Qualifications
What level of qualification constitutes a groundsman/greenkeeper being over qualified?
Before anyone says' there is no substitute for experience, assume the question relates to someone with over twelve years experience.
Thanks.
qualifications
A very good question colin, and i hope you get many replies, it will be interesting to reed peoples answers.
I myself have recently completed a MSc in Sports Surface Technology at Cranfield University , last september and still find myself unemployed, trying to find the appropiate career opportunity particularly in the midlands is proving to be difficult.
I have been turned down from several posts due to being over qualified.
What level of qualifications should greenkeepers and groundsman aspire to will depend on many issues.
The main one being the interpretation of the tiltle given to these posts by the employer and the industry's education authorities and governing bodies.
What should we expect from these posts , when do they cease to be a hands on post and become managerial may indicate the level of qualification required.
Also the level of complexity of the job will also influence what qualifications are required. with the advance of technology seen in recent years , specialised machinery, computer controled watering and weather stations, GPS and many other devices.
Over Qualification
I've heard of people in various industries being told they were over qualified for a post, but not in groundsmanship or gardening - I'm sure it happens though.
Why should over qualification deny someone a job? I get the impression (as I'm never likely to suffer this problem!) that it's because the post is considered a menial one and someone with top certificates would get bored and leave in a short time.
I don't think this view can apply to groundsmanship (or gardening) as intelligence correctly applied can enable superb results.
A good employer will look at all aspects of a person, not just his qualifications: a willingness to take an interest in the work, not just do it; to make inprovements to the grounds and himself; to be pleasant to get on with; there are so many other things to consider. If they only look at qualifications, they're stupid.
Qualifications mean many things too. Lorenzo's MSc says not only that he has a good knowledge of Sports Surface Technologies but also that he has both a high level of intelligence and the ability to analyse various components and come to a conclusion.
I don't think this is an industry where qualifications alone can determine a person's suitability for a post.
over qualified
there is no doubt that our industry is still in change mode.
Change from being an art or trade where only manual skills are considered ,to a proffesion where scientific knowledge and technical skills are paramount.As a former company manager I tried to view prorospective employees with a wide range of qualifications on their cv as people who
could take in knowledge and put it to good use.
Now i work for myself I rely on both my qualifications and my experience when I am talking to potential customers.You can never aquire to much knowledge its how you adapt to the situation you are in that counts.
Colin perhaps you should ask yourself where you want to be in say 10 years time.There is no doubt that the industry will change and move towards the proffesional and therefore qualifications will prove to be invaluable to one who wants to further their career
over qualified
I think it all depends on what job you are going for.
if it is a grounds/course manager with a large, private members club, with buckets of money, they would tend to appoint somebody with very good technical qualifications, where if it was a smaller orgsanisation, they would perhaps tend to look for somebody with more a more "hands on "approach.
My last job, which i was in for 5yrs, was a good example, i passed NVQ4 in june 2003, and basically got told i was over qualified my position(head groundsman) as the course work i carried out in my course , my boss did not think it was relevant to my position within the company
Thans for the response
Thanks everyone for your responses. I think you are all right that it depends on the job, but how many jobs are there out there that require/desire graduate or post graduate level qualifications in our industry?
Lorenzo, I think you have more than shown your technical knowledge with your well written articles on this website, so I hope you find employment soon.
Qualifications
Thank you colin for those words of encouragement, i will be posting more articles next week.
It is good to see some positive responses to your question. we all need to raise the profile of our industry and ensure that our employers or owners have a better understanding of grounsdmanship. the unserstanding of soil / plant water relationships is vital.
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