Hire your dream team

1) Use your website to hire.

• Create a “Team” page featuring your employees. Include images. Candidates want to see who they could potentially be working with. Team pages like this are often the most-viewed pages on a website.
• Create content or a blog specifically for recruiting purposes where you share company information and insight. At Landscape Leadership we have a separate “Culture Blog” for this.
• Share your core values. Every candidate I talk to mentions how he or she appreciates the way we present our core values on our website for all to see. You can do the same.

Give your candidates a chance to get to know you. Otherwise, like a terrible first date, you’ll never get a second chance.

–       Chris Heiler, former landscape contractor and found of Landscape Leadership, a digital marketing agency for green industry companies

2) Make your company look good.

The person a company wants most likely already has their head down and is contributing at their current place of employment. Simply putting an ad out there probably won’t get the job done. This is when how a company is perceived in its market is so important.

You want to create a situation or an environment where the talent at another company sees your operation is a place where they can find an opportunity – whether it’s financial or career – that there currently not getting.

Likewise, people aren’t going to stick around if the perception of your company is that of a loser or a dog and they think that they can do better somewhere else.

–       Jack Ferrell, executive recruiter at Florasearch, which specializes in hiring for the green industry

3) Consider an HR presence.

It’s important to remember that 20 percent of the people cause 80 percent of the headaches. It is a time and energy drain on the company’s effectiveness. A good HR professional can help that.

The rest is risk management. There are many workplace rules such as the Fair Labor Standards Act; federal, state and even municipal overlapping Equal Employment Opportunity rules, Family Medical Leave Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and many laws varying from state to state on issues of pay and benefits. For example, California and some states view unused leave as “pay” requiring it to be paid upon an employee’s severance. Other states view it as “contractual” based on the terms and conditions of hire.

–       Richard Birdsall, The Growth Company, a human resources, training and organizational consulting firm

4) Consider family as an option.

When working with people whom you know and enjoy, communication and cooperation often improve. Camaraderie – whether developed over time by working together or built through family relationships – certainly adds spirit, enthusiasm and fun in a workplace, and in the long run, will likely increase productivity.

It’s a big compliment when someone thinks enough of a business to refer a potential customer. Referring a family member to work with a company is equally flattering. Cultivating family relationships on your team can provide a real advantage, drawing together like-minded individuals, working together toward a common goal.

–     Amy Snyder, director of public relations at Ruppert Landscape

5) Conduct behavioral interviewing.

Behavioral interviewing is also known as competency-based interviewing or targeted selection. It focuses on questions that delve into candidates’ past behaviors. These questions are designed to get the candidate to develop stories to illustrate that they have the necessary skills for the position and or employer.

The behavioral interview technique is used for many reasons, but the main reason is because past behavior predicts future success. It’s also used as in indicator of personal traits and characteristics. When asking the right questions and listening to a candidate’s answers it will help you look at their thought process and problem solving skills.

There is a common tool called the S.T.A.R. method that is used to create effective behavioral interview questions. S.T.A.R. is an acronym that represents what you are asking the applicant:

• Situation – Tell me about a time...
• Task – Where you had to problem-solve with a group...
• Action – What role did you play?
• Results – And what was the outcome?

–       Brock McRea, recruiter at Swingle Lawn, Tree and Landscape