This article is part of our blog series, Social Media for Landscapers, featuring tips on how you can take advantage of social media for your business.

Social media is all fun and games until it can help you recruit better employees that could grow your business. Sounds like fun, but it isn’t a game.

Today, many landscape companies say their biggest challenge is finding good employees; and they’re not alone in the hunt for talent. It takes an average of 27 days to fill vacant positions, and 60 percent of employers say they’re concerned about the cost of those unfilled positions.

What can you do to stay ahead of the competition and find better employees? Use contemporary modes of recruitment like social media.

Now hiring ads, not signs

Gone are the days of “Now Hiring” signs in shop windows and newspaper classifieds. To get the most views on your job listing you need to post it online. Job boards like Indeed, Career Builder and Monster are some of the first places people go when they’re looking for work.

But if you want to be proactive in your search, try recruiting people who might not be looking for work, but are qualified and a good fit for your company. You can easily do this by posting “now hiring” ads to social media sites like LinkedIn and even Facebook.

If the people you’re looking for to fill your positions aren’t yet searching for work, they’ll never see your posts on job boards. Instead post it to social media sites where they’re already spending time and will be more likely to see it.

Searching for success

Social media also provides employers a unique opportunity to learn more about job candidates. Much of the content shared on social media is public, unless a person has their profiles set to private. This allows employers to search public posts and find out what kind of employee the candidate might be. If a candidate posts negative content about previous jobs or complains about work, they might not be the best fit for your company.

Just remember, information obtained from social media must be deemed relevant to job performance as a reason not to hire someone.

Branded business, better candidates

Not only is social media useful for combing through candidates, but it can also be used to draw in better candidates by showcasing the success and positive attributes of your company.

If your company has informational and up to date social media accounts, employees searching for careers in the landscape industry will be able to search your accounts to see the great work you’re doing.

Keep your social media accounts fresh by posting once or twice each week, responding to customers and updating your company information when needed.

For more information about how to successfully manage your social media accounts, read our other Social Media for Landscapers blogs.

Keep an eye out for future tips on social media to promote your business. Have a question? Post it in the comments.