What does a nursery worker do?
Nursery worker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nursery worker resumes:
- Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows and shovels.
- Service the work trucks by checking the oil and gas, same with the weed eaters and the lawn mowers.
- Earn a CPR and varous other certifications.
- Work on the installation crew installing sprinklers and landscaping.
- Haul soil, fertilizer and tools using wagons and wheelbarrows.
- Help out around the nursery, repair sprinklers, mow lawns.
- Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors.
- Gain experience using tools such as shovels, picks, axes, chainsaws and carpentry tools.
- Work include mowing, weed eating, shrub trimming and maintenance, edging, and debris removal.
- Roll and stack sod and cut grass, trees, and shrubs.remove harvest, dig and screen soil, etc.
- Develop weekly lesson plan base on infant and toddler ministry curriculum.
- Work temporarily for stock building supply company delivering windows and loading/unloading trucks.
- Promote language development skills through reading and storytelling.
Nursery worker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Nursery Workers are proficient in Pigs, Water Plants, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Dexterity, Listening skills, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Nursery Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Pigs, 18%
Pig care from previous experience.
- Water Plants, 11%
Operate Machinery, Load Trucks, Unload Trucks, find plants for orders, pot plants, water plants.
- CPR, 11%
Follow CPR and First Aid instructions when handling injuries.
- Child Care, 10%
Provide child care during church services on Sunday mornings or any other time that I am needed.
- Church Services, 8%
Cared for infants - 2-year-old class on Sundays* Worked with 2 other volunteers to care for children during the morning church service
- Nursery Stock, 7%
Assisted with day to day care and cultivation of nursery stock as part of a skeleton wholesale team.
"pigs," "water plants," and "cpr" are among the most common skills that nursery workers use at work. You can find even more nursery worker responsibilities below, including:
Dexterity. The most essential soft skill for a nursery worker to carry out their responsibilities is dexterity. This skill is important for the role because "agricultural workers need excellent hand-eye coordination to harvest crops and operate farm machinery." Additionally, a nursery worker resume shows how their duties depend on dexterity: "plant, label pots, weed and water plants, shrubs and trees using hands and gardening tools. "
Listening skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling nursery worker duties is listening skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "agricultural workers must listen carefully to ensure that they understand instructions from farmers and other agricultural managers and supervisors." According to a nursery worker resume, here's how nursery workers can utilize listening skills in their job responsibilities: "facilitated activities for children ages 4-8 communicated with parents about child's positive and concerning behaviors"
Physical strength. This is an important skill for nursery workers to perform their duties. For an example of how nursery worker responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "agricultural workers must be strong enough to lift heavy objects, including tools and crops." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a nursery worker: "provide physical and emotional needs for children in the nursery during church events. ".
Mechanical skills. For certain nursery worker responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "mechanical skills." The day-to-day duties of a nursery worker rely on this skill, as "agricultural workers must be able to operate complex farm machinery." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what nursery workers do: "performed minor mechanical work and routine equipment maintenance.unloaded cargo from truck with hand trucks and pallet jacks. "
The three companies that hire the most nursery workers are:
- The Davey Tree Expert Company3 nursery workers jobs
- The Salvation Army2 nursery workers jobs
- Missouri State University2 nursery workers jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable nursery worker resume templates
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Nursery worker vs. Garden center employee
Garden center employees are nursery works working in a greenhouse or outdoors. The tasks of employees include planting, growing, watering, and pruning. They stock and organize merchandise on the sales floor and serve as a go-to person for a specific department. It is their job to monitor the sales floor for detained shoplifters and coordinate with the arresting officer for reports. They also explore alternative methods to provide training and communicate information.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, nursery worker responsibilities require skills like "pigs," "water plants," "cpr," and "child care." Meanwhile a typical garden center employee has skills in areas such as "sales floor," "customer inquiries," "cleanliness," and "customer satisfaction." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that garden center employees earn slightly differ from nursery workers. In particular, garden center employees are 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a nursery worker. Additionally, they're 1.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nursery worker vs. Grower
Growers monitor crop development and substandard plant removal to take care of quality standards. They maintain records of growing techniques and products to be used for review to identify trends and to forecast future space needs. Growers maintain the company's horticultural product by growing and caring to produce retail sales. They apply technical procedures, timing, and metering devices that control frequency, and amount and type of nutrient applications such as regulating the humidity, ventilation, and temperature and light. Additionally, they perform the dispensing of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real nursery worker resumes. While nursery worker responsibilities can utilize skills like "pigs," "cpr," "child care," and "church services," growers use skills like "harvest," "cleanliness," "strong work ethic," and "pesticide applications."
Growers may earn a higher salary than nursery workers, but growers earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $33,211. On the other hand, nursery workers receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $31,349.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Growers tend to reach similar levels of education than nursery workers. In fact, they're 2.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nursery worker vs. Ship worker
Ship workers are employees assigned to crew the ship. They may be transferred to cargo ships, cruise ships, or any other sea vessel. Ship workers usually handle a variety of tasks on the boat, depending on their needs. They may be assigned to do the cooking, cleaning, maintenance work, navigation, and security. Ship workers must be familiar with essential maintenance and navigation techniques. They should know how to do repairs on the ship, as well as do basic troubleshooting. They should also be willing to be assigned to different tasks.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, nursery workers are more likely to have skills like "pigs," "water plants," "child care," and "church services." But a ship worker is more likely to have skills like "customer orders," "safety procedures," "crisis intervention," and "community resources."
Ship workers earn the best pay in the transportation industry, where they command an average salary of $38,309. Nursery workers earn the highest pay from the finance industry, with an average salary of $31,349.Most ship workers achieve a similar degree level compared to nursery workers. For example, they're 1.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nursery worker vs. Greenhouse worker
Types of nursery worker
Updated January 8, 2025











