Top 12 Pest Control Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
In the competitive field of pest control, the skills you showcase can swing doors open. Hiring managers scan for capability, safety, and problem-solving under pressure. This guide breaks down twelve core skills every pest control technician should highlight to stand out and prove real-world readiness.
Pest Control Technician Skills
- Insect Identification
- Rodent Management
- Chemical Handling
- Safety Protocols
- Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
- Customer Service
- Record Keeping
- Equipment Maintenance
- Regulatory Compliance
- Biological Control
- Heat Treatment
- Fumigation Techniques
1. Insect Identification
Insect identification means determining what species you’re dealing with and what stage it’s in. That insight drives the choice of methods, timing, and materials—so treatments hit hard and miss the non-targets.
Why It's Important
Correct ID saves time, cuts chemical use, reduces callbacks, and protects the environment. Misidentify the pest and you risk wasted effort, persistent infestations, and unhappy clients.
How to Improve Insect Identification Skills
Sharpen your identification skills with a mix of study and repetition:
Educate Yourself: Build a baseline. Field guides like National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America deliver clear visuals and traits.
Use Reputable Resources: Compare your finds against trusted image libraries and community ID platforms such as BugGuide and iNaturalist.
Attend Workshops: Extension programs and industry trainings often offer short, practical entomology sessions.
Practice Often: Photograph specimens, label what you suspect, then verify. Apps like Picture Insect or Seek by iNaturalist help you check your hunches fast.
Join Professional Communities: Share photos, ask questions, learn from seasoned techs in industry forums and professional groups.
It’s a craft—keep observing, cataloging, and testing yourself in the field.
How to Display Insect Identification Skills on Your Resume
2. Rodent Management
Rodent management blends inspection, exclusion, sanitation, trapping, and baiting to knock down mice and rat populations—and keep them out.
Why It's Important
Rodents spread disease, chew wiring and structures, and contaminate food. Effective control protects health, property, and regulatory compliance.
How to Improve Rodent Management Skills
Level up your approach with disciplined steps:
Inspections: Hunt for entry points, harborage, rub marks, droppings, and food sources. Seal with rodent-proof materials; think metal flashing, concrete, and copper mesh. Follow public health guidance on exclusion.
Sanitation: Starve them out. Tight storage, prompt waste removal, and dry conditions reduce pressure. Document recommendations for clients.
Trapping and Baiting: Use the right device for the pressure level and site. Place tamper-resistant, secured bait stations. Mind label directions and local rules.
Monitoring and Maintenance: Set a schedule. Check devices, record activity, rotate placements, and tighten exclusion as conditions change. Apply IPM principles consistently.
Education and Communication: Explain behaviors, timelines, and prevention. Clear expectations boost cooperation and outcomes.
Keep learning about new devices, attractants, and exclusion materials—rodents adapt; so should your playbook.
How to Display Rodent Management Skills on Your Resume
3. Chemical Handling
Chemical handling covers the safe selection, mixing, application, storage, transport, and disposal of pesticides—always aligned with label requirements and laws.
Why It's Important
Safety first. Proper handling shields people, pets, pollinators, and waterways—and keeps you compliant and insured.
How to Improve Chemical Handling Skills
Dial in your safety and precision:
Understand Chemicals: Read every label and Safety Data Sheet. Know hazards, PPE, reentry intervals, and first aid.
Training: Complete initial and refresher training on mixing, calibrating, and spill response. Document it.
PPE: Wear the PPE the label demands—gloves, goggles, respirators, protective clothing—and inspect gear before use.
Storage and Transport: Keep products in original containers with intact labels, secured upright, separated from food and feed, and protected from heat and freezing. Use secondary containment when required.
Emergency Preparedness: Maintain a spill kit, eyewash, and clear procedures. Know who to call, what to isolate, and how to decontaminate.
Record Keeping: Log products, rates, batch numbers, and locations. Good records prove compliance and sharpen decision-making.
Equipment Care: Calibrate and inspect equipment often to prevent leaks, misapplication, and drift.
Remember: the label is the law. Precision is your edge.
How to Display Chemical Handling Skills on Your Resume
4. Safety Protocols
Safety protocols are the guardrails: procedures for PPE, chemical handling, equipment operation, ventilation, signage, storage, transport, and disposal. They protect you, the client, and the site.
Why It's Important
Solid protocols reduce exposure, injuries, and property damage. They also keep you aligned with regulations and industry standards.
How to Improve Safety Protocols Skills
Lock in a culture of safety with these moves:
Regular Training: Ongoing instruction on pesticide safety, hazard communication, heat stress, and emergency response using resources from credible public health and pesticide information centers.
PPE Enforcement: Specify PPE by task and product. Fit-test respirators. Replace worn gear without delay.
Equipment Checks: Inspect sprayers, hoses, regulators, and vehicles on a schedule. Fix leaks before rolling to a job.
Safety Data Sheets: Keep SDS accessible—paper and digital. Train teams to read and act on them.
Emergency Plans: Post response steps, emergency contacts, and site maps. Drill spill control and first aid.
Compliance Monitoring: Track rules at local, state, and federal levels. Document your adherence.
Health Surveillance: Monitor for symptoms of exposure during high-use seasons. Encourage prompt reporting.
Safety isn’t a binder. It’s a habit formed by repetition and accountability.
How to Display Safety Protocols Skills on Your Resume
5. Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
IPM blends prevention, monitoring, thresholds, and a layered set of controls—cultural, mechanical, biological, and chemical—used only when needed and in the least-risk order.
Why It's Important
IPM cuts resistance, trims costs, and reduces environmental impact while keeping pest levels below the point where they cause harm.
How to Improve Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Skills
Make IPM your default framework:
Learn the Biology: Life cycles, seasonality, and behavior drive timing and methods.
Monitor: Inspect routinely and use traps or indicators. Identify early and act precisely.
Prevent: Remove attractants, fix moisture, improve sanitation, and harden structures.
Prioritize Low-Risk Controls: Start with exclusion, mechanical removal, habitat modification, and biological controls. Escalate only as needed.
Targeted Chemistry: When chemicals are warranted, choose the least toxic effective option and apply with accuracy.
Evaluate and Adapt: Track results. If pressure persists, adjust methods and timing.
Collaborate: Coordinate with clients, facility managers, and local extension experts for better, lasting results.
IPM isn’t a single step—it’s the whole strategy.
How to Display Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Skills on Your Resume
6. Customer Service
In pest control, customer service means clear explanations, careful work, tidy sites, and follow-through. People remember how you made them feel—and whether the pests stayed gone.
Why It's Important
Trust drives renewals and referrals. Good communication reduces confusion, missed prep steps, and callbacks.
How to Improve Customer Service Skills
Raise the bar with small, consistent actions:
Communicate Clearly: Outline what you’ll do, why it matters, and what the customer should expect. Practice active listening.
Be Reliable: Arrive when you say you will. Professional appearance, prepared truck, clean work area.
Educate: Offer quick prevention tips and give leave-behind instructions.
Follow Up: Check back after service windows to confirm results and answer questions.
Use Feedback: Ask for reviews and learn from them. Turn criticism into process improvements.
Keep Learning: Stay current on products, methods, and safety so your advice is solid.
Respect, clarity, and consistency—customers notice all three.
How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume
7. Record Keeping
Record keeping captures inspections, pest pressure, products, lots, rates, application sites, device counts, and customer notes—everything needed for compliance and pattern recognition.
Why It's Important
Good records prove what happened and when. They guide next steps, satisfy audits, and help you spot trends before they blow up.
How to Improve Record Keeping Skills
Make documentation effortless and consistent:
Use Digital Tools: Adopt pest-control-focused software or mobile apps with time stamps, GPS, photos, and templates.
Standardize: Build checklists and forms that cover products, quantities, methods, target pests, and treated areas.
Train the Team: Show how to log data the same way every time. Audit for accuracy.
Review Regularly: Weekly or monthly checks surface gaps and trends.
Back It Up: Use secure cloud storage with permissions and retention schedules.
If it isn’t recorded, it didn’t happen—at least not in an audit.
How to Display Record Keeping Skills on Your Resume
8. Equipment Maintenance
Equipment maintenance means your sprayers spray true, your dusters dust evenly, and your monitors function without fail. Reliability is a service in itself.
Why It's Important
Well-kept tools reduce downtime, prevent misapplications, and extend equipment life. They also keep technicians safer.
How to Improve Equipment Maintenance Skills
Keep your gear battle-ready:
Routine Inspections: Check hoses, seals, nozzles, gaskets, and gauges on a schedule. Replace before failure.
Follow Manufacturer Guidance: Use correct parts, lubricants, and calibration steps as directed in manuals.
Clean After Use: Flush lines, empty tanks safely, and remove residues to prevent clogs and corrosion.
Maintenance Logs: Track repairs, parts replacements, and calibrations to anticipate service needs.
Train Technicians: Teach correct setup, breakdown, storage, and calibration for every device in the fleet.
Small habits, big payoffs—especially during peak season.
How to Display Equipment Maintenance Skills on Your Resume
9. Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance means aligning with pesticide laws, licensing, record rules, label language, and site-specific requirements that protect people and the environment.
Why It's Important
Compliance safeguards health, prevents fines and license issues, and maintains your company’s reputation.
How to Improve Regulatory Compliance Skills
Build a robust compliance system:
Stay Current: Track changes to local, state, and federal rules. Assign responsibility for monitoring updates.
Continuing Education: Earn recertification credits on schedule. Focus on categories relevant to your work.
Detailed Records: Document applications thoroughly—product, EPA reg number, rate, method, site, weather conditions when relevant.
Safety Protocols: Follow hazard communication, storage, transport, and disposal requirements to the letter.
Licensing: Keep licenses and insurance current. Verify any required endorsements.
Professional Networks: Engage with industry associations and state agencies for guidance and updates.
Labels, laws, and documented proof—treat all three as non-negotiable.
How to Display Regulatory Compliance Skills on Your Resume
10. Biological Control
Biological control uses living allies—predators, parasitoids, and pathogens—to suppress pests and stabilize systems.
Why It's Important
It reduces reliance on chemicals, lowers resistance risk, and protects beneficial species when applied thoughtfully.
How to Improve Biological Control Skills
Make biocontrol work in the real world:
Correct Identification: Confirm the pest and vulnerable life stage before choosing agents.
Select Effective Agents: Match predators or parasitoids to the target species and setting.
Support the Habitat: Increase plant diversity, reduce dust, and manage moisture to favor beneficials.
Monitor Results: Track both pest and beneficial populations. Adjust releases and tactics as needed.
Educate Clients: Set expectations—biocontrol often works best as part of a broader IPM plan, not as an instant knockout.
Integrate with IPM: Combine with exclusion, sanitation, and targeted chemistry when necessary.
Patience and precision matter. The biology pays you back.
How to Display Biological Control Skills on Your Resume
11. Heat Treatment
Heat treatment raises temperatures high enough, long enough, to kill pests like bed bugs and, in some cases, localized drywood termites—no residual chemicals involved.
Why It's Important
Heat penetrates cracks, crevices, and clutter. It’s fast, thorough, and a strong option where chemical sensitivities or resistance are concerns.
How to Improve Heat Treatment Skills
Turn up precision, not just the heat:
Know the Target: Each pest has a thermal death point. Match both temperature and exposure time to the biology.
Use the Right Equipment: Professional heaters, fans, and containment tools ensure even distribution and stable hold times. Systems must be sized to the space.
Measure Everywhere: Place multiple temperature sensors—low, high, inside furniture, behind baseboards—to eliminate cold spots.
Prep Thoroughly: Coach occupants on removing heat-sensitive items and improving airflow. Good prep equals good results.
Follow Safety Protocols: Vacate spaces, protect fire alarms and sprinklers as required, and monitor throughout.
Verify Success: Inspect after cooldown. Use interceptors or monitors to confirm elimination.
Controlled heat with careful monitoring wins; sloppy heat leaves survivors.
How to Display Heat Treatment Skills on Your Resume
12. Fumigation Techniques
Fumigation introduces a gas into a sealed space to reach pests in hidden voids and dense materials. It demands airtight containment, accurate dosage, and strict safety controls.
Why It's Important
When infestations are deep-seated or widespread, fumigation can achieve full penetration and thorough control that other methods can’t match.
How to Improve Fumigation Techniques Skills
Refine the process end to end:
Stay Updated: Review current fumigant labels, buffer requirements, aeration procedures, and detection technologies.
Safety First: Use appropriate PPE, gas monitoring devices, warning agents, and verified clearance testing.
Training and Certification: Maintain endorsements and complete specialized courses for the products you handle.
Precision Tools: Employ calibrated application and monitoring equipment to confirm concentrations and exposure times.
Integrate with IPM: Pair fumigation with sanitation and exclusion to prevent reinfestation.
Customer Education: Provide clear prep and reentry instructions, signage, and timelines.
Meticulous planning, airtight execution, and measured clearance—no shortcuts.
How to Display Fumigation Techniques Skills on Your Resume
