Landscape Gardener (Landscaper) Resume Examples & Writing Guide

A note on the title before the sample. Landscape gardener is the usual term in the UK and Ireland. In the US the same job is advertised as landscaper, landscape technician, grounds maintenance worker or groundskeeper. It is a different job from a landscape architect, who holds a state license, and from a landscape designer, who draws plans. Use the posting's exact word at the top of your resume.

This sample is for someone with nine years: parks groundskeeping first, then residential installation, now crew leader on commercial maintenance contracts. The person and companies are invented. Swap in your own acreage, accounts and equipment.

Most hiring in this trade is done by the owner or a branch manager, in March, in a hurry, with crews already short. They are asking one question: how soon can this person work without me standing next to them.

• Equipment you can run today. Zero-turn, stand-on, skid steer, mini excavator, chainsaw, stump grinder, sprayer. Every machine on your list is a day of training they do not have to pay for.
• Whether you can drive and tow. A clean driving record and experience towing a loaded trailer is worth real money to a crew, because most crews cannot leave the yard without a driver. Say it in the header.
• Licenses. A state pesticide applicator license changes what an owner can bill for. If you hold one, put the state, the category and the year near the top. If you do not, say you are willing to test for it.
• Route and production numbers. Properties serviced, acres cut, stops a day, install jobs a year, callbacks. These are the numbers the owner runs the business on and almost nobody puts them on a resume.
• Whether you stay through a season. This trade loses people in July. Dates that show you worked full seasons, and returned the next spring, carry weight on their own.

“Give me a driver with a spray license who can run a skid steer and I will make room on payroll the same week. What I cannot use is a resume that says "performed general landscaping duties" with no machines, no acreage and no license.”

Three or four lines under your name: years, maintenance or installation, the size of what you looked after, your machines and your license. Pick the closest version and change the numbers.

Most landscaping resumes are a list of verbs: mowed, trimmed, planted, cleaned up. Here are nine of them rewritten with the numbers that make an owner pick up the phone.

Owners scan for machines and plant knowledge. Put both in a grouped block rather than a long single list.

• Turf: mowing patterns and height of cut, edging, aeration, overseeding, dethatching, sod laying, grading and soil prep, fertilization programs, weed and disease identification.

• Plants: identification for your region, planting and transplanting, staking, mulching, pruning by species and season, seasonal color rotations, perennial bed care, pest and disease spotting, watering schedules.

• Irrigation: head and nozzle replacement, valve and solenoid repair, controller programming (Rain Bird, Hunter, Toro), zone testing, winterizing and spring startup, backflow device awareness and who is allowed to test it in your state.

• Hardscape and site work: paver patios and walkways, segmental retaining walls, edging, steps, drainage and French drains, base preparation and compaction, small demolition.

• Equipment: zero-turn and stand-on mowers, walk-behind, string trimmer, blower, hedge trimmer, chainsaw, pole saw, stump grinder, sod cutter, aerator, spreader, backpack and boom sprayer, skid steer, mini excavator, plate compactor, dump trailer, and basic maintenance such as blade sharpening and small engine servicing.

• The practical facts: driver's license and record, trailer towing, lifting 50 to 80 lb, early starts, working in heat and rain, weekend storm response, and any second language you speak on a crew.

Most landscaping work needs no license at all, which is exactly why the few that exist stand out. Two of them can change your pay rate on their own.

• Pesticide applicator license. Issued by your state's department of agriculture, with categories such as ornamental and turf, and usually split between a commercial applicator and an operator working under one. Requirements, categories and renewal periods differ by state, so check your state's requirements. List the state, the category and the year.
• Driver's license and CDL. A clean record matters on every crew. A commercial driver's license is only needed above certain weight limits, so check what your rig requires rather than assuming, and say clearly what you are legally allowed to tow.
• NALP Landscape Industry Certified. The National Association of Landscape Professionals runs certifications for technicians, managers and horticulture technicians, tested on real equipment and plant identification. Well known among larger companies.
• ISA Certified Arborist. Run by the International Society of Arboriculture. Worth it if you do tree work, and it usually moves you into a higher-paid crew.
• Irrigation Association certifications, such as Certified Irrigation Technician. Useful if repairs and controllers are a big part of your work.
• OSHA 10-Hour, first aid and CPR, and any manufacturer training on skid steers or aerial equipment. Cheap, quick and often the tiebreaker between two applicants.

Landscaping hires more people with no experience than almost any other trade, especially between February and May. The resume only has to prove you will last the season.

1. 1Write a two-line objective: the season you are available for, your driver's license, and any outdoor physical work you have done.
2. 2List mowing, yard work, farm work, construction labor, warehouse or moving work with hours and how long you stayed. Stamina and staying power are what the owner is buying.
3. 3Name any equipment you have honestly used, even a walk-behind mower, a string trimmer or a chainsaw at home.
4. 4Add basic plant or garden knowledge if you have it: a home vegetable garden, help at a family nursery, a school horticulture class. It separates you from the applicants who just want a job outside.
5. 5Get an OSHA 10 card and a first aid card before spring. Both are cheap and both signal you take the safety side seriously.
6. 6Apply in February and March, before crews are full, and go to the yard early in the morning with a printed copy.

• One page. Two only if you have crossed into management with multiple crews and budgets.
• Put licenses, driving status and towing experience in the header or immediately under the summary.
• No photo, no date of birth, no marital status on a US resume.
• Plain single column. Large national grounds companies use hiring software; small local firms print it in the yard office. Both need it simple.
• Describe each employer in brackets so an out-of-town reader understands the work: "commercial grounds maintenance contractor", "residential design-build", "municipal parks".
• Titles worth mirroring: landscaper, landscape technician, grounds maintenance worker, groundskeeper, crew leader, landscape gardener, irrigation technician.
• Task words worth mirroring: mowing, edging, pruning, mulching, planting, sod, aeration, overseeding, hardscape, paver, retaining wall, irrigation, pesticide application, seasonal cleanup, snow removal where the job includes it.
• Equipment words worth mirroring: zero-turn, stand-on, skid steer, mini excavator, stump grinder, sprayer, trailer, CDL.