13 Rare Landscaping Skills We'd Love To See On Your Resume
If you’re drawn to a job in the landscaping industry, chances are you love working outdoors, know your way around a mower and don't mind getting dirty.
What other skills are we looking for in a new employee?
You might be surprised.
We’ll start off with a couple actual landscaping skills we love to see. But the rest have less to do with edging and mulching and more to do with persistence and organization.
See yourself in this list of skills? We’d love to meet you.
Hardscaping Experience
As we strive to grow our construction division, we’d love to hire crew members with hardscaping skills. We do a lot of hardscape, from large brick and paver common areas to stone retaining walls. We can always use extra help.
Pesticide Certification
We place a huge value on safety here at Level Green Landscaping, so if you know how to safely handle and apply pesticides, that’s a plus.
Why Personality Matters
“We can teach people landscaping,” says Michael Mayberry, who started out as an operations manager at Level Green, dealing with everything from crew safety and training to client relations. “Landscaping skills are great, but we’re not afraid to hire people without landscaping skills if they demonstrate some other qualities. Some skills can't be taught — you either have them or you don’t. We can teach people how to use a weed eater and a mower. But you can't teach someone how to have a great work ethic.”
What are these valuable skills? Here are a few:
A Sense Of Adventure
You never know what scenario you’ll encounter here, especially in our enhancement division. You might need to climb a tree, wade through a pond, crawl through a tunnel to clear out debris. If you’re ready for anything, you’ll fit right in.
Works Well In Groups
Just about everybody here at Level Green works in a group. You’ll work side by side with people from all walks of life, and we love that about our company. You should love it, too.
There’s no time for bickering or disputes. Not only does it slow down the work, but if an operations manager has to drive out to your site to settle an issue, that throws off his entire day, and could end up costing money, too. There’s no time for that.
Persistence
Landscaping is hard work. It’s hot out there. Or, sometimes it’s cold. You get dirty. It’s tiring.
We’re looking for workers who hang in there, despite adverse conditions.
Organization
We pride ourselves on keeping our equipment clean and in top condition. That means every tool has a place, and it needs to end up there at the end of the day.
We’re professionals, which means we keep our equipment in good shape, our vehicles looking great, and we don't put up with trash tumbling out of the truck at job sites.
Good organization keeps everything running smoothly.
An Eye For Detail
If you’re one of those people who notices everything, you’ll be a great asset here. We sweat the smallest details. We nab every weed. We take note of wilted flowers that need water. Our crews carry a spare bag of mulch in case they spy a bed that needs a touch up.
That goes for our managers, too. Measuring properties accurately, returning every phone call and email promptly — this attention to detail is what makes our service rise above the rest.
Customer Service
Not sure if you’re great at customer service? It’s easier than you think. It can be as simple as smiling and making eye contact with customers and people passing by as you work.
Clients tell us our crews wave in the morning and say hello. They appreciate that.
Our managers love visiting clients in person, getting to know them and being attentive to their needs. Mostly, it’s about being nice.
Love Of Learning
We expect you to be good at more than one thing. Expert mower? Fantastic — but you’ll need to learn every aspect of landscape maintenance here, so that every person on the crew can skillfully handle every task the day’s work entails.
If you love soaking up skills like a sponge, we’d love to meet you.
Military Service
We love giving veterans jobs after they return from service. It’s the right thing to do. Beyond that, we assume if you've served in the military, you’re used to some of the adverse conditions that landscaping jobs entail.
We also assume you have some valuable innate qualities — responsibility, dedication, honesty.
Community Service
A big part of our mission is to make life better for the people around us. If you’re involved in your community, we assume you share that ideal, too.
Academic Awards
High achiever? We love that. We expect our employees to aim high and be the best they can be.
Organized Sports
You might not think to include this on a resume, but if you’re part of a sports team, chances are you have some skills that transfer well here. You know how to work as a cohesive unit under a team captain. You work well with others. You know the importance of showing up and doing your best for a common cause. Sounds like our jobs here.
Want to Join the Team?
At Level Green Landscaping, we value all kinds of skills in our employees. The more well-rounded you are, the better.
We’re always looking for hard-working, talented people to join our team.
Do you have what it takes? We’d love to hear from you.
Douglass Delano
Doug Delano (and Bill Hardy) opened Level Green Landscaping LLC in 2002 to offer Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia reliable commercial landscape maintenance services.