Early in my career, recruiting was much easier. When a position opened up, I simply looked through the most recent applications, picked out a few that looked good, made some phone calls, and hiring the most qualified candidate. There was never a shortage of applicants. It was like fishing in a barrel.
As our population aged and government spending ballooned, the percentage of the U.S. population willing and able to work has continuously dropped over the last several decades. More people are not working today than at any time in the history of our country, both in total and as a percentage of the population. Fishing in a barrel turned into fishing in a lake without many fish in it.
Immigration has been part of the solution. Granting people from all over the world permission to enter the U.S. and work has helped many businesses survive. Programs like H2A and H2B have become increasingly relied upon in many industries, including the snow and ice management industry. However, the caps on immigration and temporary worker programs are woefully insufficient to meet the need.
On top of that, our industry offers some of the most challenging work opportunities: part-time, on-call, at night, outside, in the freezing cold, for unknown durations. Where do I sign up for that job?
And yet, some snow pros are finding success with recruiting, including for temporary, part-time, on-call snow work. How are they doing it? That is the million-dollar question. Here’s the answer: they’re doing a bunch of things that the others are not doing. There’s no silver bullet. They are taking a comprehensive approach to investing in culture, process improvement, and understanding human behavior at a deep level.
I often meet business owners who tell me that they can’t hire anyone, that the younger generations are lazy, that everyone sucks. Good luck with that approach. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So, the beginning point to finding success with recruiting is to change our mindsets to one of abundance and hope. There are people who want to work in our industry. They will endure the challenges of the work. They will show up on time. They will seek a career in the industry.
This mindset shift is required to be able to justify investing more resources into not only recruiting but in creating a great workplace environment. In other words, the work begins at home. This is why there’s no silver bullet. It requires investment and it takes time.
As I write this blog post, I’m reminded of working with one of the largest snow contractors in our industry as they were laying the foundation of the company before going live. A big part of this foundation was the culture of the company. Before the first employee was hired, there was an investment in ensuring that the workplace experience would be off-the-charts, and it was. And, guess what? Recruiting has never been an issue.
Aside from investing in building a great workplace environment, snow pros want to know what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to recruiting. They’re looking for strategies, tips, and fresh ideas. If this is you, please consider attending our free webinar, being held October 14 from 10-11 ET, where we will discuss this in detail.
This webinar is for anyone interested in improving the success of recruiting for their snow business. Click here to register. Hope to see you there!
Now go forth.
