[sandim]

I am pulling my hair out. How does anyone else get decent employees???
We have an ad in the suburbia paper. Can't put one in the city papers b/c some jobs are an hour away from the city and we figure it's too far for people to go.
Have had an ad in for 2 weeks and have not had many bites, and the bites I've had aren't even worth mentioning.
No real full-time employees to ask if they have a friend.

Anybody have any suggestions?

[Terre]

I'm more metro than you, but I get a lot of response when I post an ad on Craigslist. It's big here, and every time last year I needed unskilled manual labor I had a wide variety of people to choose from. From those ads, I got lucky enough that I found two people with experience in landscaping, that actually could listen and follow directions.

For laborers who could think and walk simultaneously, I also used the state employment office. If they've been pulling unemployment for the last couple of months, they have to be registered, and right now, before everyone gets geared up for spring, there is a better selection of people available.

And if it's affordable, which it isn't here, the big paper isn't a bad way to go either, since I found that people in suburbia still read that paper as opposed to the smaller area papers just because there are more opportunities listed there. You may very well find someone local, who isn't reading the local paper for jobs.

[4seasons]

Can i ask how far you are from the city?
do you have your people drive their own vehicles to the jobs?
We work up to 2 hrs away alot, my employees just drive my trucks.
I personally went thru many people, before I ended up with the guys I have now.
Winter doesn't help either when you can't keep guys employed.
I tell friends, church, aquaintances, and the paper when I'm hiring
sometimes colleges will have kids looking for jobs.

[sandim]

Bruce,

Let me see how best to explain this. Most of our work is only 1/2 hour away from the city. We work out of our home so we either have the guys meet us at the commuter lot in said town, or on the job site. This is really no big deal.
However, we personally live another 40 minutes north of the town that carries the bulk of our work. We do have work out here, not as much, but we're getting busier and have 2 meetings up here this week. It doesn't make sense for us to drive down there to pick them up, we only have one company vehicle this year, probably get our second next year. I can't see people driving probably an hour to the job sites up here.

I thought about telling people we know, my partner didn't want to feel obligated to hire anyone referred to us and more importantly, fire them. I guess that makes sense to me.

Here is how our ad reads..maybe it's not phrased correctly??

Landscape Supervisor

Growing design-build-maintenance landscape company needs dedicated individual(s)
who desire a career in landscaping.

Ideal candidate should be a team player and will be in training for Supervisory position.

Qualified applicants should be skilled in pruning, planting, and lawn care and have an
interest/desire in learning and continuing education.

Must posess one or more of the following:
College Degree in Horticulture, Master Gardener Certificate, or 3 years landscaping experience.

We offer excellent pay based on your efforts, benefits and bonus programs.

[Nathaniel Carr]

Your ad is fine. It is just the fact that the good guys arent reading the paper, cause they are already working. I have had great luck on craigslist. Try the colleges too and trade schools. Talk to the profs. Teach a lab on dividing perennials. Order plants from Walters and have the kids do root propagating, that kind of thing. Some one once said recruit firemen and other civil servants. Post the job at the town hall or other civic institute. Post it at the commuter lot. Everywhere. Employees aren't coming looking for work anymore. We gotta find them, or make them. <talk to your wife about that!!!>

[sandim]

HA! Nathanial, thanks for looking at the post. Have a HUGE guffaw at the end....

I AM the wife!!!!!

That's a great way to end my night. I'm laughin' so hard right now! GTX totally rocks!!

[Lanelle]

We've already gone the route of making the employees, but they grow up, go to college and get 'real jobs'. Plus it's a long, expensive wait until they get old enough to handle dangerous equipment. For our efforts, we got three girls.
Yup! I'm the wife......

[Terre]

Nothing wrong with raising female employees. Raised 4 of my own. Unfortunately, during their training years, we were running a mechanic's shop, so if I need a transmission rebuilt, I"m fine, but they can't tell a pine from a petunia. Obviously, genes didn't win over environment this time.

[sandim]

Male or female doesn't matter to me. I just don't know where to get 'em! Think I'll look everywhere like Nathaniel suggested.

My biggest concern is that we already have jobs lining up for the season and we won't have the people to get 'em done! Have tried to have a good starting rate, benefits, bonuses, etc. as well as hopefully being a good, fair employer so that we're a good company to work for. We have 2 college kids working for us now who love working for us, but they're only summer help and there's only 2 of them.

I've posted on craigslist thanks to the advice here, guess we'll see what happens.

[4seasons]

just keep the faith and you get your employees--- they come out of nowhere sometimes!

[Mac]

Sandi, I have to be honest, you ad likely blends into the rest of every other company's out there. Yes, what you offer is super but your ad isnt standing out. Just like marketing for clients, you need to think outside the box.

Marty Grunder once gave me a packet of every press release/public communications piece he ever put out. The one that struck me the most was his ad for his office manager. In a nut shell, he asked for every qualification that he would not want - ex: rude, tardy, half baked work, etc. He said he got the best response by far from that ad vs. a conventional ad he ran simultaneously for the same position.

It may not work for you, but maybe then it will. Just a thought.

[GLAN]

There's no easy way........just have to hire what you can try to train them......and expect to go through several before one sticks.

I'm actualy worried if my guys may have found better paying positions....I doubt it.....but, as of today.....I have only been able to talk to 1.....the others have not returned messages


Oh.....what sources work best..........I don't have a clue.........what has always worked well for me is word of mouth......asking my guys.......asking guys I run into

[sandim]

Good points all around. The phone seems to be ringing, but some guys want ridiculous amounts of $$. One guy has some masonry experience, minimal planting and no lawns and wants $20-something.
There are some prospects out there.

I did think about the ad wording this afternoon and decided to change it b/c it does indeed blend into everything else out there.
If I could just get a couple of good guys I could ask them about their friends.

Thanks guys. Here's keeping my fingers crossed!