As recruiting efforts intensify and candidate expectations rise, the implementation of technology will allow you to stay competitive when attracting the next generation of landscape employees.
“It is critical to invest in recruiting technologies that will improve your overall candidate experience, increase the quality of talent, reduce time to fill, and provide data-driven decision-making tools, and strategic insight,” says Jennifer Jones, director of national recruiting for Mariani Premier Group, headquartered in Lake Bluff, Illinois.
Reducing Recruiting Friction
There are numerous tools available that can help with your overall speed, consistency and responsiveness when recruiting.
Heather Reitano, senior recruiting manager for The Davey Tree Expert Company, headquartered in Kent, Ohio, says when they look at adding new technology to their recruiting strategy, they always ask, ‘How will this affect the ability of the team to interact and build relationships with our candidates?’
“It’s a constant struggle to keep that at the forefront in a world where the candidate pool continues to grow, and the applications only seem to increase every year along with staffing needs,” Reitano says. “There are only so many hours available in the workday. At the end of the day, it always comes down to time, and the recruiters’ time only becomes more and more valuable. So, anything that you can do to protect that time or make that time more meaningful is only going to bring value back to you in the form of quality candidates that are excited to work at your company.”
David J. Frank Landscape Contracting, Inc., based in Germantown, Wisconsin, has found Team Engine to be a game-changer for their day-to-day recruiting activities and results, providing them with greater reach at a quicker pace.
“We routinely use Team Engine software for pushing out job announcements and applicant tracking,” says Pete LaSage, human resources specialist for David J. Frank. “We also frequently use Docusign to move documents to applicants and employees for signatures.”
Jennifer Jones, director of national recruiting for Mariani Premier Group, headquartered in Lake Bluff, Illinois, says they are leveraging tools such as Workday Recruiting and Indeed Easy Apply.
“We use technology in everything we do, whether it is advertising and networking through social media channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook or facilitating the recruiting hiring process in Workday,” Jones says. “I am proud of the technological advancements we have provided our family of companies that have eliminated manual processes, provided faster hiring results, and increased brand awareness.”
Marion Delano, director of technology & marketing for Level Green Landscaping, based in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, says they utilize the applicant tracking system Workable to integrate with all the major job posting boards, such as Indeed, LinkedIn, and ZipRecruiter, allowing them to centralize the job posting and applicant review process.
Tap Into Texting
How candidates prefer to communicate has evolved as well. Reitano says with the amount of spam calls people receive, they have stopped answering that first phone call. To counteract this, Davey started sending emails as well to let the candidate know they were being contacted about the job they applied for.
Yet with spam emails on the rise, these confirmation emails started getting lost, too. Now the gold standard for reaching candidates is texting. This change is also influenced by the demographic shift in the workforce towards Millennials and Gen Z.
“I am sure that there will be a time when people no longer respond to texts, and we will have to move on to something else,” Reitano says. “In the meantime, it is almost impossible to communicate with candidates in an efficient way without using some type of texting platform. That doesn’t mean that we don’t still call and email candidates, because you absolutely have to do that too. However, texting is no longer optional in the recruiting world.”
Reitano says they utilize an applicant tracking system that allows them email and text a candidate immediately after applying to thank them and let them know that their application is under review. She says this helps send a message to the candidate that they value their time and their interest.
“More than half of the candidates that apply to a job usually do not hear back from that employer within 3 months of them applying to the job,” Reitano says. “That is just crazy.”
She says that since adding a new texting platform to their applicant tracking system, they have been able to decrease candidate ghosting, but also free up more time for their recruiters.
“It enables them to both personalize and automate messaging to candidates before and after phone screens and interviews,” Reitano says. “In turn, this allows the candidates to better prepare for interviews and allows the recruiter to answer questions that the candidates may have about offers or the hiring process. Then conversations on the phone or in person with the hiring manager can be much more meaningful and productive.”
Another benefit of texting candidates is that many are often working in the field, and it is easier for them to respond via text on their lunch break.
“This constant communication ultimately allows our recruiters the time necessary to build relationships and trust with our candidates and new hires as they progress through the process,” Reitano says.
Balancing AI Integrations
Taking advantage of different platforms’ AI integrations is also beneficial for freeing up recruiters’ time. Jones recommends others seek out systems that have AI automation, such as AI-powered sourcing, matching, and screening. She says another standard is AI tools enabling predictive analysis for workforce planning.
“I am a big proponent of AI,” Jones says. “I find it extremely valuable in driving recruiting efficiency and speeding up the hiring process. I am seeking to invest more in AI in 2026. I understand that recruiters are strategic talent advisors, which our day-to-day operations needs to be successful. AI should eliminate sourcing time and administrative tasks if used properly by our recruiters.”
Reitano says they take advantage of the AI functionality built into Indeed and LinkedIn, which automatically crafts a personalized message to the candidate with the relevant details of the position and your company.
“This is a huge time saver for recruiters since personalization is crucial in developing candidate interest in your job and your company,” Reitano says. “This type of AI integration is a win-win for both the candidate and the recruiter. The candidate can quickly identify the relevance of the outreach to them, and the recruiter is able to reach out to more passive candidates than they would otherwise.”
Delano says they’ve also explored some of Indeed’s AI features, including AI-led interviews and AI reviews of resumes to get a better sense of who is a good fit.
“The flip side is AI has made it easier for potential candidates to apply for jobs — writing cover letters, producing tailored resumes, etc.—and while that’s great, it does mean we get more unqualified candidates for positions who appear to simply be throwing stuff at the wall to see if it sticks,” Delano says. “So it feels like AI is both creating a problem and then helping us solve it at the same time.”
Reitano says they are very mindful of AI candidate matching as it has the potential to perpetuate biases. For instance, in a historically predominantly male industry, it may provide more male candidates than female candidates in its matching results.
“Thankfully, all the platforms that we work with are also mindful of this potential for bias and have taken proactive steps to eliminate, minimize, or flag and correct instances where this occurs,” Reitano says. “They also still offer the ability to manually search for skill sets and candidates in their resume databases, which I do not think will ever go away.”
