Target the right talent for your horticulture roles
Ben Goodson, recruitment sales manager for Horticulture Jobs, offers his advice for attracting the best candidates
A buoyant recruitment market
According to Horticulture Jobs - the official job site for Horticulture Week magazine - the demand for horticulture specialists is growing. In the last year alone, over 5,200 horticultural jobs were posted on the site. One in five of these roles were in professional gardening and a further one in five were either in landscaping or arboriculture.
“The horticulture industry is facing a buoyant recruitment market, which presents excellent opportunities for jobseekers with the relevant skills and experience, especially for specialist roles such as arboriculture”, says Ben Goodson.
“There are many good candidates out there but the challenge for recruiters is attracting the right talent for key specialist areas. So recruiters need to communicate their specific requirements for each role and target candidates appropriately”, he adds.
Upsurge in landscaping and arboriculture jobs
Goodson suggests the increase in landscaping job opportunities is due to such roles being closely linked with the growth in house-building: “We’ve seen a growing demand for housing all over the UK, which has led to an increase in developments. Where there are green spaces included in developments, planning permission is more easily obtained, and in turn more landscape gardeners are needed to maintain these areas - this is a trend we’re seeing taking place in cities throughout the country.”
There is also a high demand for arboriculturists and tree surgeons with many recruiters from across the public and private sectors currently recruiting for these roles. Goodson comments: “We’re seeing a particularly strong recruitment drive from local authorities and organisations such as Kew Gardens and the National Trust.”
Engage the right horticulture candidates
Do you know what your ideal candidate looks like and what skills they need for specific horticulture roles? Are you targeting them through appropriate channels? There are various sophisticated ways to demographically target candidates online through targeted emails, editorial job slots, traffic drivers and other inventory to drive candidates.
As Goodson explains: “There are many creative solutions available that could make a marked difference to your recruitment drive and improve the relevance of candidates for each role, as well as boost your level of exposure by up to 400%.
“For example, creating careers content that is relevant to a role you are recruiting for can give your job vacancy more visual exposure whilst raising your profile as an employer.”
Goodson offers these tips to help you recruit the right talent for your organisation:
- Target relevant candidates: Make sure your recruitment advertising appeals to the right candidates who have specialist experience for the specific roles you’re hiring for. List the key requirements of the role so candidates can see at a glance whether it is right for them and whether or not to apply - you’re more likely to get relevant applications this way.
- Make your job ads sell the role: Use exciting words and phrases to hook in the right candidates. Briefly tell them about your workplace culture and list some of your perks and quirks.
- Be concise in the job ad: Capture the reader’s attention within the first few words and don’t make the job ad too long. You can always supplement the job ad with separate content that describes your workplace in more detail.
- Consider creative solutions: Think about producing additional content to support your job posting. For example, an article featuring an interview with the hiring manager could paint a picture for candidates of what it’s like to work there. You can describe the exciting projects you’re working on and what kind of people you’re looking for. As well as helping candidates, this also helps you get the right people in and raises your profile as an employer at the same time. Win-win!
For advice on the best approaches to attracting the right talent for your horticulture roles, email ben.goodson@haymarket.com.
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