It’s a repeated theme within the green industry: Everyone is concerned about the labor market. “It’s basically shifted from an employer market to an employee market,” says Steve Cesare, an HR consultant at landscape business consulting firm, The Harvest Group.

With so many available positions, how can landscape pros staff up? Cesare recommends dialing up digital presences to attract top staff. According to a survey on social media recruitment and screening on the Society of Human Resource Management’s website, 66 percent of organizations are using mobile recruitment apps to target smartphone users.

While many companies already use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to draw customers, posting on those platforms about company news, social gatherings and team building also can help tout a great company culture to entice job seekers and people who have never considered the landscape industry before.

Companies that can do this successfully are on the leading edge when it comes to recruitment. “We’re no longer competing with other landscapers for staff,” Cesare says. “We’re competing against the construction industry, the restaurant industry, janitorial, golf courses, so we have to get out there and compete not for our labor market, but against our competitor market.”

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