Selecting a professional superintendent to manage your golf course investment
Conducting a professional employment search
Because of the enormous responsibility, both economic and aesthetic, placed on the golf course superintendent, you should conduct an extensive search for the proper candidate. Several avenues are available to you to circulate information concerning your opening. You may field a more promising array of candidates if you take advantage of some of the channels that are selectively targeted to recruit well-qualified professionals. Be sure to allow adequate time for superintendents to submit their résumés, typically two to four weeks for a professional position.
Suggested industry recruitment channels you may wish to consider when advertising your position, beyond placing an ad in the classified section for professionals in your local newspaper, include the following:
- GCSAA publishes information about your job opening for an advertising fee in the Employment Referral Service (ERS) Job Postings to association members. Go online to list your position with ERS Job Postings, or contact GCSAA at 800-472-7878. (Note: GCSAA policy requires that an incumbent superintendent have prior knowledge that the position will be advertised through ERS Job Postings.)
- On a local level, many of GCSAA’s affiliated chapters provide a service similar to ERS Job Postings for members of their organizations. GCSAA can provide you with information on how to contact a specific chapter.
- Other golf-related publications also offer classified advertisement sections. Information concerning these magazines should be sought directly from the magazine’s editor or advertising representative.
- Colleges and universities have placement offices that you may contact for information about graduates of their turfgrass management programs. Professors and instructors may be able to recommend recent graduates or put you in touch with alumni who are interested in changing positions. A list of turfgrass schools with contact information is found in GCSAA's Online College Guide.
The manner in which you conduct your search reflects your reputation as an employer and will be the first impression candidates have of the organization or golf course facility. GCSAA members abide by a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Guidelines to promote and maintain the highest professional standards of service and conduct among the membership.
In addition, professional respect for fellow members guides a GCSAA superintendent in situations that fall outside of the code. For example, members are committed to high ethical standards when pursuing employment. When conducting a job search, members do not send their résumés unsolicited to a course without an open position. If employers seek to hire a member superintendent before the current superintendent has resigned or has been discharged, a superintendent will not discuss the employment opportunity until the current superintendent has been notified.
GCSAA Professional Conduct Guidelines
The following professional conduct guidelines are provided to encourage the highest standards of conduct among the membership of GCSAA. These guidelines are a companion document to the GCSAA Code of Ethics.
1. A member should always contact a fellow superintendent prior to visiting his/her course, regardless of the reason for the visit.
2. Applications for employment should only be sent to an employer if the applicant has contacted the current superintendent to determine whether the position is available, or if the applicant is responding to an Employment Referral Service announcement.
3. A member should only accept an interview for a job currently held by a fellow superintendent if the applicant has contacted the current superintendent to verify the position is open, or if the applicant has learned about the opening in an Employment Referral Service announcement.
4. Members should always adhere to the complimentary golf policies of other golf courses and always give as much advance notice as possible when seeking playing privileges at a fellow superintendent's golf facility.
5. Members should only accept a consulting assignment at a golf facility if the current superintendent at that facility is aware of such impending consulting activity.
6. Consulting recommendations for a facility should be made in the presence of the current superintendent or written recommendations should be carbon copied to the current superintendent.
7. Members should always conduct themselves in the highest professional manner at all golf-related events and other public events where the member is representing the golf course superintendent profession.
8. A member should not render negative opinions or comments about fellow members.
Your goal in selecting a superintendent is to find the individual whose qualifications best match your organization’s needs. The position description defined one side of the equation: what your golf course needs. As your search begins to net some prospective candidates, it’s time to start looking at the other side of the equation: what the candidate has to offer.
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