Taylor Schmitt, son of company founder Barry, is operations and business manager at Barr-Ag and is in charge of Middle East and domestic sales as well as domestic logistics. Yet it is on the HR side where Taylor has really come into his own.
Over the last seven years, Taylor has interviewed 250-plus candidates and hired more than 100.
He downplays any praise he gets for talent spotting but he does have a firm hiring philosophy.
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He’s blunt about it too. “I don’t like to hire_____,” he says.
Taylor is plain spoken so readers can fill the bleep in with their own choice. It’s what he tells candidates too. They chuckle. But he also means it.
“You have to work together to get a lot of jobs done. You’re going to be there for 12 hours working beside somebody… There’s nothing that makes the job worse than working with a person who doesn’t want to be there.”
Taylor always checks out the candidate’s resumé, and if their skills look good, the interview becomes an exploration of their personality and less about technical skills. Skillsets change, he says, but usually not attitude.
Taylor has discovered that the types of people who succeed in the company, and in general, are the ones who think beyond themselves. He looks for candidates who are less likely to ask how long a task will take than whether it’s good for the company.
For instance, he made a hire just before Christmas over the phone. What was supposed to be a short-ish call, turned into 60 minutes. “He just had a million questions about our farming operation, what we do, the tractors we run,” Taylor says. “That passion for agriculture makes the biggest difference.”
That boosterism has turned rookie workers into long-term success stories. “Trust is something we implicitly give our employees right off the bat and we’re quick to give added responsibilities to people who want them,” he notes.
If the employee can see the bigger picture, that immediately signals maturity to Taylor.
“We respect that and that builds trust very, very quickly for us.”
The company has had good luck in hiring abroad, as well. Blair Burton was a former manager at Barr-Ag and an Olds-area farmer himself. In 2001, he and his family sold the farm and moved to Australia to begin farming in New South Wales.
In Australia, it didn’t take Burton long to get acquainted with other farmers in the area and encounter young adults looking for both employment and adventure. He began recruiting and knew exactly the type that would succeed at Barr-Ag.
He’s directed more than two dozen eager Aussies to Barr-Ag over the years. Some of the best talent Burton’s directed to Canada have been young men from non-agricultural backgrounds.
Upon meeting Burton, “their vehicle was spotless, they were well dressed, very well mannered. Some of these young guys had no farm experience and so I just gave Barry a heads up, ‘this guy’s going to be alright, but he’s green.’”
“They just turned out to be excellent employees,” he explains. “They weren’t too cocky, they would listen.”
Of course, there are also the farm kids who sit quite literally on the edge of their seat talking with Burton. In 95 per cent of cases, he says, they work out great.
On the farm, says Taylor, “If somebody seems to be having issues, I try to spend more one-on-one time (with them). I think that’s the best way to know how a guy is…. Get to know what they’re thinking, what they’re feeling while they’re at work.”
With so many people working at Barr-Ag, it would be nearly impossible to give preferential treatment, so they don’t. Taylor refuses to undercut based on a person’s skillset or experience. A person hired for the job is entitled to everything that job offers — or more, depending on their initiative.
It is part of his DNA, which he says has made him a “firm believer in people.”
“Talent,” he says, “is just a willingness to learn and work and grow with the company.”
