Try your high school's ag/tech/floral progrm; also call the school guidance dept.

Contact the U of MD hort program to see if you can post your job offering on their bulletin boards or website; same for your local community colleges with landscape design certificate programs.

Try the other end of the age spectrum: retired or older persons wanting part-time work only. Try posting on bulletin boards in clubs, gyms, senior activity programs, other places where healthy older folks might be.

Lastly, go to your Employment Securities office. You may get a lot of inappropriate referrals from this one, but if you sift thru them, you may find a good employee.

This is something I face each year, too. Luck to you!

G.

Look into your local colleges that have Horticulture and/or Landscape programs. They can help you find eager students that want to work. If you have the time and the patience... they can also help you set up a "real internship" program that will help the students get college credit for working for you. (This does take time and effort on your part, but can be very rewarding) You should be surprised by how eager both the school staff and the students are to work with you. By building an ongoing working relationship with a good school you can soon be getting "the cream of their crop" every year as well as returning students from year to year.

From lots of things I read, talking to start up landscapers, having had my own in the past, and working for many, the ideal of hiring the right person for the right job is a lot harder than most think. Many green industry employers, especially those in tough labor markets, find that they have to hire "someone" rather than waiting for the right person.

Where I live, it is a crap shoot (pun intended). You hire anyone you can, fire who you need to, have some not show up or quit on you (more likely), and hope to keep the better ones for as long as possible.

The companies that survive are the ones that find a way to deal with less the best help. I say it all the time - we are all limited by our ability to manage help. Some people are made for it, some aren't. All the books and advice in the world is not going to make a people manager out of some people while it might help others.

People who can not manage help well have got to understand that and make sure they don't follow a business model that depends on managing help.

Biggest Fantasy: That you can hire someone else to manage your help better than you can.

Your choice is to try to hire people that are knowledgable, honest, and have a good work ethic or to take the best of what you can get and use them as best as you can considering their abilities. Or, to remain small enough as to not need to hire much help.

That is just my view. Many will tell you differently. Ask how many people work for those that give you advice. I, for one, choose to work for others as an employee and have no help to hire and manage at the moment. That has not always been the case and probably will get back to that. But, it sure is nice not dealing with that at the moment.

Good people are everywhere...the only thing is that most of them are working. As you shop, eat out, etc....look for the best (energetic, friendly, productive) people and strike up a conversation. Slip them a business card and let them know (discreetly) that you are looking. Even if they aren't interested, GOOD PEOPLE KNOW OTHER GOOD PEOPLE and can help you source them out. You would be surprised how well this works. If you are looking for experience, look around at the nurseries and Lowe's / Home Depot and try to find people there that would rather be doing what you are doing.

Once you find a good one or two, let them know when you need more help and they can become your recruiters. Happy employees are always a great testimonial to others and this can save you tons of legwork.

Excellent suggestions above. We try to provide compensation, benefits, and an atmosphere quality teammembers want to be involved with. This can be difficult if you are starting a business. Finding a strong core will benefit you in the long run.

Recruiting can be challenging. Going to the local community college that offers horticulture or landscape managment can be a good start. Your local cooperative extension agent may also be a resource to explore. We have found some great teammembers through networking like this.

Finding the balance between being a manager people respect and a authoritarian/dictatorial manager is difficult to master. Others involved with your organization must respect you and be willing to work towards the goals you have. You may not always be able to be buddies or chumming with those in your organization but should always keep the team mentality in mind. Your organization is only as strong as the weakest link.

Good luck, creating a strong team will go far for your business.

paying better than other landscapers doesnt hurt the process.

like someone said, fire the bad ones and keep the good ones with bene's.

froggy

I actually had a somewhat positive experience a few years ago posting a "help wanted" with the county parole office. The parole officer in charge was happy to meet my criteria (no thieves or sexual offenders), and would call me herself before giving my number to a parolee. Many parolees are required to show proof of employment (and so are less likely to fool around), and are desparate for a second chance, and if you treat them well they might just return in kind.

The problem with this is that many of them won't have driver's licences (DUIs, etc.), and you have to be a sharp judge of character.