One of the most common questions people ask us is, “Where can I find jobs in the industry?” If you’re wondering the same thing, we’re more than happy to have a chat about what you’re looking for and point you in the right direction.
But there’s no shortage of places to find work, so if you want to go away and do your own research, this guide is for you. We’re sharing where to look for jobs in greenkeeping and grounds management, and how to find the best employers.
Our Top Recommendation: The IGFH Useful Links Board
Before you start searching for jobs, we recommend saving yourself an hour and heading straight to the IGFH Useful Links board. It pulls together the main job sources from around the world into a single page.
The idea is that rather than keeping an eye on all these resources separately, you can simply save this page to your bookmarks. You can jump from UK school roles to Australian golf clubs to US stadium jobs in a few clicks. If you like keeping an eye on things, or you’re thinking about working abroad, you should find it helpful.
Sector Specific Job Boards
The obvious starting point (aside from our Useful Links board), industry job boards usually have the roles you actually want to see. Clubs, schools, councils, estates, and contractors post here regularly because they know the people browsing are experts looking to expand their careers, or, at the very least, passionate about the industry.
You can use sector-specific job boards to find assistant and deputy roles, mechanic positions, irrigation jobs, and head grounds positions. These boards usually update pretty fast, especially during renovation season, so you’ll need to check them often. The best jobs don’t stick around for long.
Some industry job boards to look out for include Turf Market (our own site), BIGGA, and Turf Matters. We’ve shared a much bigger list, country-by-country, on our Useful Links page.
General Recruitment Websites
You’ll have to wade through a lot of unsuitable jobs on general recruitment sites. That said, you’ll still find loads of groundscare roles here, especially from councils, facilities companies, private estates, and contractors who like big platforms. Indeed, Reed, and CV Library are among the obvious sites to check out.
Most of these sites have filters that you can use to sort the good listings from the irrelevant ones. You can also set alerts, so the new listings land in your inbox before they’re discovered by too many other people. You’ll need a bit more patience if you’re job-hunting with this approach, but you’ll also find some solid opportunities if you keep at it.
Local Authorities And Councils
Council jobs are generally pretty common and easy to land in our industry. Your role will usually cover a bit of everything, including mowing, line marking, hedge work, machinery use, odd jobs, and maintenance work. The pay scales are predictable and the hours are stable (something that can’t be said for, say, tournament work).
Most councils post vacancies on their own websites first, so keep an eye there. They sometimes close roles quicker than you’d expect. If you want long-term progression, council work can be a decent route to go down, if not the most exciting.
Sports Organisations And Governing Bodies
If you like the idea of working on some of the most famous sports pitches, this is the route for you. Governing bodies and sports organisations usually post roles on their own sites, often for academies, stadiums, training centres, and national facilities. You’ll also find seasonal jobs linked to tournaments and tours.
These jobs are brilliant for experience, especially if you want to specialise or build a CV with some of the best-known names on it. You might find links to club vacancies too, which means you can uncover roles that barely hit mainstream job boards.
Employer Websites
Some employers don’t bother with job boards at all and simply stick their job vacancies on their own websites. Private schools, golf courses, racecourses, universities, and estates do this a lot.
If you have a dream workplace in mind, it’s worth checking their careers page often. You can even send speculative CVs, since managers like planning ahead for seasonal peaks. Yes, you’ll need to put in more effort, but it’s an approach that can work surprisingly well.
Recruitment Agencies For Grounds And Horticulture
Numerous organisations choose to hire through a recruitment agency to save their own teams the hassle of listing jobs and narrowing down applicants. Clubs, councils, estates, and contractors who want quick placements are most likely to go down this route.
Working with a recruitment agency can be ideal if you’re after a low-effort way to land yourself a new role. You can just register once, and you’ll get calls whenever something matches your skills. The only setback is that the agency will only send you jobs from the companies they work with, so your options will be limited somewhat.
Social Media And Industry Groups
It’s becoming much more normal for jobs in all industries to be shared on social media, especially Facebook and LinkedIn. In fact, many businesses exclusively use LinkedIn Jobs to share their positions rather than any other source, so we definitely recommend creating your own LinkedIn profile if you haven’t already.
You can often find vacancies posted on social media by senior staff at sports clubs before they bother writing official adverts. These groups are also useful because you can message the hiring manager directly instead of sending your CV into a mysterious black hole.
Trade Shows, Events, And Training Days
We’re a big fan of events like GroundsFest and SALTEX, as well as regional training days, as we’ve seen firsthand just how valuable they can be for making connections in our industry. They’re prime networking spots, giving you the opportunity to chat to managers, contractors, suppliers, and people who know exactly which clubs are hiring soon. Some employers even post roles at their stands.
We recommend putting yourself out there and attending two or three events per year, especially if you’re continuously looking for new opportunities. It’s worth bringing a copy of your CV on your phone so you can share it quickly when someone says, “We might be looking for someone soon.”
Final Word
Given how easy the internet has made it to upload and share job listings, we now have more ways than ever to find decent groundscare jobs. Our advice is to start with the IGFH Useful Links board, then check out some of the other resources we’ve shared here. If you stay active in the community and can do your own proactive research, you should have no trouble landing a role you’re interested in.
Disclaimer: All screenshots shared in this article are for example purposes only. We’re not affiliated with any third party, with the exception of TurfMarket.co.uk, which is owned by us.