It may feel far too early to be thinking about next season. Most farms are coming out of calving, mating is approaching, and there is plenty happening right now that feels more immediate than talking about 1 June 2027.
But in our experience, the farms that make the strongest recruitment decisions are rarely the ones that wait until they have a vacancy to fill. They're the ones that start thinking earlier. Not because they're advertising jobs in October, but because they're using this time to think about what the business is going to need and how they can put themselves in the best position when recruitment season eventually arrives.
Don't automatically replace like with like
One of the most common recruitment mistakes we see is businesses treating a vacancy as a replacement exercise. Someone leaves and the immediate response is to find another person with the same title. The existing position description gets dusted off, the advertisement is updated, and the search begins.
Sometimes that's exactly the right approach. But a vacancy can also be a rare opportunity to stop and ask whether the role still looks right for the business. Has the business evolved since the role was last recruited? Are managers spending their time on the work that creates the most value? Is there capability within the existing team that could be better utilised? A vacancy can be a useful catalyst for asking questions that don't otherwise get much attention?
The dairy industry has changed significantly over the last decade. Employee management, compliance, technology and reporting requirements all place different demands on farm leaders than they once did. Yet many businesses are still structured largely the same way they were years ago.
Rather than asking "Who do we need to replace?", the better question is often "What does the business actually need now?" You may still arrive at exactly the same answer. The difference is that the decision becomes deliberate rather than automatic.
Your employees are helping recruit for you every day
When employers talk about recruitment challenges, the conversation often centres on finding good candidates. That's understandable. Strong candidates remain highly sought after. But candidates are assessing employers just as carefully as employers are assessing them.
In fact, one of the realities of working in a relatively small and well-connected industry is that prospective employees often know more about a business than owners realise. They talk to current and former employees. They ask questions. They compare experiences. Long before they see a job advertisement, they may already have formed a view about what it would be like to work there. In many cases, the recruitment process starts long before the employer realises it has started. That view is shaped by things such as whether days off are genuinely protected, whether managers communicate well, whether accommodation is well maintained, whether expectations are realistic, and whether employees are treated fairly and consistently.
None of those things appear in a job advertisement. But they all influence how attractive that role will be when it eventually goes to market. The strongest recruitment brands are rarely built through marketing. They're built through the employee experience being delivered every day.
The best recruitment decisions are made before there's pressure
Every year we see businesses find themselves recruiting under pressure. A resignation arrives unexpectedly. The season is getting closer. There is an urgent need to fill a gap. At that point, recruitment becomes about speed. Applications need to be reviewed quickly. Interviews are scheduled quickly. Decisions are made quickly.
Sometimes that works out well. But the reality is that urgency tends to reduce options. It also makes it harder to stand back and think strategically. Starting early isn't necessarily about advertising earlier. It's about creating the space to review the structure of the team, think about succession opportunities, identify employees who may be ready for greater responsibility, and review remuneration, housing, rosters and the overall employee proposition.
And, if external recruitment is required, time to plan and execute a recruitment process properly rather than simply reacting to circumstances. The farms that consistently make good appointments are not always the ones with the biggest budgets or the strongest candidate pools. More often, they're the ones that have done the thinking before they need to.
Now is the time
October may feel early to be talking about recruitment for next season. In reality, it's often the ideal time. Not to start advertising jobs, but to step back and look at the bigger picture. What capability will the business need? Where are the gaps likely to emerge? What opportunities exist within the current team? And what can be done now to ensure recruitment, if it's needed, is purposeful rather than rushed?
By the time a job advertisement is written, many of the most important recruitment decisions should already have been made. The businesses that start thinking about those questions now will usually have more options and make better decisions when recruitment season rolls around.
The best recruitment decisions are rarely made when a vacancy appears. They're usually made months earlier. While there is still time to think clearly, explore options and make deliberate decisions rather than rushed ones. If you'd like a sounding board to help think through team structure, succession opportunities, future capability requirements or likely recruitment needs for next season, get in touch with No8HR. Sometimes a conversation now can save a lot of stress six months down the track.
