How to Write a Gardening CV

A strong CV gets you to the interview; everything after that is down to you. For gardening roles, a CV should be practical, honest and easy to read, with evidence of real experience.

What to include

• A clear summary — two or three lines on who you are and what you are looking for.
• Experience — most recent first, with the employer, dates, and what you actually did.
• Qualifications and tickets — RHS, diplomas, PA1/PA6, chainsaw units, CSCS, first aid.
• Skills — the machinery you can use, the plant groups you know, any specialist areas.
• References — available on request is fine, but have two ready to go.

Show experience, not just job titles

Employers want to know what you can do, so describe the work concretely. “Maintained a five-acre ornamental garden, including herbaceous borders, lawns and a glasshouse” tells them far more than “Gardener, 2024–present.”

Tailor it to the role

A maintenance gardener CV differs from a landscaping or nursery CV. Emphasise the experience and tickets most relevant to the job you are applying for, and cut anything that does not help.

Keep it practical and tidy

• Two pages maximum; one is often enough early in a career.
• Clear headings, plenty of white space, a plain readable font.
• No photos, graphics or coloured backgrounds unless the role is design-led.
• Perfect spelling and consistent dates.

If you have little experience

Everyone starts somewhere. Emphasise:

1. Volunteer or home gardening with concrete examples.
2. Qualifications in progress and any short courses completed.
3. Transferable skills from other work — reliability, manual work, customer service.
4. A genuine, specific interest in the employer or the type of garden.

Add a short cover note

A few lines explaining why this role, with this employer, suits you turns a generic application into a specific one. It is often the thing that earns you the interview.

The bottom line

A gardening CV is a practical record of what you can do. Keep it honest, specific and tidy, and make the reader’s job easy.