In the Army, action officers are staff members that collect information and provide recommendations to senior decision-makers through well-written documents. These recommendations become decisions upon approval, which means that the job of an action officer can affect the entire branch or division.
Action officers perform a wide variety of duties. Some of their specific responsibilities include informing upper officers of security approvals, communicating with different agencies, attending meetings of special projects, and overseeing staff engagement activities. However, their main duty is to create well-researched, well-written, and actionable documents for the perusal of upper decision-makers.
To qualify for this position, you must first have a bachelor's degree in a relevant field, at the very minimum. Proficiency in technical writing is also a must, as well as skills in research, communication, and analysis. Moreover, you must have a security clearance, which your employer will typically assist you in getting.
Action officers typically work regular 40 hours weeks and earn an average of $27 per hour. Action officers with more experience and skills can earn more at around $117,000 per year.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an Action Officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $30.47 an hour? That's $63,378 a year!
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an Action Officer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 23.4% of Action Officers included Clearance, while 10.9% of resumes included DOD, and 8.6% of resumes included Cyber. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
If you're interested in becoming an Action Officer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 64.8% of Action Officers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 19.0% of Action Officers have master's degrees. Even though most Action Officers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an Action Officer. When we researched the most common majors for an Action Officer, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Master's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Action Officer resumes include Associate Degree degrees or High School Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an Action Officer. In fact, many Action Officer jobs require experience in a role such as Operations Officer. Meanwhile, many Action Officers also have previous career experience in roles such as Executive Officer or Officer.