Lawn Care Resume Example

This comprehensive guide will give you all the tools you need to craft a lawn care resume that positions you strongly against other candidates. The guide will show you practical examples of how to structure your resume to show off your best and most relevant skills and career achievements. It will also show you how to tailor your resume according to the job description and your unique skill set. Read on to learn the tips Jobseeker careers experts recommend as the best for your lawn care resume.

What to include in a lawn care resume

It's essential to include a few core sections in your lawn care resume, while there are also a few optional sections you can make use of to strengthen your application. If you're lacking relevant work experience, you might choose to add sections that showcase your skill set earlier than in a traditional resume layout. These sections might include projects, education, hobbies and interests, skills and other optional sections.

Your resume layout and structure may differ depending on your experience levels, but make sure your resume includes the following:

Resume Header and Personal Information

Your lawn care resume header should contain your name and contact details. These include your email address and phone number. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can also add that, to give employers the chance to learn more about your skills and experience. It's not necessary to include a photo or any other personal information. Create a clear, well-structured header that acts as the headline of your resume. Use color accents and blocks to help this section stand out and catch the eye of the reader.

Only include professional, name-based email addresses in your resume header. If you have an old email address that uses nicknames, puns, references to your personal interests or anything else that could appear unprofessional, set up a new email just for your job applications. Finally, always double-check your contact details are correct and up-to-date before sending your resume.

Resume Summary

The next section is the resume summary. The section might also be called 'resume objective' or 'personal profile'. This is a brief introduction to you, your key skills and your career achievements and ambitions. While a resume summary focuses on your career achievements and experience, a resume objective typically focuses on your ambitions for the future. Always make sure your summary reflects the job description and highlights some of the key skills required for lawn care speicalist roles.

Alternatively, focus on introducing your career ambitions, and why this role is a good fit, both for you and the organization.

A good resume summary reflects the job description and highlights some of the key skills required for lawn care speicalist roles, while leaving the reader with an impression of your unique qualities and strengths. The most effective resume summaries also provide evidence to back up the claims made in them. Take a look at some strong examples of how to approach a lawn care resume summary in the graphic below.

Conversely, an ineffective resume summary would include generic, unspecific information on your skills and experience, while failing to provide any useful information on what makes you a unique and interesting candidate. See above for some examples of things to avoid when writing your lawn care resume summary.

Hard and Soft Skills

The skills section is one of the main ways to show employers you've got the skills required for lawn care speicalist roles. Whether your skills include equipment operation expertise, problem-solving abilities or any other useful skills for the role, you'll want to list them here. Again, refer to the job description and make sure you include skills that the employer has listed as essential or desirable for employment as a lawn care speicalist.

How to include hard skills on your lawn care resume

For your hard skills list, include any technical abilities or specific industry knowledge that's essential to working as a lawn care speicalist. These could be skills gained through work experience or qualifications. Furthermore, these skills are essential for a lawn care resume as they showcase your expertise in the field. Include around four or five key hard skills that are listed in the job description. These skills will help to convince the hiring manager that you're a good fit for the position.

The best resume hard skills sections focus on specific technical skills necessary for the job, showcasing skills that you have particular expertise in. There are some examples of valuable hard skills for a lawn care resume below.

Soft skills on your lawn care resume

Soft skills are your transferable skills and personal qualities that make you a good match for a lawn care speicalist position and the organization. Soft skills tend to be more universal than hard skills, and can often apply to multiple jobs and industries. In fact, as technology develops, soft skills are growing in importance for recruiters and employers, so be sure to add several of these to your resume. Aim to include approximately five soft skills that reflect the skills listed in the job description.

Your soft skills section should make the most of your unique personal qualities and strengths, while also reflecting the requirements laid out in the job description. See below for some examples of useful soft skills for a lawn care speicalist resume.

Education

In your education section, include details of your most relevant lawn care speicalist qualifications and educational achievements.

Working as a lawn care speicalist doesn't usually require a degree. Even though a degree-level education isn't a necessity, it's still important to highlight your key educational achievements, including a Certified Turfgrass Professional or other courses or training that showcases your landscape design proficiency or equipment operation expertise.

For each entry in this section, add the name and level of your qualification, the institution you studied at, its location and your dates of study. You can also add some bullet points outlining any high grades, awards you won or specialist subjects you studied. Adding this information will show the employer your dedication to learning and your areas of specialist knowledge.

If you were a member of any clubs or societies, or volunteered for any causes while studying, you could also mention these in your education section.

Certifications

Under this section, list any relevant certifications or licenses that are relevant to lawn care speicalist jobs. Add any official certifications or accreditations that increase your level of qualification and suitability for working as a lawn care speicalist. Therefore, add any necessary licenses and certifications in this section, along with valid dates so employers can see you're still qualified for the job.

See below for some suggestions of relevant certifications for a lawn care resume:

Work Experience

Under your work experience section, add any jobs you've had in the past that are relevant to the position of a lawn care speicalist. Include any relevant jobs you've held in reverse-chronological order. Start with your current or most recent roles and work back through previous roles. For each job, list your title, the name of the company, its location and the dates you worked there.

Also include some bullet points for each job mentioned, showcasing your achievements so the employer can see the impact you made on the company. Pay attention to the job description and make sure each point is relevant to lawn care speicalist roles.

A successful resume work experience section will always showcase skills and experience relevant to the job description, and how you put each to good use in your previous roles. Offering quantifiable evidence in a lawn care speicalist resume proves you're a strong candidate for the job, such as client feedback, project outcomes, KPIs or financial results. There are some examples of strong resume work experience sections below.

See above for some of the pitfalls to avoid with your resume work experience section. A bad resume work experience section might fail to address skills and achievements that relate directly to the job description. Falling back on clichés, vague descriptions and basic responsibilities, rather than showing the impact you made, is likely to disengage the reader.

Optional Sections

In addition to the core sections of a lawn care speicalist resume, there are several optional sections you could include to enhance your chances. Choose any optional sections that showcase essential or desirable skills or experience for lawn care speicalist jobs.

Hobbies

Add any hobbies and interests that reinforce your credentials for the position. Consider listing hobbies and interests to help your resume stand out, or to provide the employer with some insight into your personality and wider interests. They're perfect for candidates who might lack genuine work experience as a lawn care speicalist. Only include hobbies and interests that showcase your personality and personal qualities, and add something different to your application.

Volunteer Work

Listing volunteer work is another useful way to prove your relevant experience for lawn care speicalist roles. Write your volunteer section in a similar format to your work experience, including your role, the organization name, relevant dates and the details of your contribution.

References

It's not typical to include references in a lawn care resume, but some employers might ask for them. Don't add references unless requested by the employer. Be sure to prepare your referees in advance, so they've agreed to provide a reference and are ready to be contacted.

Best action words for your lawn care resume

Start each bullet point in your work experience section with a strong verb to show actions you took. Choose from the list of words below to increase the impact of your work experience section.

For help creating an eye-catching resume design to catch the attention of hiring managers, see Jobseeker's professional resume layouts. You can also use our clear, effective cover letter templates to complete your application.

Sample resume for lawn care speicalist positions

Now we've covered the main sections to include in your lawn care resume, let's take a look at how it all comes together in the example below:

Tips on creating an ATS-optimized resume

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help recruiters and employers to streamline their hiring process. They can store and process data, including applications and applicant data, quickly and efficiently. One of the jobs ATS applications are increasingly responsible for is initial candidate screening. The systems can quickly scan and rank resumes based on how closely they match the job description. If you follow a few simple tips when writing your lawn care resume, you'll give yourself a better chance of ranking highly in the ATS screening and progressing to the next stage.

Here a some simple tips to follow for an ATS-friendly resume:

• Choose a resume structure that matches the traditional, reverse-chronological layout or alternatively, the functional resume structure. This should make your resume more readable for ATS applications.
• Use of job description keywords throughout your resume will help it rank higher in the ATS scanning stage, as it will more closely match the requirements laid out in the job description.
• Use clear headings that break your resume up into readable, scannable sections that match the standard content employers expect from a resume.
• Adopt a resume design that uses clear, professional design principles and leaves white space for your content to breathe. Use the most readable fonts and incorporate subtle design elements to enhance the readability of your document.
• Keep your resume as concise as possible, to make it easier to read, and for ATS software to scan.

Takeaways for your lawn care resume

Writing a strong, impactful resume is about using your experience to demonstrate your relevant skills and achievements. You can do this through your work history or other resume sections. Pick a resume format that matches your experience levels, and tailor the content of your resume to reflect the details of the job description.

Using the professional resume templates and resources of Jobseeker can help you create a great-looking resume that stands out from other applicants. Sign up today and follow the simple steps to get started. Whether you're a junior or senior candidate, a professional cover letter can help to grab the attention of the employer. Jobseeker's cover letter examples were created by careers experts to provide useful tips and ideas for your cover letter.

Sources:

(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx

(2) Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications, New York State Department of Labor: https://dol.ny.gov/resumes-cover-letters-and-job-applications