Meet Ashley CollinsAshley Collins, AgCareers.com’s Education & Marketing Manager, has been with the company full-time for nearly 12 years. In 2004 Ashley worked for eight months as the first AgCareers.com intern. She works from a home office in North Carolina.
 
What do you do on a day-to-day basis in your role with AgCareers.com?
 
A typical day could include corresponding with stakeholders of our business whom I manage our relationship with such as National FFA, AFA, STEM Connector and the National Teach Ag Campaign. Or it could include working with some of the companies that utilize us that have an interest in recruiting or retaining young people into their businesses. It could also include working on market research projects like our internship benchmark survey, or high demand career profiles. Another day could be filled with conference calls or face-to-face meetings with clients, stakeholders or speaking to a group of students either attending a national conference or on their campus via a virtual visit.

 

What do you enjoy about working with AgCareers.com?
 
I enjoy that the core of our business helps people achieve their career goals. Our job board, the market research we publish, our social media outreach is all part of providing a service that helps people.

 

What advice would you give to employers using AgCareers.com for the first time?
 
Refer to our market research. Use it in your business decision-making meetings. Use it when you talk to people about careers. This information we offer can be your secret data weapon when it comes to recruiting and retaining employees. You just have to take advantage of our resources.

 


By
Published on December 2nd, 2016

 Read More

IMG_3843Eric Spell serves as president and co-founder of AgCareers.com. He has been with the organization since its beginnings in 1997. He works out of the Clinton, North Carolina office.
 
What do you do on a day-to-day basis in your role with AgCareers.com?
 
Much of my day consists of supporting my teammates – client requests, marketing-related activities, new product/service development, and monitoring key performance indicators for our business. I also spend time each week planning my travel schedule for upcoming industry events.
 
What do you enjoy about working with AgCareers.com?
 
I enjoy helping people around me develop and grow professionally. It’s very important to me that people around me enjoy what they do, feel like they are accomplishing their goals, and proud to be a part of our team! I also get great satisfaction knowing that we are helping connect people with careers every single day.
 
What advice would you give to employers using AgCareers.com for the first time?
 
We’re glad you chose to use us! While we are an industry niche employment website, please note that 40% of our talent audience has degrees/experience outside of agriculture, so please note that finance, accounting, IT, marketing, and HR roles do really well on our site. Also, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – you’ll be impressed!


By
Published on August 1st, 2016

 Read More

FINDING THE RIGHT TALENTRecruiting ain’t easy! I feel like I could make money at the AgCareers.com Ag & Food Roundtable selling bumper stickers or t-shirts with that motto. Not just the act of recruiting but achieving the ultimate end goal of finding the right fit for the job, the company, the culture and the employee! Here a few creative methods to finding the right talent:
 
1. This first one is not rocket science but I honestly feel like many employers forget that this tool is in their toolbox. Previous candidates. Not to be confused with previous employees, which is another creative method. If you are using an applicant tracking system or just a folder of resumes on your desk check back through those resumes! In some cases, they weren’t a fit and they won’t be a fit, but others may have just applied to the wrong job or timing wasn’t right. Maybe they turned down your offer for another that hasn’t turned out so well. No one wants to be the second fiddle but we all like to be given a second chance!

 

2. References. Not your own, but the ones who’ve helped you find the great employees you have now! Great people surround their self with other great people and you don’t know until you ask. If someone has served as a reference for someone else, they’re probably the type of person who is keeping their eye open for others. Reach back out to those references and make sure they know about current openings you have.


By
Published on July 8th, 2016

 Read More

campus ambassador programBack in 2004, AgCareers.com developed a program to help spread the word on college campuses about the AgCareers.com website and the employment brand of many of our partnership clients. The idea was to hire college students to be AgCareers.com representatives on their campuses and give informative presentations to clubs and organizations about the website and showcase the types of internships and jobs that could be found on AgCareers.com. Over the course of 11 years, AgCareers.com employed 50 students from 63 different campuses and quickly became the industry model for campus ambassador programs. Many others in the industry have come to us for assistance in developing their own programs, which has lead us to develop this top 10 list of things to consider when developing a campus ambassador program.

 

10 Tips for Creating a Successful Campus Ambassador Program

 

1. Ambassador programs are much like internship programs; you must be committed to achieving success. Depending on the size of your ambassador class, the length of their term and the duties they have, you more than likely need to dedicate a large portion (50-80%) of someone’s plate to effectively running the program.

 

2. Understand that students are most likely to be reachable at night. The person on your staff who manages this program must be able to flex their time.

 

3. Develop some type of accountability model for your ambassadors.


By
Published on June 24th, 2016

 Read More

Krystal TyndallKrystal Tyndall has been with AgCareers.com since mid-2013 and serves as the company’s HR Services Associate. Krystal works closely with Mary Barefoot, Director of HR Services, in the Clinton, North Carolina office.

 

What do you do on a day-to-day basis in your role with AgCareers.com?

 

Day to day I interact with other HR professionals seeking compensation, payroll, and human resource-related data for their company. Being part of the HR Services Team for AgCareers.com keeps me up to date with trends in the industry. We conduct market research and feedback-detailed reports to other ag industry businesses.

 

What do you enjoy about working with AgCareers.com?

 

AgCareers.com is a niche job board, and working here has allowed me to continue to serve the ag community and work closely with HR professionals in all types of industries. It never is the same, repetitive work. My job keeps me on my toes and forward thinking. I have an agricultural background and enjoy learning more each day about the industry that is continually growing in the number of career opportunities available.

 

What advice would you give to employers using AgCareers.com for the first time?

 
AgCareers.com can fit the needs of any business, small to large – take the time to look at what we offer, the experience we all have, and our goal in feeding you high-quality talent. If you don’t have the time to research us, try us out – you won’t be disappointed.


By
Published on May 6th, 2016

 Read More

what it means to be a mentorI’m 33 years old. I initially questioned my expertise for writing this blog post. I had always had a mental picture of mentors looking like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Gandalf, or Mary Poppins, none of which I feel I come close to a visual likeness of and they’re all older than 33. I was profiling mentors, and profiling is wrong! Then just like a spoon full of sugar, or divine intervention I received not one, or two but three messages, in the course of about eight weeks, from people thanking me for the influence I had on their lives and careers. I can assure you if you haven’t already, the day you receive a message like that will be one that causes you to slow down a little and examine yourself and the bigger picture of your life.

 

Two of the individuals who sent me messages were students I had worked with in a professional setting whom I did manage for very brief chapters of their careers. The other was a young lady who grew up in church with me but was six or more years younger than I. In reading their messages and thinking about the time I spent with each of the three, I realized a critical trait for being a mentor. A synonym for the word mentor is a teacher, and in all three examples, I realized I had taught by example. I hadn’t practiced a formal curriculum for mentoring someone, I was just honest and offered advice when asked for advice.

 


By
Published on April 22nd, 2016

 Read More

How do you know you need an internInternships are highly stressed on college campuses to students.  Across the country faculty, career services and administration all promote that an internship will open the door to future career opportunities, will give the student an applied experience in the field, and help them grow their professional network. But what’s in it for the employer?  Why should you and/or your company invest your time, energy, and dollars into an internship program?

 

The obvious #1 reason to have an intern – succession planning!  Look around your company.  How many of your employees will reach retirement age in the next 5 years?  According to the 2015/2016 AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review, over 50% of employers in agriculture report, 1-5% of their workforce will be retiring.  Depending on the size of your company that could be one person or five people or it could be 50 or more.  Do you have people who are the slightest bit trained to do the jobs that those soon-to-be retirees are currently doing?  Interns are the beginning step to identifying those replacements.  If you provide a successful experience for your intern(s) you’ll reap the added benefit of developing employer brand ambassadors for your company on their campuses.  That will pay dividends for years to helping your recruitment efforts as your workforce continues to age and consider retirement.


By
Published on March 18th, 2016

 Read More

1. Sixty-four percent of companies who participated in the annual AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review estimate 1-5% of their current workforce will retire in the next 2 years.  Talent doesn’t grow on trees but its growing at colleges & universities across the country!

 

2. Looking for local talent? According to CollegeBoard.org80% of students begin college in a state where they are a resident.  Attending a campus career fair will give you access to talent who wants to stay in your area.

 

3. Think new grads lack knowledge? The millennial generation entering the workforce now is tremendously innovative.  Just consider all the social media outlets and apps they’ve developed in the last 5 years!

 

4. In the 2015 AgCareers.com Internship Benchmark Survey49% of interns in the agriculture industry from across the country said they learned about their internship through career services/at a career fair.


By
Published on August 14th, 2015

 Read More

 

welcome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the AgCareers.com employer blog, Talent Harvest.  As the leading online job board for the agriculture, food and biotechnology industries, we hope to use this blog to provide you with information and resources that help you harvest top ag talent for careers within your organization.

 

In 2014, the AgCareers.com site hosted more than 64,700 career opportunities in North America.  In addition to our job board, AgCareers.com offers a wide array of products and services for employers in the ag industry to help make the recruiting process simple and the recruiter more educated.  The experienced staff at AgCareers.com, as well as our guest bloggers, plan to use this blog to share some of that knowledge with our readers and help you identify the resources available on AgCareers.com.  Visit the Products and Resources tabs above to preview some of the products and services we offer.  If you’re looking to hire top talent right away, click our Post a Job quick link to post your job today!

 


By
Published on May 5th, 2015

 Read More