An activity specialist is responsible for organizing events and planning activity outline for a social institution or a group of people. Activity specialists identify the activity requirements and goals, coordinate with suppliers and vendors for resources, and calculate costs and expenses within the budget limitations. They also finalize the participants' lists and pick the best grounds to set up an activity, ensuring the safety and security of the guests. An activity specialist must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in writing reports and creating clear expectations to discuss with the management.

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Activity Specialist Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real activity specialist resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Design and lead programs, including programs nationally and in Germany, to facilitate software use in mathematics and science instruction.
  • Manage the maintenance of post MWR relate administrative records and submit program status reports in accordance with establish contractual requirements.
  • Provide clinically valid psychiatric rehabilitation services to patients to include assessments and evaluations of patients rehabilitative and recreational leisure enrichment needs.
  • Perform TCI de-escalation techniques and restraints in order to maintain client and environment safety.
  • Develop, refine and coordinate the execution of monthly, quarterly and annual event calendars and NAF budgets.
  • Coordinate and run various activities including, but not limit to, bingo, trivia, pool parties, and cabarets.
  • Assist elderly residents with activities such as bingo, arts and crafts, physical therapy, exercises, and church activities.
  • Direct and monitor the renovation of a section of the center from a multipurpose room into a teen center/game room area.
  • Create PowerPoint presentations and promotional materials for co-curricular programming.
  • Develop and implement therapeutic groups and activities for patients with disabilities disorders and behaviors.
  • Provide individual and group rehabilitation activities to increase communication, self-esteem and social skills in a therapeutic environment.
  • Coordinate and provide structured individual/ group leisure enrichment programs and activities while utilizing psychiatric rehabilitation techniques such as connecting and engagement.
  • Investigate provider complaints to determine Medicaid contractor compliance with contracts, certification requirements, law, regulations, policies and procedures.
  • Program activities includes holiday party, intramural sports, health and fitness programming, and morale theme events.
  • Organize and facilitate monthly events and activities that encourage campus morale for residents and staff that focus on therapeutic values.

Activity Specialist Job Description

Perhaps the hardest question to answer when deciding on a career as an activity specialist is "should I become an activity specialist?" You might find this info to be helpful. When compared to other jobs, activity specialist careers are projected to have a growth rate described as "faster than average" at 7% from 2018 through 2028. This is in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What's more, is that the projected number of opportunities that are predicted to become available for a activity specialist by 2028 is 1,400.

An activity specialist annual salary averages $32,860, which breaks down to $15.8 an hour. However, activity specialists can earn anywhere from upwards of $24,000 to $44,000 a year. This means that the top-earning activity specialists make $27,000 more than the lowest-earning ones.

As is the case with most jobs, it takes work to become an activity specialist. Sometimes people change their minds about their career after working in the profession. That's why we looked into some other professions that might help you find your next opportunity. These professions include a treatment coordinator, recreational therapy aide, drama therapist, and movement therapist.

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Activity Specialist Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 10% of Activity Specialists are proficient in Adaptive, Patients, and Mediation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Patience, and Listening skills.

We break down the percentage of Activity Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Adaptive, 10%

    Provided specialized training and use of adaptive equipment (i.e.

  • Patients, 9%

    Provided clinically valid psychiatric rehabilitation services to patients to include assessments and evaluations of patients rehabilitative and recreational leisure enrichment needs.

  • Mediation, 9%

    Assisted students with homework, extracurricular activities and mediation.

  • Role Model, 8%

    Assisted teachers with homework and re-teaching of academic skills Served as a mentor and role model for youth in grades K-5

  • Classroom Management, 8%

    Gained significant experience in classroom management, lesson planning and outdoor education.

  • Brand Marketing, 7%

    Collaborated with brand marketing and account partners to create and customize programs that improve sell-through for target markets.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Activity Specialist Resume templates

Build a professional Activity Specialist 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 Activity Specialist resume.

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Most activity specialists list "adaptive," "patients," and "mediation" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important activity specialist responsibilities here:

  • Arguably the most important personality trait for an activity specialist to have happens to be compassion. An example from a resume said this about the skill, "recreational therapists should be kind and empathetic when providing support to patients and their families" Additionally, other resumes have pointed out that activity specialists can use compassion to "gained understanding of the importance of customer service and compassion while working with youth and seniors. "
  • Another trait important for fulfilling activity specialist duties is patience. According to a activity specialist resume, "recreational therapists may work with some patients who require more time and special attention than others." Here's an example of how activity specialists are able to utilize patience: "worked with patience, assisted patients with cooking and cleaning"
  • Another skill that is quite popular among activity specialists is listening skills. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a activity specialist resume: "recreational therapists must listen carefully to a patient’s problems and concerns" This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "communicated instructions and safety procedures to campers before every activity worked in cooperation with counselors to teach and control campers and behavior"
  • A thorough review of lots of resumes revealed to us that "speaking skills" is important to completing activity specialist responsibilities. This resume example shows just one way activity specialists use this skill: "recreational therapists need to communicate well with their patients" Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical activity specialist tasks: "prepared and presented briefings to senior leadership. "
  • As part of the activity specialist description, you might find that one of the skills that might be helpful to the job is "leadership skills." A activity specialist resume included this snippet: "recreational therapists must plan, develop, and implement intervention programs in an effective manner" This skill could be useful in this scenario: "created curriculum for military children that fosters character development and leadership. "
  • See the full list of activity specialist skills.

    After discovering the most helpful skills, we moved onto what kind of education might be helpful in becoming an activity specialist. We found that 56.9% of activity specialists have graduated with a bachelor's degree and 6.7% of people in this position have earned their master's degrees. While most activity specialists have a college degree, you may find it's also true that generally it's possible to be successful in this career with only a high school degree. In fact, our research shows that one out of every six activity specialists were not college graduates.

    Those activity specialists who do attend college, typically earn either a business degree or a psychology degree. Less commonly earned degrees for activity specialists include a criminal justice degree or a liberal arts degree.

    Once you've obtained the level of education you're comfortable with, you might start applying to companies to become an activity specialist. We've found that most activity specialist resumes include experience from Police Athletic League, Atria Senior Living, and The Child Center of NY. Of recent, Police Athletic League had 79 positions open for activity specialists. Meanwhile, there are 20 job openings at Atria Senior Living and 17 at The Child Center of NY.

    Since salary is important to some activity specialists, it's good to note that they are figured to earn the highest salaries at Credit Suisse, NBCUniversal, and Univision Communications. If you were to take a closer look at Credit Suisse, you'd find that the average activity specialist salary is $45,273. Then at NBCUniversal, activity specialists receive an average salary of $44,214, while the salary at Univision Communications is $43,260.

    View more details on activity specialist salaries across the United States.

    Some other companies you might be interested in as a activity specialist include Apple, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Macy's. These three companies were found to hire the most activity specialists from the top 100 U.S. educational institutions.

    In general, activity specialists fulfill roles in the non profits and health care industries. While employment numbers are high in those industries, the activity specialist annual salary is the highest in the education industry with $33,838 as the average salary. Meanwhile, the telecommunication and health care industries pay $33,132 and $32,403 respectively. This means that activity specialists who are employed in the education industry make 21.8% more than activity specialists who work in the non profits Industry.

    The three companies that hire the most prestigious activity specialists are:

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    What Treatment Coordinators Do

    A Treatment Coordinator is responsible for assisting the doctors and other medical professionals in performing treatment procedures and administering medications for the patients. Treatment Coordinators manage administrative duties, such as scheduling medical appointments, discussing the treatment plans to the patients, updating medical information on the database, and processing payments for the medical procedures. They also coordinate with the insurance agencies to verify the patients' eligibility and information and file documents as necessary. A Treatment Coordinator must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in maintaining databases and ensuring that all medical forms are organized and safely stored.

    In this section, we take a look at the annual salaries of other professions. Take treatment coordinator for example. On average, the treatment coordinators annual salary is $8,839 higher than what activity specialists make on average every year.

    Even though activity specialists and treatment coordinators have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require patients, developmental disabilities, and mental illness in the day-to-day roles.

    These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. An activity specialist responsibility is more likely to require skills like "good communication," "adaptive," "mediation," and "role model." Whereas a treatment coordinator requires skills like "customer service," "financial arrangements," "treatment options," and "mental health." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

    Treatment coordinators receive the highest salaries in the non profits industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $42,993. But activity specialists are paid more in the education industry with an average salary of $33,838.

    On average, treatment coordinators reach higher levels of education than activity specialists. Treatment coordinators are 9.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Recreational Therapy Aide?

    Next up, we have the recreational therapy aide profession to look over. This career brings along a higher average salary when compared to an activity specialist annual salary. In fact, recreational therapy aides salary difference is $17,486 higher than the salary of activity specialists per year.

    A similarity between the two careers of activity specialists and recreational therapy aides are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "patients," "cpr," and "developmental disabilities. "

    But both careers also use different skills, according to real activity specialist resumes. While activity specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "good communication," "adaptive," "mediation," and "role model," some recreational therapy aides use skills like "recreational therapy," "compassion," "music therapy," and "therapeutic recreation programs."

    When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, recreational therapy aides tend to reach similar levels of education than activity specialists. In fact, they're 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Drama Therapist Compares

    Let's now take a look at the drama therapist profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than activity specialists with a $26,079 difference per year.

    Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from activity specialist resumes include skills like "good communication," "adaptive," "patients," and "mediation," whereas a drama therapist might be skilled in "individual therapy," "mental health," "nyc," and "creative arts. "

    Drama therapists are known to earn higher educational levels when compared to activity specialists. Additionally, they're 47.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Movement Therapist

    Now, we'll look at movement therapists, who generally average a higher pay when compared to activity specialists annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $20,598 per year.

    While their salaries may vary, activity specialists and movement therapists both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "adaptive," "developmental disabilities," and "mental illness. "

    Each job requires different skills like "good communication," "patients," "mediation," and "role model," which might show up on an activity specialist resume. Whereas movement therapist might include skills like "substance abuse," "mental health," "art therapy," and "eating disorders."

    Movement therapists reach higher levels of education when compared to activity specialists. The difference is that they're 32.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree more, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.