Landscape Business Owner,
It’s 100% true that the unemployment rate for teenagers in the USA is now at 10%. That’s double digit unemployment.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released this week (April 26, 2022) on teenage employment in the USA, about 16.7 million persons ages 16 to 24 were not enrolled in school…that’s 44.8 percent of all persons in this age group. You can read the report for yourself, but here’s what you need to think about…
If you plan to grow your company in 2022…I’m betting you’ll have to hire young people…or continue to suffer with understaffed crews.
Unfortunately, a number of landscape contractors are skeptical about the idea of hiring teenagers.
We heard some really great excuses why hiring teenagers just won’t work in landscaping. These include:
- My insurance company won’t allow it
- Teenagers don’t have any experience
- Teenagers won’t stick with the job very long
- Teenagers just play on their phones
- Teenagers don’t want to work outdoors
- Teenagers are only available part time or seasonal
- The list could go on and on…
We will be the first to admit, if you are looking for a crew leader to manage six-figure contracts, teenagers might not be the best candidate…TODAY.
But, bring that teen onboard today, provide them a healthy dose of behavior training (like company policies and procedures) in the beginning, pair them with a responsible adult to be their mentor and give them a chance to learn how to do a few hands-on tasks…and you’ll know pretty quick if they have what it takes to fit-in on your team.
And…the best part about giving a young teen a chance, you just might find that special guy or gal who grows up to become that superstar account manager who stays with you for 5 to 10 years and learns how to manage a seven-figure book of business..
Sure, you should check with your insurance company to make sure you understand potential coverage limitations. Sure, they have little to no experience, today. Sure, they may only work part-time or seasonal schedules. But you’re flat wrong that EVERY teen plays on their phone all day and you’re flat wrong that NONE of the teens in your town want to work outdoors.
Companies that have a plan for future growth understand that recruiting youth is an essential part of their success. That is why there were almost 100 business sponsors of the Georgia FFA Convention this week. These companies get it. They get involved and stay involved supporting and recruiting youth.
Sure, some of these sponsors are megacorps like John Deere, but others are privately held landscape and nursery companies. Follow the link above to see for yourself. Recruiting teens is part of a strong business growth plan.
Tis the season for hiring teenagers (and how to do it)…
May comes once every year. It’s part of Spring year after year after year. We know how busy you are trying to take care of your contractual obligations, but hear me out.
College students AND high school students are about to get out of school for the summer. It’s the PERFECT time to give this idea a try. There’s no better time of the year than May to give this recommendation a try.
Instead of putting out that same old “Now Hiring” or “Help Wanted” sign in front of your shop or on the side of your truck, I recommend a more targeted approach:
Teenagers Wanted
Summer Work – Top Pay
888-555-1212
In other words, if you’re serious about hiring teenagers, ASK FOR TEENAGERS to apply at your company.
How much will it cost you to test a few bandit signs like this? Like…just perhaps…you put a few out by the high school in your area…like the politicians are putting out millions of signs right now to enhance their campaigns…what might happen? You might find just what you are looking for.
Here’s how to put your recruiting on steroids!
You need to think like a chess master. Chess masters always think a few moves ahead. What’s going to happen when you put up a sign like this? I’ll tell you. You’ll get a few calls.
So think about what happens when those calls come in. Should you jump at the chance to answer the call and begin an interview process? Nope…many of those calls will be a huge waste of your time.
But…what might happen if that phone number takes prospects to a recorded message that answers the top 10 questions that every teenager will ask about a job?
I’ll tell you what WILL happen. You will automatically sift, sort and select the very best teenagers who ARE interested in working with you. You wll duplicate yourself! You’ll be in two places at one time…and you’ll be able to expand your recruiting to 24 hours a day WITHOUT working 24 hours a day. Pretty cool stuff, right?
Over the past three decades, we’ve had the opportunity to find, recruit, hire, train and retain hundreds of employees in our privately held companies. We’ve also had the chance to help more than 100 landscape business owners improve their recruiting and hiring systems…so we know first hand this process works.
Will you try these two ideas this season?
If you need employees…
You should.
Then…let me know how you’re doing.
Stay Energized,
Tony Bass, founder
866-923-0027
PS – Need help improving your recruiting and hiring systems, we have published a number of training programs on the subject. See below for the details.
When you’re ready…
There are three ways we can help you enhance your systems for finding, recruiting, hiring and retaining super star employees.
- Purchase a copy of our little-known book titled 50 Ways to Find, Recruit, Hire and Retain Super Star Employees. The print book comes with an audio (4) CD set read by the author. Yes, there really are 50 unique ways to enhance your employee systems and we share the details, the scripts, the job offers and little-known government programs to help you get big-time tax credits for hiring certain workers. Click here to purchase.
- Get immediate digital access to The Automatic Hiring Machine training program. You can learn the 11-steps to build a recruiting system that automatically sorts, sifts and selects the very best employee prospects from the lazy and unreliable duds. Click here to order online and get started this weekend.
- You can hire us to help you build your very own Automatic Hiring Machine. If you are super-busy and want to move forward quickly, we can help. Please understand that we reserve the right to limit our services via our non-competitive exclusion zone in some markets. Order the Automatic Hiring Machine implementation service by clicking here.
