With a mix of creativity and good old elbow grease, you have the landscaping skills to turn a bare patch of earth into a thing of beauty.
You don’t want to be stuck mowing lawns, you want a landscaper career that’ll let your skills and creativity shine.
But to get the best landscaping gigs you’ve got to prove you’re the cream of the crop. Sow the seeds of landscaping job success with a landscaping resume as good as the one below.
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Landscape technician with 3+ years of experience. Dedicated to maintaining existing landscapes and designing new ones with a focus on meeting client requirements and budgetary constraints. Specialize in creating low maintenance gardens that reduce clients’ water use by an average of 30% and significantly reduce upkeep costs. Looking to make use of my skills to create beautiful and cost-effective projects for Groundforce Landscaping Pros.
Work Experience
West Charleston Landscaping Services, Charleston, WV
Landscape Technician
March 2016–Present
Performed upkeep of existing landscaping by pruning, trimming, weeding, and gardening. Completed all jobs within allotted times.
Planted trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals. Achieved average 10% underspend on budget while still meeting client requirements.
Experience operating a sod cutter, tiller, and other landscaping machinery with care taken to use appropriate PPE.
Performed aquascaping, including installation and repair of residential irrigation systems, fountains, and water features.
Helped maintain profitability by sourcing cost-effective raw materials.
Education
George Washington High School, Charleston, WV
Graduated in 2015
Landscape Design Diploma
Ashworth College, Charleston, WV, 2015
Skills
Horticultural skills
Tree management
Hardscaping
Aquascaping
Landscaping machinery operation
Design drawing skills
Organizational skills
Communication skills
Volunteering
Provided volunteer landscaping services for North Charleston Community Center.
Awards
Highly Commended, 2019 Charleston in Bloom competition
This is how to write a landscape resume that’ll come up roses.
1. Choose the Best Resume Format for Your Landscaping Resume
A landscaper isn’t just a gardener. They alter earth and water to make a landscape more aesthetically pleasing. The purpose of your landscaping resume is to prove you have the skill to improve an existing garden layout, perhaps including a specialty like aquascape design.
But—
While you’re used to taking a long term view about how a landscape matures, a hiring manager takes only 7 seconds to scan your resume.
To focus their attention you’ve got to follow some resume formatting rules.
When writing your landscaping resume, use an attractive, readable resume font and use lots of white space to keep it easy on the eye.
When you click save, the best resume file type is PDF. It doesn’t mess with your resume layout. You’re a landscaper, I don’t need to tell you how important having things neatly arranged is.
And how long should a resume be? Keep the writing to a minimum. If you’ve got lots of experience then go ahead and do two pages. Otherwise, stick to one.
2. Write a Landscape Resume Objective or Resume Summary
They’re like two different color varieties of the same plant. Both are forms of resume profile.
Your profile is a short and sweet little paragraph at the top of your resume. It uses just 3 or 4 sentences to explain why you’re the best choice for the job. It’s what salesmen would call an elevator pitch.
A resume professional summary is best if you have more than 2 years of landscaping experience. Make one like this.
Take some time to make a list of all your selling points as a landscaper. All of the professional experience, skills and abilities that you’d pitch to a potential customer.
Then take a look at the job description in the ad and match 3–4 points from your list to the landscaping skills the ad is asking for.
A resume career objective is your go-to if you’re just starting out in the trade or if you’re changing careers. Maybe you’re turning a passion for landscaping into a business.
Include the landscaping skills you’ve learned so far, any experience you have, and explain how you’d be a good fit for the job.
Then use some achievements and transferable skills to back that up. Have you done landscaping projects for your own yard or for friends and family? That’ll work perfectly.
In both cases, be sure to write a resume profile that’s targeted to the job ad. All jobs are different, and your resume should reflect that.
Let’s keep digging. Time to get your hands dirty with your work experience section.
Use reverse-chronological order for this section. Your most recent job goes first and you work backward from there.
For each entry, include your job title, your employer’s name, dates of employment (use “present” as the end date if you work there now), then up to six bullet points describing the job.
Include the most details for more recent jobs. You can be briefer for older positions, but always stay relevant to the job you’re applying for.
Pro Tip: What if you’re writing a resume with no experience? You can get some by doing landscaping for friends and family. Or get some paid gigs through old school classified ads, or online freelancing services like Upwork.
4. Include a Landscaping Resume Education Section
Sure, you don’t need a PhD from Princeton to be a great landscaper, but if you’ve got some landscaping education it’s a sure-fire win on your resume.
If you’ve been in the workforce for more than five years then just list your education. For high school that means the name of the school, city, state, and graduation year. If you went to college it’s the college name, years attended, and degree with major and minors.
If you’ve got a landscaping certificate or diploma, include the name of the institution, the name of the certificate and the year you received it.
If you’ve only just finished school, or just completed training, put more detail in your resume education section. List your achievements then match them to the job description. Aced your hardscaping module? This is the place to boast about it.
If you’re writing a resume with very little experience then put your education section before your work experience section. That way you show off your strengths first.
Then once again, match the list to the job description and include the ones that are relevant. Also, make sure you incorporate the skills into your experience and education sections. That helps prove you’ve got what it takes.
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your resume here.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
6. Add Extra Sections to Your Landscaping Resume
Sometimes a final touch like a carefully arranged garden border can be key to a successful landscaping project. For a resume, the final touch is adding extra sections.
You’ve learned how to prepare the ground for a perfect landscape resume.
Are there any landscaping job hunting tips and tricks you want to share? Have I left anything out? Anything I haven’t covered that you need advice about? Let me know in the comments section.
Jacques is a career expert committed to delivering top-notch job hunting advice. His guides will empower you to craft winning resumes and cover letters.
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