How to hire tree trimmers and pruners

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
• Clean, sharpen, and lubricate tools and equipment.
• Climb trees, using climbing hooks and belts, or climb ladders to gain access to work areas.
• Cut away dead and excess branches from trees, or clear branches around power lines, using climbing equipment or buckets of extended truck booms, or chainsaws, hooks, handsaws, shears, and clippers.
• Hoist tools and equipment to tree trimmers, and lower branches with ropes or block and tackle.
• Operate boom trucks, loaders, stump chippers, brush chippers, tractors, power saws, trucks, sprayers, and other equipment and tools.
• Operate shredding and chipping equipment, and feed limbs and brush into the machines.
• Supervise others engaged in tree trimming work and train lower-level employees.
• Trim, top, and reshape trees to achieve attractive shapes or to remove low-hanging branches.

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 critical thinking, monitoring and speaking skills
• Working knowledge of customer and personal service
• [Anything else you would really turn someone away for]

Pay and benefits
[Pay range]. For reference, the U.S. median for this job is $24.50 an hour ($50,960 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 tree trimmers and pruners

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 clean, sharpen, and lubricate tools and equipment. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a time you had to climb trees, using climbing hooks and belts, or climb ladders to gain access to work areas. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
3. Tell me about a time you had to cut away dead and excess branches from trees, or clear branches around power lines, using climbing equipment or buckets of extended truck booms, or chainsaws, hooks, handsaws, shears, and clippers. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
4. Tell me about a time you had to hoist tools and equipment to tree trimmers, and lower branches with ropes or block and tackle. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
5. Describe a decision at work where the obvious answer was wrong. How did you work out the better choice?
6. How do you keep track of your own work quality during a busy shift or week? Give an example of catching a problem early.
7. Explain something technical from your last job as you would to a new coworker.
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 tree trimmers and pruners do

• Clean, sharpen, and lubricate tools and equipment.
• Climb trees, using climbing hooks and belts, or climb ladders to gain access to work areas.
• Cut away dead and excess branches from trees, or clear branches around power lines, using climbing equipment or buckets of extended truck booms, or chainsaws, hooks, handsaws, shears, and clippers.
• Hoist tools and equipment to tree trimmers, and lower branches with ropes or block and tackle.
• Operate boom trucks, loaders, stump chippers, brush chippers, tractors, power saws, trucks, sprayers, and other equipment and tools.
• Operate shredding and chipping equipment, and feed limbs and brush into the machines.
• Supervise others engaged in tree trimming work and train lower-level employees.
• Trim, top, and reshape trees to achieve attractive shapes or to remove low-hanging branches.

Skills that matter most

Critical ThinkingMonitoringSpeakingCustomer and Personal Service

Education, experience and outlook for tree trimmers and pruners

• Typical education to start: High school diploma or equivalent (BLS)
• Related work experience most have: 2 to 4 years (O*NET)
• Training on the job: Short-term on-the-job training (BLS)
• Job outlook: +4.2% over ten years, about as fast as average · about 7,900 openings a year (BLS)

What to pay tree trimmers and pruners

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

See tree trimmers and pruners pay in every state

Related hiring guides

• Fallers
• Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
• Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation
• Forest and Conservation Workers
• Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse
• Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
• Agricultural Equipment Operators
• Construction Laborers
• Logging Equipment Operators
• Highway Maintenance 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.