The calendar says that Fall is right around the corner, and hopefully that means cooler weather and no more hurricanes! For PGA Career Services, fall is an extremely busy time. Not only do the Fall Chapter Meetings demand a lot of time and travel, but jobs season begins, which requires a lot of time with both PGA Members and Employers. It also means the start of budget season for golf facilities, so we will get hundreds of requests for compensation and facility data. As a reminder, you can access the most recent Carolinas PGA Facility data in the Member & Section Survey published in March. Finally. the fall marks the start of 2025 Business Planning for Mike & Don, as they plan winter education, professional development opportunities, and member / employer outreach. 

Many of those topics require a little more information and clarity, so let's get to it.

Carolinas PGA GROW Update

As we head into the fall, the 2024 Carolinas PGA GROW cohort will begin to wrap up and the mentor group will meet to begin planning for the 2025 Cohort. As expected, maintaining engagement during the busy golf season has proved challenging, but those who have managed to stay engaged have reported high levels of satisfaction with the program. If you have any ideas for the 2025 Carolinas PGA GROW program, please feel free to send them to Mike Mueller.

Execuseach Update

As you may or may not be aware or, there were big changes to the ExecuSearch program in 2024. For years, it was run under the PGA Career Services umbrella, but it is now a standalone departmentw with employees dedicated to the program. However, Career Consultants still work closely with ExecuSearch and continue to deliver many of the services.

In an effort increase collaboration between PGA Sections and Execusearch, the PGA implemented a pilot program on July 1 which provides a financial inventive to the Section to increase it's support of the program while growing employer awareness of ExecuSearch. Essentially, each section is eligible to earn 2.5% of the sale price of the search by doing the following:

• Inform your local Career Consultant and/or the ExecuSearch team of any employment openings in the Section

• Place the ExecuSearch logo and information on the Section website to create awareness of ExecuSearch service & offerings

• Provide an invitation to any Section “Pro Official” type event for the Career Consultant and/or ExecuSearch team

• Consider the ExecuSearch team for an educational opportunity within the Section

• Ensure Sections and/or Chapters provide the platform at events to promote the ExecuSearch program

Don and Mike recently completed two executive searches in the section, with Chris Bates being hired as the Director of Golf at The Reserve at Woodside and Tommy Monteverdi being hired as the Director of Golf at The Peninsula Club. 

Budget Season is Coming

With budget season coming soon, Mike and Don will work with the data team at PGAHQ to provide a summary Compensation Report document to all Carolinas PGA Members, with the goal of having this document completed and shared via email by September 1st. Any members that have a need for additional compensation information will still be able to contact Mike or Don to request those reports, but we believe that the summary document should satisfy 90%+ of compensation report needs.

Jobs Season is Coming

Please take the time to remind your Chapter Members to update their job preferences on PGA.org (click "Job Preferences" on the homepage after you have logged in). Doing so will provide them with targeted emails any time a job that matches their preferences around location, title, and compensation. The process to set / update preferences takes less than a minute!

Annual Review Season is Coming

Many Carolinas PGA Members will have their annual end of year review in the coming months, so this is a critical time for them to document their accomplishments from 2024. Carolinas PGA Members can expect an email from Mike Mueller in the coming weeks with additional information about documenting accomplishments, including an online webinar opportunity on the subject.

Diversity in Sports Forum Expansion

For the past two years, Mike Mueller has worked with Charlotte businessman Yandrick Paraison to deliver the Diversity in Sports Forum. In 2024, panelists from Tepper Sports, the Atlantic Coast Conference, New York Yankees, Orlando Magic, and Ally Bank made for an amazing panel discussion and fireside chat.  In addition, our own Mike Whitenack and Leila Mackie from the PGA HQ recruiting team were in attendance this year for the job fair prior to the event. 

The PGA of America will continue to partner with the Diversity in Sports Forum, with plans to expand to additional events in Washington DC this Fall and in  Atlanta in the Spring of 2025. There are also initial discussions for the 2025 event in Charlotte to coincide with the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Mike Mueller will be involved with the regional events initially before handing them off to the local career consultants in future years.

Final Thoughts

We are sorry that we are not on the call with you today. Don is taking a well earned vacation and Mike has a meeting with an employer about at potential ExecusSearch. But we hope to see all of you soon! Mike was able to attend the Carolinas Open at Myers Park last week, and will be on-site for the Assistants Championship at Moss Creek and the Senior / Women's Championship in Asheboro. Looking ahead, Mike will be at the Pro-Official and plans to attend seven of the ten Chapter Meetings, with Don attending the other three. 

As always, please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for your support on PGA Career Services.

Respectfully submitted, 

Mike Mueller & Don Sweeting

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PGA Compensation Profile - Carolinas Section Participation

Job Preferences - Carolinas Section Participation