The Pursuit of the Perfect Employee: Does checking all the boxes truly bring value to your organization?
By: Tony Zerwas, Town & Country Club
In my short time in our industry, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity connect with Assistants and Superintendents across the country and participate in discussions regarding the current labor issues in the turf industry. While I write this article, there are 348 Assistant Positions open on the GCSAA Job Board. The consensus appears to be that there is a lot of open positions for Assistant Superintendents and not a lot of qualified people who are willing to fill the role.
sector and served in the military for over a decade. While working for the government (please don’t hold that against me), I was lucky to have a wide variety of bosses. Some were phenomenal leaders; others were about as useless as a screen door on a submarine. I learned a lot from all of them. One of the things I learned was that just because someone checks all the boxes, doesn’t mean they are a good fit for the organization. I learned this lesson the hard way.
I’d like to challenge that line of thinking.
I sat on interview panels for the agency that I had worked for. My role at the agency was expanding rapidly and I needed the additional help. Fortunately, my
Prior to coming into the turf industry, I worked in the public 22
