Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation resume example

A resume for a Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation needs to show the work itself: mix or apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation, or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or crops. Day to day that means work like this: mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops; fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

  • Lawn Specialist
  • Lawn Technician
  • Licensed Pesticide Applicator
  • Spray Technician
  • Chemical Applicator
  • Integrated Pest Management Technician
  • IPM Technician
  • Pest Control Technician
  • Pesticide Applicator
  • Spray Applicator
  • Tree and Shrub Technician
  • Agricultural Service Worker
  • Applicator
  • Applicator Sprayer
  • Certified Pesticide Applicator
  • Commercial Lawn Specialist
  • Crop Applicator
  • Eradicator

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

  • Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.
  • Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.
  • Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.
  • Identify lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment.
  • Cover areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.
  • Start motors and engage machinery, such as sprayer agitators or pumps or portable spray equipment.
  • Connect hoses and nozzles selected according to terrain, distribution pattern requirements, types of infestations, and velocities.
  • Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.
  • Provide driving instructions to truck drivers to ensure complete coverage of designated areas, using hand and horn signals.
  • Plant grass with seed spreaders, and operate straw blowers to cover seeded areas with mixtures of asphalt and straw.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

  • Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Identify lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

  • Customer database software
  • Facebook
  • Geographic information system GIS systems
  • Google Android
  • Materials inventory software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Rate calculation software
  • Unit conversion software

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

  • Air purifying respirators
  • Backpack sprayers
  • Boom sprayers
  • Broadcast boom sprayers
  • Chemical protection gloves
  • Chemical-resistant footwear
  • Chemical-resistant suits
  • Cold foggers
  • Digital flowmeters
  • Digital stopwatches
  • Electrostatic spray guns
  • Face masks

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

  • Google Android
  • Customer database
  • Geographic information system GIS systems

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

  1. 01Active Listening
  2. 02Critical Thinking
  3. 03Speaking
  4. 04Time Management
  5. 05Complex Problem Solving
  6. 06Coordination
  7. 07Judgment and Decision Making
  8. 08Operation and Control
  9. 09Operations Monitoring
  10. 10Reading Comprehension

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Biology
  • Production and Processing
  • English Language
  • Administration and Management
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Education and Training
  • Law and Government

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

  • 56%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
  • 16%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school
  • 15%Less than a High School Diploma

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation do?
Mix or apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation, or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or crops. Day to day that includes work like mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops and Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.
What skills should a Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation put on a resume?
O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, Time Management, and Complex Problem Solving among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes Customer database software, Facebook, Geographic information system GIS systems, Google Android, and Materials inventory software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation work?
O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Lawn Specialist, Lawn Technician, Licensed Pesticide Applicator, and Spray Technician. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 56% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation role?
No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

  • No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
  • This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
  • Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.