Devon Wilson - Vista Landscapes [Nov. 17, 2009]

Devon Wilson is the co-owner and founder of Vista Landscapes located in Boise, Idaho. He graduated from BYU-Idaho in 2007 and started up this new business last July. Through his seminar he discussed what he did to get to where he is today. First he talked about scholarships. "Who doesn't want free money!?" Scholarships are wonderful things to put on resumes and can be what separates you from other applicants. Once you put hard work into one scholarship, others usually have similar requirements. (You can find scholarship information on the scholarships tab above or on our website) Next, he discussed the importance of networking and interviews. You can't just rely on one resource (or job offer); see what you can get and always have a Plan B. In interviews, he suggested to interview the employer; ask them smart open-ended questions that gives you the information you need to make a good choice. Then, Wilson talked about how hard work says a lot. You need to earn your respect from customers and employers. Step out of your comfort zone and show them what you are worth; remember to charge what you're worth as well. The old adage still holds true, "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Have a great portfolio that looks professional and document everything! You never know what a customer may ask for. Next, he talked about running your business, your way. Build your image and challenge yourself (you'll be surprised what you can do). Also, use common sense in all your business decisions. The next topic was education and beyond. He talked about how graduation is only the beginning. There are licenses, certifications, seminars and classes. You must learn to roll with the punches because everyday will be different and you can't control everything. Another thing that he said that I thought was interesting was to keep your textbooks. He said that he looks at them all the time. Finally, rely on the Lord. When you show forth your faith, you will receive blessings. Overall, this was a great way to end Seminar this semester. He summed up a lot of the things that the other seminar speakers talked about. If you are interested in contacting Devon Wilson, his email is devon@vistalandscapesidaho.com and his office number is 208-954-0671.

Ann Bates - Idaho Nursery & Landscape Association [Nov. 10, 2009]

This week in seminar we had the privilege of having Ann Bates come and talk to us. She is the executive director of the Idaho Nursery & Landscape Association. She talked about the association (INLA) and then she gave us a good overall look of what the INLA is doing now and the green industry as a whole, what some hot trends are, what skills we need to develop and what we need to do to prepare for the future.

There are many good things happening at INLA. Their website says, "The Idaho Nursery and Landscape Association is an organization of professionals including retail nurseries and garden centers, wholesale, growers, landscape contractors and maintenance firms, arborist and allied trades. It is a resource for increasing professionalism in the Green Industry." Bates really hit this last point hard. One long-term return she gets from coming out to talk to students is the increased professionalism that the next generation (us) will bring to the industry. INLA is a part of PLANET and members of BuyIdaho along with many other organizations. They work hard to help their members get the newest, up-to-date information on the market during their yearly Horticulture Expo as well as great opportunities to network.

The current economic downturn has definitely affected the green industry as well as the rest of the nation. When the housing market crashed, many people lost their homes and many others quit adding landscapes or started maintaining themselves. This really hurt the Design/Build/Maintain firms. When the gas prices rose, the growers were hit extra hard. Their business is shipping to their buyers and when the gas prices go up, their prices do too which diminished their sales. When the credit market lost all trust, loans were harder to get and interest went up.

The recent trends Bates has noticed within the past few years were very interesting to note. She mentioned that many homeowners and business owners are starting to prefer gardening in containers. Also, there has been an increased interest in outdoor "living spaces." Many people have vacationed less and stayed home so they have wanted a comfortable outdoor area. This leads us to the next trend which has helped keep the industry alive recently. People have been rethinking their landscapes and redoing them or changing parts of them. They have wanted smaller trees, more edible plants (like veggie gardens or fruit trees), and more annuals in their landscapes.

The skills Bates listed as essetial for us to develop as students to become good employees in the future include:

• Mathematical & analytical skills
• Creativity
• Problem solving skills
• Environmental awareness
• Technology
• Enthusiasm for design
• Love the outdoors
• Anxious to work with your hands
• Aspiration to help people

To prepare for the future, one of the best things you can do in this industry is to get certified. Certification is huge! If you are the only applicant that is certified, you will be the one hired, hands-down. One of the many great benefits from being a member of INLA is the help and support you get in receiving your certification. Students get free membership into INLA and this helps to push you onto the next step. They offer three different certifications which are the Certified Nursery Professional, the Certified Plant Diagnostician and the Landscape Nursery Certified. If you are interested in getting certified, you can check out their website for more information on each certification.

If you have any questions for Ann Bates about the Idaho Nursery & Landscape Association, you can contact her via email at abates@inlagrow.org.

Susan Hanley - Signature Landscapes [Oct. 31, 2009]

This was a much anticipated seminar by all students. Signature Landscapes has done more for our program than any company in the Horticulture industry. They need interns and we need internships. They love our program and the hands-on emphasis we have. They also love the energy and good ideas our students have. Susan Hanley is the head of Human Resources at Signature, and is in charge of hiring.

The first thing she talked about during her presentation was the phenomenon of the Teflon grad. These graduates find a company to work at and quickly move on to the next one for an unknown reason. They are coated with a non-stick material.

The reasons she has found for the Teflon grad:

• Too high of expectations when starting a job (They think they will be a project manager in 3 weeks and they don't become one.)
• Sticker Shock (They didn't do their homework in looking at the price of a bag of groceries, gallon of gas, and the cost of living. Now they can't afford to have that job in that location.)
• Home sick blues (They miss their mom and call every day.)

Then she suggested ways to help us as generation Y to avoid being the Teflon grad. First of all, we need to disprove the stigma given to generation Y. We need to be hard workers, lack entitlement, and use our techno savvy skills for good and improving the companies we work for. We can avoid the 3 reasons she gave for the Teflon grad by asking the company we are interviewing with important, relevant questions. She said to ask, "Where will this company be in five years? What promotions will I have access to? Will you pay for any certification I complete? How often do you get together with employees outside of work? What associations are you a part of and are you active in those?" This will help you to realize your potential growth in the company and prepare you for the company culture and expectations.

Next she talked about Signature's culture. Their unofficial slogan is, "We work hard and have fun doing it." The interns they take on during the year hop around to every part of the company to get a good feel about each aspect. They do expect hard workers and a good number of hours every week, but you are not giving your life for your job. She said they realize that you need a life outside of work. Signature is involved in the community, in PLANET and in Career Days at many universities. Some of the skills Signature is drawn towards include critical thinking, leadership, flexibility, patience, humility, honesty, and integrity.

Finally, she talked about Mike Ethington who is an alumni of our program who has been working at Signature since his internship there about 3 years ago. Susan suggested that if we really wanted to know the reality of a company we should talk to a new hire (like Mike), not a recruiter (like her). New hires are more likely to be honest and not sugar coat reality. Mike and other successful employees grow their division, love their job, work hard and are honest.

If you are interested in Signature, contact Susan Hanley at susan.hanley@signaturels.com or call her phone at 425-868-5885.

Davey Tree [Oct. 15, 2009]

Mark Noark and Bill Whitmire came to visit the campus again and to speak to the Horticulture Seminar students and also, in a few select classes. Mark Noark is the main recruiter for the business. He goes out and visits universities about nine months out of the year. Bill Whitmire is the Vice President of Operations and specifically in charge of the Western Operating Group. Davey Tree is the 4th largest company in the green industry and the largest full service tree care company. If you want to do anything in arboriculture, you need to talk to these guys. They love the students that come from our program; in fact, they have one working there now.

One thing they emphasized a lot during their presentation was customer service. Davey has amazing customer service, the best in the industry. They understand that if you burn bridges with one customer, it can ruin your reputation instantly. However, it also happens to work the other way. If you work your hardest to make it a good experience for your client, they will be customers for life and most likely refer family, friends and neighbors. This principle applies to all areas of business.

They are more than just a tree company. Davey Tree is so diverse with a great skill set and many departments. Not only do they do full tree care, they do utility line clearance operations, large tree moving, commercial and residential care, and golf course maintainance. They also have a resource group (primarily women) who give it their all when it comes to project. Mark Noark said, "There is nothing they don't do, or will not try." The resource group checks electrical lines, performs surveys, conduct tree inventories for national cemetaries etc.

Davey is the 16th largest employee-owned company. Each employee invests in themselves which helps to motivate even more. They help their employees to grow within the company to become the best they can be. Davey has great employee retention; you are still a newbie if you have worked there 15 years. They value hard work, honesty, a good attitude and creativity. Bill Whitmire said, "You need to be able to roll with the punches and think on your feet." Good things (such as promotions) happen to people when they least expect it and are not looking for it. They said that they always are watching their employees even when they are going their routine jobs, they are watching for dedication and service.

Check out their website at http://www.davey.com/ and/or join their FaceBook group. They are an excellent business doing all the right things. Bill Whitmire's email address is bill.whitmire@davey.com.

Jay Warnick [Oct. 6, 2009]

This week in seminar Jay Warnick came to speak with us. He is one of the best of the best in horticulture, and especially in the sports turf industry. He came here when it was still Ricks College and was a communications major and decided to change to horticulture after realizing his interest in sports turf. He has worked with many professional sports teams such as the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens. Currently, he works for a paint company called World Class Athletic Surfaces. They manufacture stencils of team logos, field marking paints and grass dyes. Their paint is better for the players and the grass itself. Jay Warnick focused on the 3 C's he wished he would've known more about when he was in college. They are communication, commitment and curiosity. Communication is the key, he said, business. The role of managers is to communicate and convey information to the team. He said that it is no longer a world where managers sit in the office and never speak to workers in the fields they manage. Not only does communication include speach but writing as well. He said that we need to be able to write up a well thought out memo to tell our superiors our opinion or to write proposals for improvement. Next, commitment which means engaging oneself. We must commit FULLY to the job at hand, not immediately start looking for the next job or the next best thing. If you commit, he said, you will move up the ranks naturally because it will show your dedication to the company. When you do something you love, you have the natural energy to do it. Finally, he talked about curiosity, which is the desire to learn or know about anything. Learning doesn't stop with the degree. We must always be looking for new things to learn or improve on. This will make us much better employees. If you would like to contact Jay Warnick, his email address is jay@worldclasspaints.com.

Steve Zollinger [Sept. 29, 2009]

Today in seminar we heard from Steve Zollinger who is the Internship Coordinator for the Ag & Life Sciences Department. He basically spoke about resumes and interviews. He started out with resumes by saying that there are no uniform or standard rules for a resume format, but there are, however, do's and don'ts which are on a handout available in the Kimball building. On average, a resume is only glanced at for 10 SECONDS! That's not very much time to grab their attention. Resumes should be neatly organized, with not too many words, plenty of white space and only one page. We, as students, need to taylor our resume for the specific job opening we are applying for and show the employer what they want to see. The best way of doing this is to research the company and network.

With regards to the actual content of the resumes, we should show accomplishments, honors, teamwork, creative thinking, and how you added value to the company. Brother Zollinger talked about using action words and verbs to help to promote each bullet point. A good list of verbs to use in a resume can be found here. Commonly, resumes have bullet points and sentence fragments to create focus with each achievement. Be specific and give numeric values to your experiences. There are great resources from the Career Preparation Services online that help with resumes, cover letters, interviews and general guidlines.

A few good rules with regards to interviews are:

• Be on time (or a little early)
• Dress like a professional for that specific field (don't over dress)
• Be prepared (know your behavior based questions)
• Express yourself clearly
• Ask questions! "Questions are good, but they need to be good questions." --Zollinger
• Follow up (initially give a thank you, call or send a note saying you are still interested; DON'T BUG THEM!)

A few other things he mentioned to be aware of are your MySpace and/or Facebook page. Employers look at any social networking site you may be a part of. Don't have embarassing, immature things on your profile page. Also, your cell phone answering machine should be professional and to the point. You should get rid of the corny stuff you say on it. Finally, attitude and personality matter. People generally hire those people that they like that they think would fit in well with the company.

Go out there, be yourself and be professional. Be proactive and find great jobs and internships like the students we heard from last week.

Successful Horticulture Internships [Sept. 26, 2099]

This last seminar was great and really fun to attend. We got to hear from four of our very own about the internships they served over the summer break. We learned a lot about how to get internships. One main concept was to be persistant. Most of them had to check back with the various companies a couple of times to make sure they were considered for the job.

First, we heard from Rachel Arnold. She got an internship at Every Blooming Thing in SLC. They were the 2009 National Florist of the Year! They are a high end florist and try to do everything different and unique. Once Rachel would do an arrangement, her supervisors would say, "Now make it different." They always go the extra mile and are really creative. Every design they do is different than anything else they have done before. Rachel learned some great ways to be creative with just moss and to make the design have a totally different feel than before. She said about her experience there, "When I look at my first arrangements compared to now, I can see a tramendous difference. I don't think I would have learned as much if I went anywhere else." You can check out her internship blog at everyrachelsthing.blogspot.com.

Next, Jane McNaught told us of her internship in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia working at Helen Olivia which is also a very high end floral shop. Some of their clients include the Vice President's residence and the State Department of Protocal. Most of their advertising is through word of mouth. The Helen Olivia style is very compact, tight, roundy-moundy arrangements in a square vase wrapped with satin ribbon. You can see some of their designs at their website, http://www.helenolivia.com/. A few things that Jane pointed out that she had learned was to be very personable with your clients and that floral design is a trade and the best way to learn is to do it and learn from advanced designers. She said that no amount of formal education can teach you the art of floral design. You need hands-on experience and that is what she got this summer. You can check out the actual designs that Jane put together at her blog, janelillianflowers.blogspot.com.

Then, we heard from Jackie Nielson who actually had the opportunity to serve two internships throughout the summer. First she worked at Signature Landscapes out of Redmond, Washington. Signature is a big time supporter of our horticulture program. They are actually setting up a scholarship for our students because of the students like Jackie that have been so valuable to them. Signature does large residential landscapes and commercial. One of their trademarks is seasonal color and they love to display that in the landscape. Jackie was a labor hand for them in installing some landscapes but she also learned some managerial techniques. Once she finished up with Signature, she had time left in the summer before school. She got set up with T&L Nursery down the road from Signature. T&L is a wholesale only nursery so they don't sell product to the general public. They use recycled water and propagate a lot of their own product. Here she learned to work in the greenhouse and out in the fields. They gave her a field to care for and grow during the time she spent there. She loved feeling in charge of caring for those plants.

Finally, Kyle Steadman ended the presentations with his internship at Heads Up Landscape out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They are a full service landscape company that does commercial design, build and maintain. The way that he got this internship was when they came to campus to recruit. They had a pizza party and he started talking to them, networking and then following up. Heads Up is an amazing company and they were rated #54 in the Lawn and Landscape magazine. Since the recent 'green' movement and with their location in New Mexico, they have worked a lot with xeric landscaping and drought tolerant material. During his internship, Kyle was given the chance to do an outdoor paver project from start to finish which included designing and installing the area. He had a great experience and was given some great opportunities.

This was a great seminar to learn about what our peers are doing and learning. One main ideato take from this seminar was to "get out of dodge" whether it is New Mexico, Washington, Utah or Virginia. There are great opportunities out there for amazing internships and to be able to be representatives for the school. Great job guys!