Hiring in landscaping
Hiring crew members, crew leaders and irrigation techs without losing your evenings
Screen landscaping crews on equipment, irrigation troubleshooting and early starts before the spring ramp.
Why this one is hard
What makes landscaping hiring different
Every trade has its own version of this. These are the ones that cost you people.
- The whole year is decided in a six-week ramp between February and April, and a crew short in March stays short.
- Turnover is the highest of any trade here, so you are hiring continuously whether you planned to or not.
- Crew member and crew leader are different hires, and promoting the wrong one costs you the crew.
- A 6am start is the single most common reason someone quits in week two, and it never comes up in an interview.
Landscaping hiring is the most seasonal on this list. The applications arrive in February and the people worth hiring are working somewhere else by May.
The first conversation
What the interview actually asks
HireWRX interviews every applicant the same way you would, then puts the ones worth your time at the top. For landscaping, that means questions like these — asked at eleven at night if that is when somebody applies.
- 01
“Which equipment have you personally operated, and for how long?”
- 02
“An irrigation zone will not turn on. How do you work out why?”
- 03
“Our crews leave the yard at 6am. Does that work for you long term?”
- 04
“Have you led a crew, or worked on one?”
Pass or fail
The facts worth confirming before anyone's time is spent
These are not judgement calls. They are either true or they are not, and finding out on day one is the expensive way.
- Pesticide applicator licence for anyone spraying, and the categories it covers.
- Driving licence, and whether they can legally tow your trailer.
- Irrigation certification for anyone touching controllers and valves.
- Equipment actually operated — a mower is not a skid steer.
Post the role. Read four reports instead of forty applications.
You still do the interviews and you still do the hiring. HireWRX just handles the part between the application landing and you deciding who is worth an hour.