How a garden centre job could grow into a £50k career – with no qualifications or experience needed

GROW your career with a job in a garden centre.

Getting out and tending to our home’s green spaces is one of the most popular hobbies in the UK.

We spend around £9billion a year on products from the 1,500 garden centres and nurseries across the country.

More than two thirds of adults visit one every year.

And working in them is becoming an increasingly popular career choice, as it’s a role AI will struggle to take and provides great job satisfaction

It’s also a female-friendly career, with figures from industry body the Horticultural Trades Association showing women make up 64 per cent of this workforce and hold 44 per cent of senior management positions.

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“I decided not to go uni as I could already see the opportunities available to me in the garden centre industry.

“I now run a business with a £12million turnover and I’m responsible for 120-plus staff.

“A garden centre is almost like several businesses under one roof. It’s not just about plants. These are multi-million-pound businesses incorporating retail, hospitality and horticulture, and there are careers in management, buying, marketing, finance, HR, hospitality and many other areas.

“To become a manager, you need to be good with people, commercially minded, curious and comfortable with numbers. You also need plenty of energy, resilience and the confidence to make decisions.”

Felicity Mitchell, group recruitment manager for Blue Diamond, said: “A garden centre is one of the best places to learn how to work because you’re on your feet, part of a team and dealing with customers from day one. That’s why we love taking people on for their first job, and we don’t ask for qualifications or experience.”

“Some of our senior managers started with us on a Saturday and, for anyone who wants it, there’s a genuine path from a weekend job to a management career.”

Pay ranges from minimum wage for entry-level roles to around £27,500 for full-time staff.

Supervisors and department heads can expect to earn from £25,000 to £39,000, while managers can see salaries of £35,000 to £50,000.

A spokesman for the Horticultural Trades Association said: “If you’re just starting out, working in a garden centre will help develop knowledge quickly.”

Find jobs at careers.dobbies.com/jobs, britishgardencentres.com/careers, bluediamond.gg/vacancies and careers.squiresgardencentres.co.uk.

How to act to help staff in despair

WORLD Suicide Prevention Day took place this week and reminds us that businesses need to be mindful of employees’ mental health.

They can do this by creating policies to support them, while workplace stress experts The Mindful Business Charter have created a set of resources to aid firms in helping their staff.

CEO Richard Martin said: “Suicide is a sensitive topic but we still need to find ways to talk about it and support employees through challenging periods.”

Here is Richard’s advice on how to do that:

1. Focus on culture, not just “prevention”, by tackling the everyday pressures that drive emotional distress, such as workload, isolation, bullying or financial stress.

2. Watch for high-risk moments such as redundancies, disciplinary processes, bereavement and periods of intense overwork. Managers should be trained to spot these and check in.

3. Every organisation should have simple support processes, from “I’m concerned for a colleague” through to HR and senior leadership, plus an anonymous reporting option for those afraid to speak up.

4. It is important to respect boundaries but sometimes action is needed. Staff should understand that if someone’s safety is at risk, it is right to escalate even if they have been confided in.

5. Businesses should have plans in place before a tragedy happens, not just afterwards. Organise a response team and a a bereavement policy, and have template communications ready.

JOHN LEWIS has started its Christmas recruitment drive, with 10,400 temporary roles up for grabs at its department stores and at supermarket Waitrose.

BUDGET airline easyJet is now recruiting for cabin crew, with roles available at the airline’s various bases across the UK.

For details, see careers.easyjet.com/en.

Unfair figures

THE number of employment tribunal claims has jumped by 39 per cent in the past year, but what are your chances of winning against an employer?

Unfair dismissal is the most common reason firms end up in court, but only three per cent of cases are won by the claimant at a hearing, says software firm CharlieHR.

Thirty per cent settle before a hearing, while a quarter of cases are withdrawn.

Equal pay claims are the most likely to be withdrawn (a third), followed closely by disability and sexual orientation discrimination ones (31 per cent).

Pregnancy-related claims had the highest settlement rate at 37 per cent, followed by disability discrimination (32 per cent) and sex discrimination (31 per cent).

Be in control

THE chaos across airports this week has highlighted need for top talent to join the National Air Traffic Service (Nats).

The organisation’s own research shows that a quarter of jobseekers have never considered the career, despite experienced controllers earning upward of £100,000.

Nats offers apprenticeships in air-traffic control.

Salaries start at £33,571, rising to £56,247 after passing the scheme.

Apprentices complete 12 to 15 months of initial training, covering theory and simulator work, before being posted to an airport tower or radar control centre.