When thinking of applying for lawn care technician jobs, most would assume that substantial, previous experience is preferred. However, sometimes team members that we hire without any prior experience end up working out just as well—and in some cases, even better.
There are times when we actually prefer to hire from outside the lawn care industry. That’s because every lawn care company has its own approach and when hiring from within the industry, lawn care technicians have typically already been trained to do things a certain way—and sometimes that can be difficult to change. Our previously-experienced technicians have told us that “unlearning” something can sometimes be more challenging than learning it for the first time.
But whether you’re from within the lawn care industry or new to it, this hiring fact remains true: Work ethic and other characteristics are going to ultimately trump your experience level.
In fact, if you don’t have these traits that we’re going to discuss, you may not be the best fit for a role as a lawn care technician at Grassperson. That’s important for you to know going in, so that you don’t waste your time in a job that isn’t going to fulfill you or where you aren’t going to be poised for growth.
Whether you’ve been a lawn care technician in the past or not, there are several character traits that are important in order to be successful in the role. With the right lawn care company, the lawn care technician pay or salary can be a good way to earn a living. But if you only care about the money, then you certainly aren’t going to be the right fit.
For us, these are the characteristics that matter the most.
As a lawn care technician, you’re going to be spending your days outside. Many people come to this industry upon finding out that they don’t enjoy being cooped up inside all day.
Many of those who come to this role are those that like to camp, hike, fish, hunt, or participate in other outdoor activities. But even if you aren’t an avid outdoor person, you need to at least enjoy being outside. If you don’t, our experience has been that you will quickly tire of this line of work.
You might wonder why you need to have good communication skills in order to be a lawn care technician but our techs do spend a lot of time with customers. We have hired technicians who had a lot of experience but were not good at communicating with clients—and it didn’t work out. Having natural empathy and a “helper” type of personality would both be important in this role.
Though you don’t have to be a “salesperson,” you do need to have the ability to show empathy to clients and connect genuinely with their problems.
This is because inevitably, you will encounter customer challenges and you’ll need to be able to understand their concerns but also offer solutions. Customer challenges are really nothing more than just stumbling blocks that have to be overcome but that can’t be achieved without the ability to communicate well and demonstrate that you care. This is how you build a rapport/working relationship with clients.
Of course, it’s more than just being able to communicate well that will help you exude credibility and earn the customer’s trust. You must also demonstrate that you are a pro. We are seeking people who are willing and able to present themselves in a professional manner.
How can you be a professional if you’re new to the field? While it’s true that professionalism is a combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities (features that you will acquire over time as you learn the trade) it’s also about the way in which you are perceived.
That means things like dressing appropriately, speaking courteously, and showing up on time. These are all things that would be perceived right off the bat during an interview. You either show up like a pro or you don’t.
Within the role of a lawn care technician comes a ton of detail from taking notes to working with lawn care products to weed and grass identification. In addition to all that, there are also customer service details to be cognizant of.
Some clients have specific requests and those details matter, too. All of those details are incredibly important and need to be accounted for. If you are someone who cares about details (and pays attention to them), then this could be a great career path for you to utilize those skills.
It’s essential that you have a willingness to learn in order to succeed in this role. Whether you’re brand-new to the green industry or you’ve worked within it before, we are looking for lawn care technicians who are willing to learn the job and the technical details that come along with it.
Even lawn care techs who have been in the industry for many years will tell you they learn something new all the time. That’s because nature is evolving. There are so many new pests and diseases constantly arising. Our understanding of how to treat them is also constantly changing. If you are not willing to keep up with an industry that changes rapidly, then a lawn care technician role may not be right for you.
While pay should not be your primary reason for going out for a job (it should be something you like doing or you are going to struggle to succeed), it’s obviously an important factor.
At Grassperson, we pay $15 to $20 an hour, depending upon experience. We also offer plenty of opportunities for internal growth as we believe in promoting from within. Once we hire great people that exhibit these character traits that we talked about, we want to keep them for the long-term.
If you are someone who possesses these traits that we’ve just discussed, then a lawn care technician job might just be a great fit for you. Even if you’re new to the green industry, we can teach you the technical skills that you need to know. But what we’ve found from experience is that we cannot teach many of these other traits. That’s why we feel that they ultimately trump experience.
Of course, we also love getting people from within the lawn care industry when they are willing to learn our approach and adapt theirs if they have techniques that differ from our methods.
At the end of the day, it comes down to wanting our company and its team to succeed.
You deserve to be fulfilled in the career path that you choose and we have found that ensuring a job is the “right fit” often has as much to do with characteristic traits as it does skill set. Hopefully, by understanding some of this upfront, you’ll be able to make the best decision for your future.
Would you like to learn more about becoming a lawn care technician? If you feel as though you are a good fit, we’d love to have you apply.