Jack Jostes [00:00:00]:
In today's episode, we'll share a clip from my recent keynote, The Landscape Owner's Ultimate Guide to Recruiting A Players, where I'll share how and why you need to write three reasons employees want to work for your landscape company. When you get clearer on these three reasons, I'll share where to put them so you stand out and finally get more job applicants for your open positions.
00:28 - The 3 Reasons People Want to Work for You
Jack Jostes [00:00:28]:
So we want to arrive at having three key reasons to work at your company. One of them, who's got one reason that if I were a potential employee that I should work at your company? How about you, sir, in the front row?
Audience Member #1 [00:00:42]:
I mean, getting to work outside with plants every day.
Jack Jostes [00:00:46]:
Getting to work outside with plants every day, that's pretty good. But how many other employers here do you think get to work outside with plants every day? So it's a start. So this is important, right? I'm putting you on the spot because you're not alone. Everyone here is right now thinking, oh, we work outside. Yes, you and every other job ad.
Jack Jostes [00:01:09]:
What's one reason, though? If I were somebody who wanted to work outside with plants and I could handle the heat and the snow and I had the grit to do it, what's one reason I should even interview with you first?
Audience Member #2 [00:01:22]:
We are a family owned family atmosphere. So family is important. Your family outside of work is important. We take that pretty seriously.
Jack Jostes [00:01:31]:
Okay, family outside of work is important to you. We take that seriously. Are you the owner of the company?
Audience Member #2 [00:01:37]:
Yes.
Jack Jostes [00:01:38]:
Okay, so it's one thing when you say it and it's a whole other thing when an employee says it. And I'm going to show you an employee who talks about that part because what you're talking about is something emotional.
Jack Jostes [00:01:52]:
Now that maybe I'm at a company that isn't a family environment. Can you imagine there are some toxic workplaces out there where people are just belittled and they're like abused. I have employees on my team who I can't believe where they worked and how poorly they were treated. And those people are some of my best people because they've had that pain. I'm going back to the pain. So. So now you're showing me a family work environment outside of my other family. These are people I'm going to be with eight, ten hours a day.
Jack Jostes [00:02:25]:
They better be awesome, right? So we're going to get to that. So I like that. So that's one reason. Who has one other reason? And it could be you. Who has another reason that somebody should work at their landscape company?
Audience Member #3 [00:02:40]:
Paid vacation.
Jack Jostes [00:02:42]:
Paid Vacation? Awesome. Tell me more. How Many Days?
Audience Member #3 [00:02:46]:
14
Jack Jostes [00:02:47]:
14 out of the gate? What if I've been there for five years?
Audience Member #3 [00:02:52]:
You earn a week every year.
Jack Jostes [00:02:54]:
You earn a week every year?
Audience Member #3 [00:02:56]:
Maybe not for five years.
Jack Jostes [00:02:58]:
Okay, all right, well, so this is. Now we're on to something. Paid vacation. How many people here don't offer paid vacation? Does anybody? Maybe you don't want to. Maybe you're embarrassed to raise your hand. I can tell you a lot of landscape companies don't.
Jack Jostes [00:03:13]:
So now, now we're onto something. If there was a family environment where I had, starting out of the gate, two weeks paid time off and I could add a week. Okay!
Jack Jostes [00:03:23]:
What, what else? What's another third reason? Who has a third reason? You, sir.
Audience Member #3 [00:03:26]:
10% bonus every year.
Jack Jostes [00:03:29]:
10% bonus of what? What if the company has a net loss that year? I don't know, I'm just throwing that out there because if you have a bad year, that could really be that. So anyway, so you've got some sort of perform. Could we take it a step further? Could it be based on performance? Could it be performance pay? Could it be based on gross profit from a project? Anyways, he's got a bonus though, so now there's some financial incentive. So you guys have touched on three things that employees really want. They all want to work somewhere where they feel respected and they enjoy the people they work with.
Jack Jostes [00:04:08]:
They want to work somewhere where they, they can have a life outside of work. They get paid time off. They want to work somewhere where they have financial incentive. Right? So when you. Those could be your three. You could take them from me right now, but they better be true. Because if you make up some three reasons to work and they're not true, right? Then we're in trouble.
04:30 - Where to Put Your 3 Reasons for Maximum Impact
Jack Jostes [00:04:30]:
Once you have your three reasons to work and you've run them by actual employees and they're true and they're real, they're meaningful, and they actually differentiate you from other landscape companies.
Jack Jostes [00:04:42]:
It's time to put these three reasons to work. You're gonna want to communicate these on your careers page. Maybe brand them with icons and definitely format it in a way that stands out. So when people are questioning, quickly scanning your careers page, these three reasons stand out. Write them into each and every job post so that way potential job applicants are intrigued and continue to look into your company and apply for the position. And then reverse engineer these three reasons to buy into interview questions.
Jack Jostes [00:05:15]:
For example, if one of your three reasons to work was your family culture, you might interview somebody with a question like, how would you describe the culture at your last job? And really listen to how they described it. Did they like it? Or not. And you could say, tell me more about that. What was that like? How important is it to have strong relationships with your managers and with your coworkers? Have you had a chance to watch the video interviews with our other employees? Many people describe the culture here like a family, which means to me. And then you need to have your own answer of what is this reason to work at your company? What does this family culture actually mean to you if you're the person doing this interview? And how does working in this type of culture sound for you?
Jack Jostes [00:06:03]:
And listen. You want to find people who actually would fit in with your culture, who would appreciate that family culture and resonate with your three reasons to work. Because if they don't, their chance of staying is much lower than it is for somebody who's actually a fit for your company.
06:23 - Does This Actually Work? Hear From a Real Landscaper
Jack Jostes [00:06:23]:
Creating three reasons to work and asking open ended emotional questions that really get people to talk about what's important to them may sound like sales and marketing consultant speak. Does this work in the real world? Well, let's hear from one of my real landscape clients who's actually implementing these strategies. Here's Andy Sykes from Garrett Churchill, a landscape company.
Andy Sykes [00:06:48]:
We rewrote all our job descriptions with the what's in it for me type type of format. I have never seen so many applicants come in. It's been amazing, like 100, 120 since last Friday.
Rebecca Lorenzen [00:07:03]:
Wow!
Robert Felton [00:07:06]:
Yeah. You mean people are looking for what's in it for them and if you put it, make it easy. I mean, that's kind of how it works.
07:14 - Thanks for Watching! More Recruiting Resources
Jack Jostes [00:07:14]:
If today's podcast inspired you with some new ideas, you can get even more at landscapersguide.com/podcast and click on the recruiting button where we have other episodes about recruiting.
Jack Jostes [00:07:26]:
And if you'd like to have a conversation with me and my team about your landscape company and get feedback on what are some things that you're doing well in your recruiting and then what are some opportunities to stand out even further to increase your flow of applicants and ultimately recruit and retain Hell Yes Employees. Check out ramblinjackson.com/recruiting. I'm going to put a link to that in the show notes and my name is Jack Jostes. Thanks for listening to The Landscaper’s Guide. I look forward to talking with you in the next episode.
Show Notes:
???? Watch the full episode + see the transcript: landscapersGuide.com/podcast
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????♂️ Need help recruiting? Get expert support: ramblinJackson.com/recruiting
???? Connect with Jack on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jackjostes