It’s been almost two months since Monsanto spent nearly a quarter-of-a billion dollars to acquire Precision Planting (PP), the Tremont, Ill.-based company that made its mark developing seed monitoring and planting technology.

A little more than a month into my role as technology editor for Farm Equipment and No-Till Farmer, I am doing my best impression of a sponge, soaking up as much precision knowledge as my brain can hold.

As the integrated solutions manager for a growing John Deere dealership network, Jeff Buyck of Gettysburg, S.D.-based C&B Operations, acknowledges that customer service is an evolving process when it comes to precision farming technology.

In less than a month, hundreds of visionaries, researchers and novices will descend upon the Midwest for the 11th International Conference on Precision Agriculture.

Customers who are willing to communicate with their equipment dealers deserve to be heard because they’re your best source for product performance and service issues. Of course, these communications usually come in the form of compliments, complaints and/or “I wish …” or “This would work better if …”

To gain the attention of strong candidate for the precision farming specialist position you’ve opened at your dealership, your messages about the job, including job ads and descriptions, must be dynamic and unique.

If you’re creating a new precision farming department, you should know that the process of recruiting employees has changed. This article, the second of four, will discuss that knowing and understanding the job is a critical platform for successful recruitment.

The way employees are recruited has changed. In a series of four articles, I will explain these changes and a few strategies to adjust to the new trends, how truly understanding the job that you are recruiting for will enable you to recruit more effectively, how creating dynamic recruitment messages will help you to attract star candidates, and where to look to recruit good people.