How To Become A Pest Control Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a pest control operator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a pest control operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.92 an hour? That's $37,273 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 6,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePest Control OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,273

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.89%

Asian 2.02%

Black or African American 10.27%

Hispanic or Latino 23.25%

Unknown 4.72%

White 58.86%

Gender

female 12.71%

male 87.29%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.3

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a pest control operator

Explore pest control operator education requirements

Most common pest control operator degrees

Bachelor's

41.3 %

High School Diploma

26.3 %

Associate

18.8 %

Start to develop specific pest control operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Pest Control	45.02%
Ornamental	15.12%
Pest Management	11.56%
Insect	9.35%
Customer Service	7.89%

Complete relevant pest control operator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New pest control operators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a pest control operator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real pest control operator resumes.

Research pest control operator duties and responsibilities

Coordinate and manage annual physical inventory as well as inventory valuation in accordance with Canadian GAAP.
Install and monitor various insect pest traps, base upon insect life cycles, throughout the spring and summer season.
Research Necrobia rufipes in CO2 fumigation due to infestation and pest eradication plan and program with other departments sharing collections space.
Lead operations finance team to ensure timely and accurate financial reporting and costing consistent with internal policy and SOX requirements.

Prepare your pest control operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pest control operator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a pest control operator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable pest control operator resume templates

Build a professional pest control operator resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your pest control operator resume.