Landscape recruitment: ways to attract young people into the profession!
The landscaping sector is booming but finds it difficult to recruit new talents. It is becoming a major challenge to attract students to landscaping trades! Landscaping companies can benefit from some of the new ways used to recruit young people listed below!
The landscaping sector is booming but finds it difficult to recruit new talents. It is becoming a major challenge to attract students to landscaping trades! Landscaping companies can benefit from some of the new ways used to recruit young people listed below!
Le paysagisme, un secteur florissant au recrutement complexe
In France, 2018 was a very good year for landscapers with 4% growth in total sales, according to the French Landscaping Companies Association (Unep) (1).
Job creation is essential to meet rising demand but filling landscaping job offers is not easy. Unep observed that for lack of suitable candidates, a third of all landscaping companies did not manage to recruit in 2018, even though 53% want to find new employees in 2019 and their job offers are attractive:
- 44% of landscaping job contracts are permanent,
- 31% are for apprenticeship courses.
Fertile ground indeed for attracting graduates and students… but a small nudge in the right direction is needed for jobs to become even more attractive!
What you can do to facilitate the recruitment of young landscape designers
The massive campaign
During the summer of 2018, the American National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) launched a massive campaign called “Why I Landscape” to promote landscaping jobs to young people. This state-of-the-art campaign uses the media preferred by the Z generation (like a Facebook page) to promote the sector. A good way to get in touch with potential recruits!
Promotion at Job Fairs
How to stand out in the crowd at Job Fairs? Unep had the clever idea of attracting young people with virtual reality headsets at the apprenticeship and trades job fair in 2019. The program was a series of films plunging viewers into the world of landscaping and its different trades and professions. Combining information with gaming proved to be a winning formula in stirring curiosity!
4 possible applications of virtual reality for landscape architecture
Financial assistance
To help apprentices get into landscaping, France and Unep have launched a financial assistance scheme called Pays'apprenti to pay for the costs involved in mobility between training centers and apprenticeship locations. A great idea to help landscaping companies recruit students!
Talks in schools
Talks in schools and colleges aiming to familiarize students with topics like the French initiative “Landscape Architects and Designers in classes” are a good way to germinate interest in landscaping as early as possible! This ensures the growth of new talents and facilitates landscape recruitment. See the other virtues of this approach in our dedicated article.
The way in
The more ecological transition and environmental protection become real societal values, the more ways into landscaping and related trades will develop. The weapons in the long-term fight to eliminate urban heat pockets, for example, are more and more connected to landscaping skills. “Ecology” and “meaningful work” are excellent catchwords to rouse the interest of young people!
Every landscaping company can help the whole profession progress through the valorization of its know-how. Using the examples listed to promote landscaping trades to the rising generation will make landscape recruitment easier for all!
© Photo credit: Production Perig/stock.adobe.com
