International

Every compelling job advert needs to include four essential components:

1. Start with a clear overview of your club or company. This is particularly important in the golf industry, where establishments vary enormously in size, culture, and offering. This context helps candidates understand whether they’d be a good fit before they even apply.

2. Consider how to clearly articulate the purpose of the role within your organisation. Be sure to answer important questions like the examples below:

• Where does this position sit in your structure?
• What impact will the successful candidate have on daily operations?
• What does performing in the role actually entail?

3. Too many adverts in our industry are either overly verbose or frustratingly vague, leaving candidates guessing about their potential responsibilities. Be brutally honest about your non-negotiable requirements. It’s tempting to create a wish list but focus on what candidates absolutely must have versus what would simply be nice.

4. Finally, include your interview timeline and key dates. This demonstrates professionalism and helps serious candidates plan accordingly, showing you respect their time from the outset.

How do you write a job title that attracts the right candidates without being misleading?

Job titles can mean vastly different things across different golf clubs and companies. The key is to start with your actual requirements and work backwards to find the most accurate title.

Take a ‘Golf Retail Manager’ role, for instance. At a small club, this might involve hands-on selling, stock management and occasional equipment repairs. At a large resort, it could mean managing a team of 10, overseeing multiple revenue streams, and strategic planning. Rather than using generic titles, consider being more specific: ‘Head Golf Professional & Retail Manager’ or ‘Pro Shop Supervisor’ might better reflect the actual scope and attract candidates with the right expectations.

How much detail should you include in the job description?

Include information that’s genuinely relevant to the role, focusing on tasks they’ll definitely undertake and responsibilities they may occasionally handle. Be sure to balance your layout of health-and-safety clauses for compliance reasons with the core position elements that candidates need to be aware of.

Ask yourself: is this relevant, and will they realistically be doing this? If you include something they’ll never do, candidates may feel misled when they start. Equally, if they’re constantly doing something not mentioned in the advert, they may feel the role was misrepresented. Be thoughtful about core responsibilities while noting that additional duties may be added to support professional development and business needs.

What tone of voice works best to engage potential applicants while reflecting the company’s brand?

Before you even begin recruiting, you need to understand your employer brand, which is distinctly different from your member or customer brand. This is about how people perceive what it’s actually like to work at your club or company.

Once you’ve identified your values, culture, and employee value proposition (what you offer beyond salary), you can tailor your voice to attract the right people. If you’re a traditional, prestigious club, your writing tone might be more formal and emphasise heritage and standards. If you’re a modern, family-friendly venue, you might adopt a more casual, welcoming approach. Most importantly, advertise where your target candidates are likely to look, rather than just posting everywhere and hoping for the best.

How do you highlight benefits and company culture without sounding like every other employer?

Money matters, but today’s candidates value much more than just salary. The secret is identifying and articulating what we call ‘The One Thing’ – that unique benefit or aspect of working for you that competitors can’t match.

Perhaps your club allows staff to bring their families for Sunday lunch, offers flexible hours around school runs, provides extensive training budgets, or gives access to exceptional mentoring from industry leaders. Maybe you’re located somewhere beautiful with easy parking, or you genuinely promote from within. Whatever it is, don’t be shy about highlighting what makes you different.

Consider creating an employment webpage on your site or a visually appealing benefits brochure using tools like Canva. Sometimes seeing benefits laid out attractively makes them feel more tangible and valuable than a simple bullet point list.

What role do images, videos or other visuals play in making a job advert stand out?

Visuals are increasingly important, particularly for golf clubs where the working environment is often a significant draw. High-quality photos of your facilities, team members at work, and the local area can help candidates envision themselves in the role.

Short videos featuring current team members discussing what they enjoy about working there can be incredibly powerful, especially when showcasing the variety of career paths available within golf. However, ensure any visuals genuinely represent your workplace culture rather than aspirational images that don’t match reality.

For customer-facing roles, showing your club’s atmosphere and member demographic helps candidates understand the environment they’d be working in. Remember, candidates are assessing you as much as you’re assessing them, and authentic visuals build trust from the start.

What tips do you have for small businesses with limited budgets to create strong job adverts?

Small golf clubs often have advantages over larger competitors – they just need to articulate them effectively. Emphasise the variety of experience candidates will gain, the close-knit team environment, and opportunities to really make an impact.

Don’t underestimate the power of authentic testimonials from current staff members. Partner with local PGA training centres or colleges to access emerging talent at a lower cost.

Dedicate resources to understanding your most effective channels rather than spreading budget thinly everywhere. Often, industry-specific job boards or local community groups yield better results than expensive national platforms. And, as mentioned previously, consider offering non-monetary benefits that cost little but add significant value – flexible hours, golf privileges for family members, or professional development opportunities can be just as attractive as higher salaries.

The Professional Golfers’ Association – October 2025

Michael Herd is an International Consultant and Search Executive with KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, a consulting firm providing executive search, strategic planning and data analysis services to the private club and hospitality industries. Michael can be reached at +44 (0) 7903 035312 and at michael@kkandw.com.

One of the biggest trends we are seeing in the club industry is the topic of team sustainability.

A club without an enduring team is merely a building. Without excellent staff that embody the values of the club and deliver premier service, member experience is bound to suffer. True sustainability involves developing strategies for retaining, developing, and recruiting talented employees who will be the pillars on which your club’s success will be renowned for in years to come.

Beyond the Pay Packet

Competitive compensation remains important, but workers are seeking beyond-the-salary benefits. Progressive clubs offer flexible working arrangements where it is operationally feasible, comprehensive healthcare packages, and a wellbeing policy that speaks for genuine concern for the welfare of the workers. Opportunities for career development is another great differentiator for individuals seeking an investment in their future, rather than their immediate performance.

Additionally, clubs are finding success with innovative benefits such as housing subsidies in expensive areas, public transportation benefits, or family-friendly policies that see the whole person, not just the employee. These kinds of benefits are more likely to be remembered than low-level pay increases and have a high-impact retention effect.

The Priceless Factor

Every member of staff has something more valuable to them than money. Something which inspires, encourages, and motivates them to stay on board. For some, it will be appreciation and recognition of their efforts. For others, it will be potential for advancement and improvement. Autonomy in the role, cooperative team frameworks, and a real work-life balance are other influential factors.

The clubs with superior staff retention are those whose managers take the time to discover these personal drivers. Regular, meaningful discussions about team members’ aspirations and values with them allow clubs to create customised methods of engagement that money can’t buy. This personalised attention creates a sense of connection more powerful than pay in preventing turnover.

Seasonal Opportunities

Club operations normally stick to traditional seasonal trends, with boom and bust cycles over the course of the year. Innovative clubs are transforming these off-peak periods into periods of enrichment rather than occasions for worry.

Alliances with complementary clubs in alternative regions or with opposite seasonal currents allow secondment of staff and exchanges. A Scottish summer-focused golf club might align with a Portuguese winter-season club, giving members of staff year-round experience and maintaining employment continuity. Such arrangements boost competencies while subjecting staff to diverse ways of doing things, bringing new ideas back to their primary club.

The Contingency Imperative

The pandemic taught a hard lesson about succession planning. Clubs that consistently invest in their whole team, not just their leaders, are resilient against unplanned departures or absences.

Cross-training programs ensure critical functions remain covered regardless of which staff member is available. More importantly, cross-training provides employees with varied experiences that keep them motivated and flexible. The most successful clubs build a talent pipeline at every level, with clear career paths that motivate employees to envision long-term careers within the organisation.

Nurturing the Talent Pipeline

Developed club managers understand that tomorrow’s top performers must be discovered and developed today. This proactive strategy is founded on forming alliances with entities outside the traditional hospitality schools.

Collaborations with schools facilitate access to internships and work experiences that acquaint learners with the inherent conditions of running a club. Colleges and schools of vocational study facilitate access to experienced individuals over the range of skills from hospitality to gardening. Apprenticeship programs, alternatively, facilitate developing young talent early on.

Increasingly, clubs are also making international affiliations with similar clubs in other countries, and providing cross-cultural exchange opportunities that benefit both the participants and the member clubs by way of cross-fertilization of ideas and approaches.

Education as Investment

Staff development is not an amenity to offer employees but an essential investment in the future of the club. The most sustainable clubs possess robust education programs that combine external qualifications and certifications with internally created training specific to the needs and culture of the business.

In-house education programs might include mentorship programs pairing seasoned employees with new recruits, regular masterclasses conducted by department specialists, or official career development sessions. External programs, varying from industry-recognized certification to niche workshops, are a testament to the club’s passion for maintaining its standards.

Top clubs dedicate certain budgets to education and protect these investments even during difficult financial periods since they realise that knowledge creation generates returns much greater than its costs.

The most successful clubs understand that sustainability isn’t just about conserving resources; it’s about cultivating them to get stronger with time. When this philosophy is applied to our teams, the outcome is strong.

In a business characterised by personalised service and relationships, no issue can be more paramount than guaranteeing the viability of the individuals who make our clubs so unique.

Michael Herd is an International Consultant and Search Executive with KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, a consulting firm providing executive search, strategic planning and data analysis services to the private club and hospitality industries. Michael can be reached at +44 (0) 7903 035312 and at michael@kkandw.com.