The Emerald Tree Care crew at TCI EXPO ’25 in St. Louis. Photo courtesy of Jarryd Beats.

If you’re a small or mid-sized tree care company struggling to find and keep good people, you’re not alone. Labor shortages are squeezing the industry and the competition for skilled workers is fierce. Companies are getting creative by expanding their candidate pools, getting clear on what makes a good fit and recognizing that company culture is what sets them apart.

“With a tight market, companies have to be creative and expansive in their search to not only find good crew members, but to build a funnel for future crew leaders,” said Bob Rouse, TCIA’s senior vice president of industry expertise. “That means having clear standards and procedures in place, but also being willing to think outside the box.”

Here are a few interesting ideas tree care companies are using to stretch their strategies and stand out.

Broadening the lens

Emerald Tree Care, a 10-person (and growing) company based out of Illinois, is thinking well outside the box when it comes to recruitment and casting a wider net: They recently recruited a manager from a farm-to-table restaurant. He loved being outside and connecting with nature, and felt unfulfilled working at a restaurant. Tree care turned out to be the perfect fit. “We make sure they have a passion for the outdoors,” says Daniel Miravel, the company’s owner. “Skills we can be taught; the love of nature cannot.”

At Wisconsin-based Wachtel Tree Science Inc., executive vice president Ben Reince focuses on hiring year-round, not just in the spring. “We’re always on the lookout,” he says. “You never know when you’re going to find the right candidate. When you see someone and think, ‘I need that person on my team!’ – you find a spot.”

Finding the right fit

Broadening the candidate pool is only half the battle. The other half is getting clear on exactly whom you’re looking for, because casting a wide net only works if you know what you’re trying to catch.

When the pandemic hit and Ostvig Tree Care in Minnesota lost some of its crew, owner Dan Ostvig turned the disruption into an opportunity. He applied the 80/20 Rule, studying the characteristics of his top performers to build a blueprint for future hires that helped him build strong teams and keep them. “We assessed the qualities of our best 20% to determine why we liked them, what made them strong, what their backgrounds were.”

It allowed them to focus on more mature, educated candidates, specifically those with a college degree or hands-on backgrounds in farming or ranching. “Knowing exactly who we were looking for made the entire hiring process faster and more effective,” notes Ostvig. “It helped us create a clearer, more direct path for recruiting and hiring. We stick to the criteria we created.”

At Emerald Tree Care, the process is intentionally designed to get past surface-level answers and uncover what candidates are really made of. By the time co-owners Brianna White and Daniel Miravel sit down with an applicant, a hiring team has already done the initial vetting, which means the conversation can go deeper. “We want to know if they’re interested in more than a paycheck,” said White. “Will they take care of our clients’ homes the same way they take care of their own?”

Culture is key

“It’s culture that sets companies apart,” says Reince. “We sell the opportunity as a career, not just a job. We want to make the offer as attractive as possible, but also make sure that they align with the company culture. We need to be able to communicate what sets us apart.”

Ostvig frames it as a matter of protection. “Our hiring process is about protecting our company and putting the right person in the right seat,” he says. “That means finding someone with the right characteristics and values, not just the right resume.”

Emerald Tree worked with ArboRisk Insurance as part of a hiring and recruiting package to help companies identify the right candidates by helping them get clear on their core values and principles. “We don’t want to chase people, we want to attract them,” says Miravel.

Eric Petersen, president of ArborRisk, explains, “If you haven’t identified your company’s core values, how do you expect to share them? You must have the clarity and conviction of what your company stands for to show prospective employees that your company is the place they want to work.”

Most companies have three to five core values that are shared by ownership and all employees. Rouse suggests to pre-screen candidates using your core values as a checklist, then have an honest conversation about what those values mean in practice – it’s the best way to find people who truly fit your culture.

Conclusion

Companies are looking beyond the green industry, getting laser-focused on the characteristics that make a great crew member and creating career paths worth choosing.

They’ve stopped waiting for the right people to show up and started building the systems, cultures and pipelines to find them. In doing so, they’re not just solving their own hiring challenges – they’re raising the bar for the entire industry.

“We strive to create green-collar professionals, not just for Emerald Tree Care, but the entire industry,” says Miravel. “This helps us, but our desire is that if they move on, they stay in the industry and make lateral moves within it.”

When tree care companies invest in who they hire and how they hire, they elevate the profession and prove that even in a tight market, the right crew is out there. You just have to be willing to go find them.

Tracey Miller is the manager of content & communications for TCI Magazine.