Associate Diploma in Parks Management

Study parks management

Work as a parks supervisor, sports ground curator, golf course superintendent or public open space administrator or manager.                 

Modules

Note that each module in the Associate Diploma in Parks Management is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.

Become a Horticultural Manager

Some managers are born into the job (e.g. they inherit the family business); some build a business from scratch, and others are employed as managers. Whatever path they take, a manager doesn't succeed and stay in a job unless they have the capacity to do the job and do it well.

A course like this is often the first step; and despite being a huge commitment, it will lay a far better foundation than shorter courses, and vastly increase your chances of sustaining a long term career. This course recognises that knowledge alone is not enough to succeed. It aims to:

Provide a bank of horticultural knowledge and skills.
Build your awareness of the horticulture industry, locally, regionally and internationally.
Develop a network of contacts within the industry.
Increase your ability to think laterally and solve problems in horticulture.
Horticulture is an industry that is continually moving through peaks and troughs. Changes in seasons, development booms and government policies can all impact on this industry, making one sector (e.g. nursery, crop production or landscape) boom while another sector declines. A successful manager will always have a capacity to adapt through these boom and bust periods, moving from a low sector to a high sector as the occasion demands. This course has a distinct advantage over some more specialised courses in that it provides the broadest foundation, preparing you to work in any sector of this industry.

Finding Your Career Path

Decisions you make today will affect the opportunities you create for yourself tomorrow.  
There are an infinite number of choices which a person can make about their career path; and an infinite number of paths you can set yourself on.
Some paths may take you to a desirable place; while others might not.
Some paths are easier to get onto than others.
The thing that many people do not appreciate is that most paths have many different entry points. It is often easier to jump from an undesirable path to a more desirable path than to get onto a desirable path when you are on no pathway at all.
When you start out in horticulture, it is important to keep your training and experience broad.
People who have a broader understanding of the industry can better adapt the business they work in, or their own career direction, as they move into the future.
The first and most important step in finding a satisfying career path is to get started in the workplace. Get a job, any job, as soon as you can. It doesn’t matter too much what your first job is. It might be delivering mowing lawns or potting up plants, or volunteering with a conservation or land care group. It doesn’t need to be paid, it just needs to get you started.

If you are studying at secondary school or university, still try to do some part time work at the same time. An education is always important, but the majority of people who study something will end up working in something different to what they studied. Even doing volunteer work or starting a small business while you are a student can have a major effect upon your prospects after you complete your studies.

Experience and learning acquired through part time employment are often just as impressive to a future employer as the qualification you are studying. Either one without the other may put you in a less advantageous position in the future.

Once you have a job keep looking for opportunities to improve your situation, whether in the existing job, or by moving on to something different. You will learn skills in every job you do, even if they are not skills you recognise at the time. As you progress through your career you will build on your skillset and develop new skills. Even if you change career you will often still be able to draw on skills you have developed in a different career, just in a different context. For example, if you start working in a garden centre you will develop skills in customer service which can be applied to any other future job. If you start working as a gardener and apply yourself, you will observe how different things affect plants: both things you do, like feeding, pruning and watering; and things you cannot control, like changing seasons or pest infestations.

To build a career, you need to think of education as being an important piece of the puzzle; but only one piece. You need to work on experience, communication skills, networking, your attitude and other things all at the same time. An education by itself is unlikely to get you where you want to be. Similarly, a good attitude and ability to sell yourself may get you a job, but it won't get you a promotion and advance your career.