The Edge July/August 2025

BUILDING YOUR TEAM

IF YOU AREN’T UTILIZING DIGITAL RECRUITING METHODS IN YOUR business, you might as well be trying to play basketball with one hand tied behind your back. In today’s competitive job market, you need to tap into every advantage available. Transforming the Talent Game with Digital Recruiting Strategies By Jill Odom

then maintain constant communication with the applicant through text and email throughout the entire recruitment process.” LEVERAGE YOUR BRANDING Your company’s branding is foundational to whether your digital recruiting efforts will be successful. Voories notes that the best candidates want to be associated with the best brands. “If you’re not really investing in it however you can, I think you’re missing an opportunity,” Caceres says. “It’s ultimately attracting better talent before you’re even posting. You’re shortening your hiring timelines instead of someone trying to figure out who you are and investigating too deeply because they see who you are all over the place. It differentiates your company from being this generic great culture to an actual great culture.” Dan Klemencic, marketing manager for David J. Frank Landscape Contracting, Inc., based in Germantown, Wisconsin, says they highlight their company’s culture by hiring a firm to produce short, high-qual ity, uplifting recruitment videos. These videos target their audience, comprising landscapers, blue-collar workers, outdoor enthusiasts, and general job seekers, through social media advertising. “Hearing them say unscripted, ‘You don’t feel like it’s a job,’ or ‘The company really takes care of you,’ is pretty powerful,” Klemencic says. Klemencic says people love their videos and often say it’s one of the main reasons they applied. “Hearing directly from employees builds trust and gives potential hires a realistic

Michigan, says they leverage everything from posting jobs on mainstream job boards like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Linke dIn, to their niche landscaping job board they created, GreenIndustryCareers.com. They also advertise jobs across their social media channels and on the careers page of their website. Shaffer says they also have a dedicated careers page that lists their open positions and they post on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. He says they utilize Team Engine to connect to hiring sites like ZipRecruiter and Indeed. “The most effective companies think about resumes like sales leads — they use multiple channels to source applicants, move fast, and follow up,”says Carlos del Pozo, CEO of TeamEngine, based in Boulder, Colorado. “That means posting jobs broadly across platforms like Indeed, Facebook, and their own website, then responding to applicants within hours — not days.” Tito Caceres, managing director of Bloom Talent Solutions, based in Miami, Florida, agrees you should treat your recruiting like marketing by having calls to action, consistent messaging and utilizing automations for timely follow-ups. Shaffer says applicants have comment ed on how impressive their response and follow-up are after applying. “We have automated responses that generate immediately once an applicant has submitted a resume,”Shaffer says. “We

“The days of paper applications and reliance of prospective employees walking through the door are numbered,”says Terry Shaffer, co-founder and CEO of Summit Lawn and Landscape, based in Grandview, Missouri. “Tech platforms are the future. As we move forward, we have to utilize new technology and trends within the industry without delay to be a thrive in today’s culture. Our applicants have technology at their fingertips; we need to be on the other side, ready to respond.” ADOPT A MULTICHANNEL APPROACH Just like you shouldn’t solely count on yard signs to drive new customers to pick up the phone, you need to engage your potential candidates in multiple online spaces. Mike Voories, founder and CEO of Business Resources One, based in Brighton,

Photo: Team Engine

14 The Edge // July/August 2025