Tomorrow's Ag Professionals Ag-Based Companies Use Innovative Methods to Attract New Employees

Micah Duvick grew up on a small farm near Sandwich, Ill., his family involved in corn and soybean production. He knew the operation wasn't large enough to support him along with his parents, so he headed off to school in Missouri to the College of the Ozarks. While there, Duvick learned about an internship program for college students with the Elburn Cooperative Company, the very same cooperative that buys his family's grain.


As an intern, he treated seeds and scouted crops. After graduating from college, Elburn hired him full time at its Sycamore agronomy location.

"I like the level of responsibility they give me," says Duvick, who graduated with majors in ag business and animal science. "That's the one thing that really attracted me, that and they're not afraid to throw you into the job."

RECRUITING CHALLENGES

Ann Bindseil, human resources manager for Elburn Cooperative, knows the importance of attracting young talent like Duvick. She also understands the challenges of recruiting for positions based in relatively small towns in northeast Illinois. The cooperative, after all, is competing with nearby Chicago for college graduates.

Bindseil maintains an active college-recruiting program for the cooperative. She targets students from the agricultural sciences departments at nearby Joliet Junior College, Illinois State University, University of Illinois, Western Illinois University and College of the Ozarks. She hires up to five interns per year, and they sometimes transition to full-time employment after graduation.

"We're really not as particular about the college as to what the student brings to the internship," Bindseil explains.

She says Elburn's biggest assets are its strong brand name and reputation as a great employer, something Duvick can attest to. "Elburn's character and expectations attracted me," he says.

But agriculture-based companies aren't just using the traditional models of internships and on-campus recruiting to bring in new hires.

Monsanto hires about 500 interns and co-op students a year, 300 of those in the U.S.

Melissa Harper, vice president of global talent acquisition and diversity for Monsanto, says the company uses Facebook to connect with potential candidates and relies on those candidates reposting information to spread the word. But even though Monsanto enjoys a near 100% conversion rate from internships to full-time hires in fields like finance and information technology, Harper admits attracting and retaining talent is a persistent challenge.

Harper explains Monsanto sends some of its scientists into secondary school classrooms to conduct outreach programs on food-based sciences to educate younger generations about careers in agriculture.

She adds that once the company hires recruits, they tend to stay because of the competitive salaries Monsanto offers. "We have to stay competitive and aware within our industry and outside of it," she says.

But even some larger companies don't have unlimited salary budgets. Kathleen Schindler is head of talent acquisition and talent management, North America, for Syngenta, which has a major production facility in Houston. Schindler knows all about the challenges of competition when hiring for an ag-based company.

STIFF COMPETITION

"Welcome to the chemical diocese," she laughs, noting that her company competes with the likes of ExxonMobil and Shell. "They offer tremendous salaries we can't touch," Schindler remarks. As a result, she says she looks for people who are really passionate about agriculture.

Schindler notes the biggest challenge ag-based companies like hers face is finding a large enough pool of capable talent as fewer students choose agricultural sciences. "We keep pulling from the same pot, and the pot is getting smaller and smaller," she says.

As a result, Syngenta focuses heavily on recruiting people with leadership skills. The company runs a global leadership program known as Grow in Syngenta (GiS), which annually accepts and trains 10 graduates from top MBA schools. "We want people who can think, innovate, and problem solve," Schindler says. "To be a leader in our company, you don't have to have grown up on a farm, but you do have to care about agriculture."


Micah Duvick transitioned from intern to full-time employee for Elburn Cooperative after graduating from the College of the Ozarks. (Progressive Farmer photo by Dave Tonge)
John Appel, an MBA graduate from Lehigh University, joined GiS last summer. "What really sold me on the job was the agriculture industry and how much impact it has on the world," he says. "The industry faces real global challenges to face a growing population using fewer resources."

"Our job is to make sure we can feed nine billion people by 2050," Schindler says, "so we're not just looking for tech skills. We want people who are motivated and who want to grow."

Syngenta targets recruiting on college campuses with strong ag programs, and all grads go through a development program designed to help them grow as employees and future managers.

Appel, who is now based in Syngenta's Basel, Switzerland, headquarters, won't be there long. "The GiS program is a four- to five-year post-MBA program geared toward broad and fast development," he says, explaining he will assume three different roles in at least two locations to help him grow professionally.

Appel is indicative of ag-based companies' newest hiring strategy in an increasingly competitive market—hiring to the culture. "We have to continue to think differently about the makeup of a candidate," Schindler explains, "considering what we can buy versus what we can develop."



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