Abstract
Career exploration is necessary for any individual pursuing a professional course as it equips them with a better understanding for them to be able to plan their career development. Career exploration enables one to identify the challenges in any profession and the salary scale. As a matter of fact career exploration is considered important by those who want to map a path for their careers. As such it is not a luxury but a critical element in career growth. It enables an individual to pursue a relevant course that will better place them to make significant career progress within a short time. The career of a turf manager or any other staff in this profession is no exception. By exploring all the opportunities available in this career together with the salary prospects one can be able to plan more effectively. Quintessentially, career exploration should guide an individual in choosing a particular field to explore further.
Introduction
For many years, I wanted to work as a turf manager which is a job that is also referred to as turf care. This job largely involves the management of sporting pitches that must be used in different kinds of sports. The skills required vary considerably dependent on the type of game engaged in and whether the surfaces used artificial or natural (Aldous 61). Artificial surfaces require special skills which are used to take good care of sand-based athletic fields. Sporting pitches include tennis course, golf courses, football pitches and athletic tracks. The education of a turf manager is offered in colleges and universities through certificate and degree programmers that equip individuals to be competent turf managers. Other careers that are related to turf management are grounds keeping and golf course superintendents (Mathew et al. 56). The aim of this paper is to examine the career of a turf manager and to discuss the future job outlook in the market, the current salary and the reflection of the challenges of a turf manager.
Future job outlook
Turf management is considered to be a lucrative career since staff spends most of their days outdoors ensuring that plain surfaces are safe and fun(Mathew et al. 76).. It is an ideal career for individuals who have a passion for sports and want to participate in making the career successful. In sports, turf managers are responsible for ensuring that the field of sports is safe throughout the season. This job is critical since football, soccer fields and baseball fields tend to deteriorate in condition after repeated use. Some factors make a turf manager an outstanding individual in the sporting fraternity.
Turf management has been known to be a stable career for college students since it offers stability, security for fresh graduates. This is especially important in an economic climate where the prices of items are constantly fluctuating. 90% of the graduates who study turf management in college have been known to land a permanent job with opportunities for career growth within a year of leaving college. Indeed, no other industry has a success rate as that which is demonstrated in turf management (Aldous 67). Due to the growing popularity of sports, there has been an increased demand for turf managers in stadiums, athletic facilities and golf courses globally. Turf management jobs are mostly full time throughout the calendar year.
Turf Management offers individuals opportunity to grow due to the challenges that are available which enable people to develop their mental capacity in problem-solving. Active turf managers draw on their educational foundation in mathematics, chemistry, and biology. An excellent problem-solving ability, good communication skills, and creativity help individuals flourish in this career path (Mathew et al. 89). There are constant activities such as developing site plans, pest management, fertilizing, operating machinery and irrigating that exposes people to a broad range of activities.
Contrary to popular opinion, turf management is not a one sided career rather it is multi-faceted. Sport turf managers are needed to have in-depth knowledge of different kinds of sports and a passion for those sports. It is critical for a turf manager to have in-depth knowledge of the game played in the pitching ground that they maintain to ensure that they can guarantee safety for the players. Turf management enables individuals to develop their management skills through managing crews that keep these sporting fields (McFarlin & Paul 43). Effective decision-making skills are central to the success of turf managers. Excellent communication skills are also a critical component in ensuring that all members of the maintenance team have a shared understanding of their expectations.
Turf management has some careers under it which provide career opportunities for individuals, golf sports superintendents supervise the grounds crew and maintain the state of golf courses. Golf course superintendents are usually responsible for overseeing some employees. A sports turf manager monitors the maintenance of athletic fields or entire sports complexes that could be used by professional soccer teams and baseball teams (Aldous 61).
Lawn care managers mostly function as consultants, technicians, and supervisors with different lawn care franchises. They are responsible for mowing, fertilizing and irrigation. The sales and service representatives in the turf industry supply the equipment that the managers use (McFarlin & Paul 43). These products could include seed, fertilizer, sprayers, amendments and mowers. Research consultants are tasked with the responsibility of developing fertilizer and grass for the future. These research instructors also give advice for payment and lecture in universities, technical schools, and colleges.
Current salary
According to data collected in the United States in 2015 to indicate the base salary of turf managers the following information was compiled. A turf manager with high school education was paid an average of $65,000 annually. A turf manager with some college education was paid an average of $ 72,000 per year (Willoughby et al. 56). A turf manager with a one-year certificate in turf management was paid an average of $75,000 annually.
A Turf manager with a two-year college certificate was paid an average of $ 88,000 a year, a turf manager with an associate's degree was paid an average of$84,000 annually while a turf manager with a bachelor's degree was paid an average of $ 89,000 per year(Willoughby et al. 56). The amount paid was dependent on the experience of an individual and any other academic qualifications that they possessed. The salary range for head superintendents is $50,000 to $250,000 annually. The starting salary of assistant superintendent's range from $35,000 to $ 45,000 a year and the salaries of assistant field managers range from $35,000 to $10,000 on an annual basis. Lawn care managers are mostly paid on a contractual basis depending on the needs of their clients (Willoughby et al. 56). It has been reported that homeowners in the United States spend $15 billion annually in landscaping and maintaining their lawns.
Reflection on a job shadow moment
Turf management has its fair share of challenge. Some of the job shadow moments include the desire for full-time positions will full benefits. At times, job seekers who are fresh from college are unable to secure employment on a full-time basis since the jobs that are available in the market only allow them to work on part time (Aldous 61). These part-time jobs tend to be paid in cash and may not contain significant benefits such as medical cover for the family of the employee. On other occasions, job seekers are employed with the promise that they will be fully absorbed into an institution after a period of probation in many cases they are not incorporated into the organization.
Those in the profession have regularly complained of overwork due to understaffing, working for many hours without overtime payment and high volumes of paperwork. All these factors are responsible in making employees highly inefficient. Due to the constant change in employees, the firm incurs high operational costs that are used in training new staff consequently having an effect on the budget. By and large, turf management jobs have to be done in situations of high budgetary constraints (Mathew et al. 56). One of the challenges that turf manager's face is the problem of insufficient funds, this affects the maintenance process since the firm has inadequate resources to ensure proper conditions of sporting facilities.
Some difficulties that are present in other careers are also present in turf management. There is a promotional challenge as turf superintendent seek to progress from their rank to higher positions such as turf management. This is a problem in obtaining promotion which is necessary to expose individuals to the upper levels of the hierarchy of the directorate where they can develop their leadership skills and be part of the vision of the sporting institution (Aldous 61). At times, there is the inadvertent challenge of leadership in managing individuals in crews due to the different personalities and perception. These problems can pose other problems of influencing other persons to follow decisions made by the turf manager.
In cases where the turf manager moves across different organizations, they may find themselves grappling with the challenge of understanding the new organizational culture, their vision and integrating with the staff (McFarlin & Paul 43). Since turf management is a global career mainly because of sporting activities that span the continents, a sporting turf manager may find himself or herself facing challenges in culture, environment and climatic condition which could be troubling for their families.
Conclusion
Turf management accords the turf manager with an opportunity to work in an environment that they enjoy. In this profession, individuals work in resorts, local community governments, country clubs and professional sports teams. Sports turf managers can work either on employment or on a contractual basis. This is an ideal career for people who like to work in an outdoor environment. Additionally, this is a good job for people who have a passion for sporting activities, but they lack the skills, the talent and the opportunity to participate in eh sport (Aldous 61). This career has been known to offer individuals with chances to apply the latest technological advancements to maintain sporting pitches. All the efforts of this career are geared towards ensuring playability and safety of the sporting fields. The job security and the potential for growth in this career are not rivaled by many other careers.
Works Cited
Aldous, David. International Turf Management. Routledge, 2014.
Mathew, Susan, S. L. Chawla, and Roshni Agnihotri. "Recent Advances in Turf Management." (2016).
McFarlin, Dean, and Paul D. Sweeney. International Management: Strategic Opportunities & Cultural Challenges. Routledge, 2014.
Willoughby, D. A., F. P. Lee Jr, and J. Beil. "Academic Performance in a Two-Year Turfgrass Management Program as an Indicator for Career Success." NACTA Journal 57.3 (2013).
