If you have only just started up your lawn care business you may not be able to imagine having employees of your own to help you expand your business.  But there could well be some point in the future where this dream will become a reality.  Alternatively you might be approaching that point already.

If you are in the situation of thinking seriously about bringing more people on board, you need to think carefully about what you want to find in a recruit.  Obviously you want to employ the best people for the job, so what do you look for and how do you make sure you hire just the right people?

For starters you need to make sure you write out a good advert that will tell people what to expect.  If you want experienced workers make sure you say so.  You should certainly look for people who have some knowledge and love for gardening and lawn care.  But if you can weed some people out at the job advert stage you will find the interview process tends to be a lot easier as a result.

For example if you just ask for lawn care employees you’ll get anyone and everyone who wants a job applying for the position.  But if you say ‘must have experience of ride on mowers’ or ‘this is a highly physical position requiring outdoor work’ you’ll get rid of those who think it’s going to be an easy job before they even consider applying.

Another good idea is to have a set of questions ready to ask before you interview anyone.  If you go in without preparing yourself you are less likely to come out of it with the right employees you were looking for.

For instance, you could compile some questions designed to help you find out what people actually know about gardening.  Try asking them about their own garden and how they take care of it, for example.  How do they treat their lawn throughout the year?  You can keep things fairly conversational and you’ll find out a lot about what they know and don’t know as a result.

A lack of knowledge in certain areas shouldn’t preclude someone from getting the job.  If you know someone has the basics and they clearly love gardening you should be able to teach them the rest.  You would arguably find that this kind of person is better to have on your team than someone who knows more but doesn’t have much enthusiasm for the work.

One final point worth mentioning is that it is usually worth trusting your instincts about people as well.  Sometimes you might find someone ticks all the boxes with regard to knowledge and experience, but you just don’t feel they are a good fit for some reason.  In this case you should always defer to your best judgment – it will usually prove to be correct further down the line.  Good lawn care employees are there to be found, and if you follow these tips the search will be that much easier.

Interested in starting a Lawn Care Business? Click here to learn more about our Lawn Care Business Guide.