How to hire first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers

Job description template

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and remove anything that does not fit your job. Keep only must-haves you would really turn someone away for.

[Job title] at [Company name]
[City, State] · [Full-time / Part-time] · [Pay range]

About the role
[Two or three sentences about your team, the work and why it matters.]

What you will do
• Direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
• Direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
• Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
• Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
• Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
• Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
• Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
• Tour grounds, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or golf courses, to inspect conditions of plants and soil.

What you bring
• [Required license, certification or years of experience, if any]
• [Education, only if you truly need it. Typical to start in this job: High school diploma or equivalent]
• Strong monitoring, active listening, critical thinking, speaking, active learning and learning strategies skills
• Working knowledge of customer and personal service, English Language, administration and management and mathematics
• [Anything else you would really turn someone away for]

Pay and benefits
[Pay range]. For reference, the U.S. median for this job is $28.09 an hour ($58,430 a year).
[Benefits, schedule and anything else candidates should know.]

How to apply
[Apply on JAI Bot. Every applicant hears back.]

Copy the template Check your finished job post

Interview questions for first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers

Ask every candidate the same questions, in the same order, and write down what they say. Questions about past work show what someone has actually done.

1. Tell me about a time you had to direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a time you had to direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
3. Tell me about a time you had to establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
4. Tell me about a time you had to inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
5. How do you keep track of your own work quality during a busy shift or week? Give an example of catching a problem early.
6. Tell me about a time you had to understand a request or problem that was explained poorly. How did you make sure you got it right?
7. Describe a decision at work where the obvious answer was wrong. How did you work out the better choice?
8. Why this job, and why now? What would make you stay here for the long term?

Good answers name a real situation, what the person did themselves and what happened. Avoid questions about age, family plans, religion, health, national origin or anything else unrelated to the job.

What first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers do

• Direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
• Direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
• Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
• Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
• Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
• Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
• Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
• Tour grounds, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or golf courses, to inspect conditions of plants and soil.

Skills that matter most

MonitoringActive ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingActive LearningLearning StrategiesCustomer and Personal ServiceEnglish LanguageAdministration and ManagementMathematics

Education, experience and outlook for first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers

• Typical education to start: High school diploma or equivalent (BLS)
• Related work experience most have: 2 to 4 years (O*NET)
• Experience usually needed to start: Less than 5 years (BLS)
• Job outlook: +4% over ten years, about as fast as average · about 23,900 openings a year (BLS)

What to pay first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers

Pay depends a lot on where the job is. Highest and lowest median yearly pay by state:

See first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers pay in every state

Related hiring guides

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• First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers
• First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
• First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers
• First-Line Supervisors of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling Services
• First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
• First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

Job duties and skills: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license; O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JAI Bot has modified this information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025. Interview questions and the job description template: JAI Bot, based on the duties and skills above.