“Education is a top priority for the Society of American Florists, which is why we developed Career Connection, a central online learning hub that hosts all the best training content in one place,” explains Kate Delaney, Director of Career Development for SAF, when talking about SAF’s new initiative Career Connection. This online learning hub has just been launched and is already attracting a lot of interest.
Need for more training
Career Connection is a response to challenges happening throughout the floriculture industry, explains Delaney. “A hugely important goal is career development. We keep hearing from our members that education is one of their top challenges and that there is a major need for more training. So, we collected and curated the best industry learning content, courses, and webinars. There is also an ‘explore’ area on the platform, which provides members with topic-specific resources in one area.” According to Delaney, SAF is filling a gap by also developing their own courses where learnings were not available elsewhere. The courses currently available on Career Connection: Introduction to the Floral Industry, Flower Care and Handling, Flower Prep School, Marketing of Flowers 101, and Wedding Flowers.
Click here to read more about the courses.
Popularity reflects labor challenges
Each course serves a different purpose, but so far ‘Introduction to the Floral Industry’ has been the most popular. Delaney believes that this reflects the labor challenges facing each segment of the industry. “We think this course is popular because everyone is experiencing difficulties attracting and retaining talent. As a result, employees often come from outside of the industry. It is important for us to provide the proper educational resources and give newcomers a better understanding of our industry. By sharing general industry knowledge and training fundamentals, we hope that new employees will become more invested in their job and are inspired to stay.”
Inspiration and education
While Career Connection is still a new initiative, Delaney reports that it is already attracting a lot of interest and engagement. “With education being a high priority, we hope our platform will continue to inspire and educate floriculture employees in the future.”
Click here to go to Career Connection’s online learning hub.
For more information:
SAF
Kate Delaney
[email protected]
www.safnow.org