Skills
Soil and Plant Scientist Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in soil and plant scientists, and how to build and show them.
What skills do soil and plant scientists need?
Soil and Plant Scientists need technical skills such as soil science, agronomy, and plant breeding, plus people skills like curiosity and communication. They also use tools such as Soil probes and GPS.
Technical (hard) skills
- Soil science
- Agronomy
- Plant breeding
- Field trials
- Statistics
- GIS
People (soft) skills
- Curiosity
- Communication
- Problem-solving
- Patience
Tools, equipment and technology
- Soil probes
- GPS
- GIS
- Lab equipment
- Drones
- Statistical software
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how soil and plant scientists put their skills to work:
- How to pull a representative soil sample
- How to scout a field for pests
- How to read a soil test report
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Soil science” and “Agronomy.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “curiosity,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as CCA near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our soil and plant scientist glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Soil and Plant Scientist training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.