What does an Activity Coordinator do?

An activity coordinator is someone who creates and plans activities, outings, and events in various settings. Typically, they oversee creating programs, staffing events, and supervising the implementation of activities. They generally report to the activity director or community manager. One of their tasks is to collaborate with directors of studies to schedule the activities. Other tasks include coordinating staff with the activities and informing them of the decisions regularly. Also, they strategize, coordinate, and encourage the members to participate in the activities.
Activity coordinator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real activity coordinator resumes:
- Manage safety accident reports and ensure that all staff is CPR and a certified.
- Manage and coordinate the workload of the release team members and are responsible for organizing and hosting all production release windows.
- Direct and implement recreational programs, including adult and youth sports, aquatics, community center and special events.
- Assist clients in reaching their ISP goals.
- Specialize with the ADL's for residents with dementia.
- Assist clients with personal care or ADL's as needed.
- Enrich their lives with compassion, respect, and integrity.
- Specialize in wind care, catheter, and ostomy supply orders.
- Follow and ensure that all aspects of individuals ISP are follow correctly and completely.
- Coordinate all bike, kayak, and canoe reservations and deliveries through customize reservations system.
- Initiate, audit and submit state and federal paperwork require for both Medicare and Medicaid billing.
- Provide all branches of military an ideal place to build morale, recreation, and welfare.
- Make sure all cash being drop correlates with the total amount count by the POS system.
- Provide a wide variety of customer support inherent to the fitness center and military morale and welfare.
- Focus various programs to meet needs of the soldiers, their family members and other DoD employees.
Activity coordinator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Activity Coordinators are proficient in Customer Service, Patients, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Flexibility, Physical strength, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Activity Coordinators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 27%
Provide customer service when answering phones -Assist residents during activities-Conduct all opening and closing procedures-Educated in safety protocols and emergency procedures.
- Patients, 20%
Provided direct supervision to all patients participating in the recreation and therapeutic programs while maintaining hospital standards.
- CPR, 12%
Gained initial certification in Lifeguard Training (Year); CPR (Year); and Abuse Care (Year)
- PowerPoint, 3%
Devised and delivered PowerPoint presentations for children about current events in relation to Hinduism.
- Memory Care, 3%
Organized, developed and implemented all programs for AL memory care unit including scheduling entertainers and coordinating monthly activity calendar.
- Front Desk, 3%
Front desk coordinator with additional responsibilities for updating the fitness club s website, Facebook and Twitter page, and e-newsletter.
Most activity coordinators use their skills in "customer service," "patients," and "cpr" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential activity coordinator responsibilities here:
Flexibility. The most essential soft skill for an activity coordinator to carry out their responsibilities is flexibility. This skill is important for the role because "recreation workers must be flexible when planning activities." Additionally, an activity coordinator resume shows how their duties depend on flexibility: "assess teamwork, flexibility, and adaptability, coordinating skills and common values and goals of patients. "
Physical strength. Many activity coordinator duties rely on physical strength. "most recreation workers should be physically fit," so an activity coordinator will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways activity coordinator responsibilities rely on physical strength: "assisted elderly residents with activities such as bingo, arts and crafts, physical therapy, exercises, and church activities. "
Leadership skills. This is an important skill for activity coordinators to perform their duties. For an example of how activity coordinator responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "recreation workers should be able to lead both large and small groups." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an activity coordinator: "attended live cultural awareness seminars and completed on-line courses that are designed to develop individual's leadership abilities".
Communication skills. For certain activity coordinator responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "communication skills." The day-to-day duties of an activity coordinator rely on this skill, as "recreation workers must be able to communicate well." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what activity coordinators do: "coordinated activities for patients with alzheimer's disease*utilized korean language skills as a translator to ensure effective communication between patients and doctors. "
Problem-solving skills. A commonly-found skill in activity coordinator job descriptions, "problem-solving skills" is essential to what activity coordinators do. Activity coordinator responsibilities rely on this skill because "recreation workers need strong problem-solving skills." You can also see how activity coordinator duties rely on problem-solving skills in this resume example: "supervised resident activities provided customer service support and resolved any related queries and issues"
The three companies that hire the most activity coordinators are:
- Sun Communities19 activity coordinators jobs
- Elder Care Alliance of San Rafael19 activity coordinators jobs
- Brookdale Senior Living12 activity coordinators jobs
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Activity coordinator vs. Group leader
A group leader is responsible for overseeing and distributing fair tasks to the members, ensuring clear instructions and procedures. Group leaders are mainly the ones leading the team towards their success. Duties of a group leader also include setting the team's expectations, providing necessary resources to make the task successful, and sharing regular updates on the team's performance. A group leader requires to have strong leadership and problem-solving skills to manage team concerns and resolve complaints quickly and efficiently.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an activity coordinator are more likely to require skills like "patients," "memory care," "front desk," and "mds." On the other hand, a job as a group leader requires skills like "osha," "center management," "dexterity," and "safety procedures." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Group leaders tend to reach similar levels of education than activity coordinators. In fact, group leaders are 1.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Activity coordinator vs. Program lead
A program lead is responsible for managing a business program's operation from its conceptualization to implementation. Program leads must have excellent communication and researching skills to monitor current industry trends, adjusting program techniques and strategies to meet society's demands. They have a clear understanding of the organization's long-term goals and outline plans to define those objectives, bringing new programs to light following clients' specifications that would help the business grow revenues, maintain customer satisfaction, and keep its good reputation, and achieve profitability goals.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that activity coordinator responsibilities requires skills like "memory care," "front desk," "mds," and "social interaction." But a program lead might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "project management," "hr," "work ethic," and "customer satisfaction."
Program leads earn similar levels of education than activity coordinators in general. They're 3.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Activity coordinator vs. Concierge
Specializing in customer service, a concierge is responsible for assisting clients at establishments in the hospitality industry. Most of the tasks revolve around greeting clients and responding to inquiries, arranging appointments and making reservations, answering calls, and coordinating with the necessary personnel in the joint effort to secure customer satisfaction. They also have administrative tasks such as producing reports, processing documentation, and even keeping accurate records. Furthermore, a concierge must adhere to the policies and regulations of the organization at all times.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, activity coordinators are more likely to have skills like "cpr," "memory care," "mds," and "social interaction." But a concierge is more likely to have skills like "reservations," "cleanliness," "good judgment," and "phone calls."
Concierges make a very good living in the hospitality industry with an average annual salary of $34,924. On the other hand, activity coordinators are paid the highest salary in the government industry, with average annual pay of $38,943.Most concierges achieve a similar degree level compared to activity coordinators. For example, they're 4.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Activity coordinator vs. Orientation leader
An orientation leader helps new students adjust to life in universities or colleges. They are primarily responsible for sharing campus advice, facilitating campus tours, assisting incoming students in class and organization registrations, introducing university opportunities, and discussing essential matters with students and their families. Furthermore, an orientation leader usually works with faculty members and staff, coordinating with them, especially when handling students' programs. Aside from serving as a role model, an orientation leader must also share various academic and social resources to help the freshmen.
Types of activity coordinator
Updated January 8, 2025