How To Become A Yard Labour: What It Is and Career Path

What is a yard labour and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Yard laborers perform maintenance work in various facilities, primarily outdoors. They cover grounds with wood chips, lime rock, or other materials. They load trucks and distribute the materials on outdoor surfaces for protection and decoration.

It will be your job to keep these materials clean from residues while transported on conveyors. You will clean water canals from surface waste, such as leaves and twigs, and other items that have fallen in the water. You will burn the organic waste you collect.

Keeping surfaces clean and well maintained is the gist of the job. Removing paper waste from areas where it does not belong, preparing wood pulp, installing pipelines, and loading materials might be part of your daily tasks.

ScoreYard LabourUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,596

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.16%

Asian 5.74%

Black or African American 10.27%

Hispanic or Latino 17.48%

Unknown 5.34%

White 60.02%

Gender

female 6.02%

male 93.98%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.7

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a yard labour

Explore yard labour education requirements

Most common yard labour degrees

High School Diploma

52.4 %

Bachelor's

17.3 %

Associate

14.8 %

Start to develop specific yard labour skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Rules	9.24%
GRASS	8.84%
Cleanliness	7.65%
Hand Tools	7.02%
Safety Regulations	5.86%

Complete relevant yard labour training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New yard labours 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 yard labour based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real yard labour resumes.

Research yard labour duties and responsibilities

Manage mulching, fertilizing, watering and mowing activities.
Execute daily operations of cleanliness at work site
Execute daily operations of drum dryer.

Prepare your yard labour resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your yard labour 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 yard labour resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable yard labour resume templates

Build a professional yard labour 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 yard labour resume.