from K-12 institutions, and from the general public. “It is hard to engage parents or job-seekers into an industry that hasn’t been visible or competitive to other industries,” he says. In his experience, managers are often more comfortable on the field than in the interview room. They need to prioritize and appropriately designate or delegate the time and resources needed for recruitment and hiring. “If their only strategy is posting on Indeed, they will get easily frustrated when things don’t go the right way.”

Growth Opportunities

With every challenge comes an opportunity for growth. “I personally see a huge upside, given the rising salaries for technician and assistant manager level roles,” Bloom says. Students entering the profession will have high growth potential, and with expected retirements and people leaving the industry, senior level roles will open up. He believes that businesses will continue to invest in ambitious talent so that they don’t lose good candidates.

Also, as the industry adopts new technology, he sees an increased need for the younger generation to help manage innovations, whether on a golf course, sports turf, in manufacturing, research and development, or in sales. He sees employers becoming much more accommodating and flexible to the needs of the workforce, with time off, regular eight-hour work days, and rotating weekends. There are also opportunities for education partners to deliver their education more flexibly, with online learning much more utilized and therefore more accessible to the workforce.

Quality Candidates, Rewarding Jobs

Who is a good candidate for a career in turf, we asked? According to Tyler Bloom, job seekers from the fields of carpentry, fishery, farming, project management, electricians, plumbers, and other trade-based careers all have hard skills that are useful in turf management. Transferable skills include the use of technology, computers, customer service, equipment operation, multi-tasking, safety, communication, and teamwork. Good candidates will typically be rule followers, thorough and accurate in their work completion, and comfortable with some level of independence and autonomy. They’ll like achieving goals consistently and efficiently in a professional work environment where they can be accountable. Mostly, Tyler says, he looks for candidates who offer soft skills and who thrive in an outdoor work environment, using their hands, and dealing with nature.

A career in turf offers a job-seeker many unexpected rewards. Besides the compensation, there are the intangibles. “There’s never a day that you won’t learn something new, whether it is agronomic-related, weather, government relations, people, or sales. There is a high level of dedication and commitment required to be successful, given the nature of the work itself. This leads to a lot of pride, competence, stability, and growth potential. I don’t see stagnation and complacency in growth potential, so someone can reasonably expect to make a strong salary three to five years after starting,” predicts Bloom. Beyond that, he says, “There’s a spiritual connection with the environment that is unlike anything else.”

A Niche for Every Person

When asked about his own career path, Tyler Bloom says, “I’ve been blessed to be at the right place at the right time and capitalized on opportunities as they were presented.  My passion is really centered around the game of golf and using golf as the center point for career development. My strengths have been in communication, human resource management, advocacy, and administrative type roles, so I married those skills in a unique way.” He recalls that he started as a bag room attendant at a local private club, then fell in love with the intricacies of maintaining the property, which led him to attain a Bachelor’s of Science in Turfgrass Management from Penn State University. Three internships (at Merion Golf Club, Muirfield Village Golf Club, and Southern Hills Country Club) and a post-grad job at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh for the 2010 US Women’s Open later, he moved into a Lead Assistant Superintendent role at Sunnybrook Golf Club in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. His first Golf Course Superintendent’s job was at Sparrows Point Country Club in Baltimore, Maryland. He has since earned an Executive Certificate in Talent Acquisition and Recruitment, and is a Certified Partner with the Predictive Index. In 2020, he began an independent consulting firm focused on workforce development and search within the turfgrass, green, and club industry.

Tyler Bloom advises job seekers going into this field to be open-minded. “There are a lot of opportunities beyond the traditional pathway of golf and sports turf, and you can pick any location in the country and internationally and find that it intersects with the turf industry. There’s a niche for every person. The only real ceiling is the one you impose on yourself.”

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