Mark Thompson, PHTA service council member and president of Absolute Pool & Spa Care, Cumming, Ga.
Mark Thompson, PHTA service council member and president of Absolute Pool & Spa Care in Cumming, Ga., has thought about this problem for a long time. He knows that many online recruitment sources exist, but it’s more his nature to go at the problem in person.
So, he’s been working towards a more direct solution.
Basically, the idea is to get real life pool and spa people in front of young, emerging workers to tell the pool and spa story — which is a great story, just a bit obscure for your average high school senior.
For years, he’s been advocating in person at job fairs for his own business, but he believes it’s time to broaden the scope of the effort to increase awareness in general of the benefits of a career in pool and spa and backyard living.
“I’ve been working on this idea for a few years, but it’s really kind of gotten a little bit of momentum over maybe the past year.”
To take the idea to the next level would take more man hours than one pool company president can provide after work, but Thompson notes the Georgia Chapter of PHTA is a good group to work with. He’s hoping to lay the groundwork for a statewide effort.
The idea, he says, is to focus on the school system and try to get the high school students, the kids at technical schools, wherever they are, to understand that the pool industry is a legitimate career path and can be more lucrative than they realize.
TALK TO THEM WHERE THEY ARE
“School systems target different career pathways — marketing, construction, drone technology, and a lot more. The construction pathway can involve anything from digging a hole, electrical, plumbing, hardscapes architecture, and even interior design. I want to reach out to kids who may already be thinking of construction, and help them understand what we have in the pool industry — which is really all those things.
“Yesterday I had a meeting with the lady who is in charge of all the career pathways for our county, Forsyth County, and we were able to create a plan on how I can get in to speak to the students. When I go to speak to these young people, I’m not there representing my company. I’m there as a point person, representing the pool industry.
“Because a lot of these kids, they want to go into electrical or they want to go into plumbing or they want to go into construction of some sort. But we deal with all of that. And automation. And hydraulics and water chemistry. I tell them you can come in and do what you enjoy doing and expand your knowledge and branch out into other things. And you’re not getting all dusty cutting drywall, you’re working on a pool. I mean, what’s more enjoyable?
“A lot of these kids, they’re not thinking of the pool industry as a career path. It takes somebody to physically go in and introduce themselves to let them know, ‘Hey, this is a legitimate option.’” It really is an eye-opener for them. It’s something they’ve never thought of. They just don’t realize the opportunity they have in our industry.”
GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD
The high school job fairs are a good place to talk to them face-to-face, Thompson says. These often include job panels in an auditorium with speakers from different industries talking about the work they do.
“I’ve been up there with people from some major industries, and I’ll tell you, just because these people are from bigger industries doesn’t mean they’re really exciting speakers. If you get up there, you can sell an industry that is fun and it’s outdoors — you’re out there getting a tan instead of being cooped up inside.”
Thompson is hoping to build out a model in his home county that could be duplicated in other counties.
“What I would like to do is organize representation at these high school job fairs where PHTA will have a booth and represent the pool industry as a whole. An idea I’ve had is to try to make us seem larger than we are. Because our problem is that young people don’t know about us, and they think we’re small. But what if we had three different booths at a job fair? One doing construction, one doing service and another commercial pools or lifeguarding?”
A 17- or 18-year-old kid would look at that and go, “I didn’t realize the pool industry was that big. I didn’t realize it was all that. Maybe I should look into it?”
To pull that off, Thompson would need more people to man booths from the different sectors of the industry, and he’s hoping PHTA can provide the organizational structure, and maybe chip in with the necessary materials.
“We have a strong chapter,” he says. “And we have people who are interested and want to be a part of the committee. So the next step is getting the marketing materials we’d need, because if we’re going to be out there, in job fairs or in classrooms, we’ve got to have stuff — tablecloths, banners, all that fun stuff that sets up a good display.
“I’ve also talked to a couple of the big manufacturers out there asking, ‘What can you give us that will be enjoyable for kids to learn about our products with? Something that captures their attention.’
“And if you can share materials between counties and different parts of the state or region, that makes it much more affordable.”
PLANTING THE SEED
The thing is: We actually have a real story to tell.
“The seed’s got to be planted somewhere, and it’s been our fault over the decades of not being proactive at getting our industry into the school systems and in front of young people.
“It really is just as simple as somebody being a face in the community. When you look around at PHTA, there are lots of people that volunteer their time. That’s what this takes. PHTA National can do things on a macro level, but local chapters and individuals can do things on a micro level where we live.”
This article first appeared in the February 2026 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
