What is an Advocate?

It is the job of an advocate to act as a representative of an individual for a specific purpose. The majority of your responsibility varies depending on the sector of the company or job involved. Nonetheless, as an advocate, you must possess comprehensive knowledge or a solid foundation on the focus of attention.

Additionally, you must be available in every meeting, help in the bargaining and intercession process comprising contracts and lawful certification, and render or put across precise information. You are also expected to justify what you stand for. As an advocate, you must establish and preserve communication and connection with public services companies and other institutions associated with experts and public service schedules.

As an advocate, you must acquire good interaction, analytical, research, leadership, and decision-making skills. You must also have logical thinking capability along with creativity. In addition to these skills, you must have acquired at most a bachelor's degree or an associate degree in psychology, business, or even social work. With this, you will earn a salary ranging from $22,000 to $52,000, but an average of $34,042 yearly or $16.37 per hour.

What Does an Advocate Do

There are certain skills that many advocates have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed compassion, time-management skills and communication skills.

Learn more about what an Advocate does

How To Become an Advocate

If you're interested in becoming an advocate, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 57.9% of advocates have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 10.6% of advocates have master's degrees. Even though most advocates have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become an Advocate

Advocate Job Description

An advocate is a professional responsible for representing their client for a specific purpose. They must be well-acquainted with the field and might have different responsibilities depending upon their exact role.

Learn more about Advocate Job Description
Top Advocate Jobs Near You

Advocate Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of counselor you might progress to a role such as therapist eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title case manager.

Advocate

Average Salary for an Advocate

Advocates in America make an average salary of $39,497 per year or $19 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $58,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $26,000 per year.
Average Advocate Salary
$39,497 Yearly
$18.99 hourly
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What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Advocate

The role of an advocate includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general advocate responsibilities:

  • Responsibilitiesinclude, but are not limited, to the following: responsible for answering inbound/outbound calls related to health & welfare approximately 85% of the work day; follow-up on calls that need additional assistance or have been escalated to tier 2 or 3; using available resources (call center worker instructions, knowledge system
  • Keep the team and stakeholders informedof a holistic view of the product’s quality. Elicit examplesthat act as or clarify acceptance criteria. Encourage collaboration
  • Engage all persons on the street who appear homeless create

There are several types of advocate, including:

Counselor

Role:

While there are several different types of counselors, in general they spend their time helping people overcome and understand specific problems. Although, not every counselor is going to have a couch, as depicted by TV, most do work in private office settings.

The scope of the types of counselors seems to be never-ending. From school counselors to family and marriage counselors, and even mental health counselors, people who go into this field have a range of what area they want to focus on.

  • Average Salary: $36,225
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Social Worker

Role:

I'm sure you've heard that social work is hard. That's all anyone has to say about it. But what exactly does that mean? As a social worker, your day will consist of provide counseling services, performing administrative duties, taking time to interview potential clients, and meeting with lawyers. This is where the hard part comes into play.

A big part of a social worker's role is to provide assistance to people who are facing challenges in their life. Social workers try to improve their wellbeing and make sure they are being treated fairly. It's the situations that you'll find yourself helping that are the tough parts. From family violence to homelessness, this job isn't protected against some sad stories.

In fact, many social workers say the hardest part of the job is seeing how cruel people can be toward each other, especially families. You never want to see a kid take the brunt of a fight between two adults, but it happens more than you know. That's the kind of sad reality you might find yourself in as a social worker. There needs to be more people like you in the world.

  • Average Salary: $50,102
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Service Worker

Role:

A service worker provides social services in different areas to people with varying needs. They might hold a license to provide assistance for clinical patients with mental health problems, or they might simply help people deal with everyday problems with training as a direct service social worker.

Housing emergencies, medical issues, financial problems, or other crisis situations are the areas where a service worker can typically help out without a license. They interview people to assess their situation, help with sorting out information, arrange support packages, give advice, and provide connections and referrals to other organizations.

You need patience, empathy, and great problem-solving skills to do this job well. You need to be organized and know your way around welfare policies, but perhaps most importantly, you need to be able to gain your clients' trust.

  • Average Salary: $30,045
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Advocate Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active advocate jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where advocates earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Advocate Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California3,150$48,371
2Massachusetts1,926$56,141
3New York1,781$67,967
4Texas1,756$40,823
5Florida1,531$47,157
6Pennsylvania1,302$58,445
7Illinois1,224$44,054
8Washington905$37,299
9Maryland867$65,011
10New Jersey840$62,607
11Michigan832$45,410
12Ohio807$54,977
13Georgia790$40,726
14Arizona692$36,672
15Virginia685$58,531
16Minnesota680$36,847
17North Carolina647$57,112
18Colorado560$37,921
19Indiana547$42,016
20Missouri438$38,799
21Tennessee436$39,090
22South Carolina397$46,955
23Wisconsin391$45,309
24Oregon386$36,876
25Connecticut325$62,337
26Iowa297$35,190
27Utah275$30,466
28Kentucky273$41,470
29Oklahoma270$37,556
30Louisiana258$38,970
31Arkansas223$30,208
32Maine222$56,352
33Alabama218$33,350
34Nebraska215$33,409
35Nevada201$40,609
36New Mexico192$34,013
37Mississippi188$38,048
38Kansas165$34,153
39Idaho156$30,343
40Montana145$32,522
41New Hampshire142$52,497
42Rhode Island124$57,904
43Alaska119$36,674
44Hawaii109$48,345
45West Virginia103$51,533
46South Dakota86$31,095
47Delaware80$53,962
48North Dakota66$40,524
49Vermont57$44,152
50Wyoming47$31,994

Advocate Education

Advocate Majors

Psychology
18.8 %
Business
12.8 %
Social Work
10.5 %

Advocate Degrees

Bachelors

57.9 %

Associate

16.4 %

Masters

10.6 %

Top Colleges for Advocates

1. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

2. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,942

Enrollment

13,871

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

5. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,309

Enrollment

9,142

6. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

7. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,798

Enrollment

31,503

8. Howard University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$26,756

Enrollment

6,166

9. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

10. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

Top Skills For an Advocate

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.1% of advocates listed cpr on their resume, but soft skills such as compassion and time-management skills are important as well.

  • CPR, 12.1%
  • Customer Service, 10.8%
  • Developmental Disabilities, 10.6%
  • Cleanliness, 10.3%
  • Patients, 8.2%
  • Other Skills, 48.0%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Advocate Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Advocate templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Advocate resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Advocate Resume
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Advocate diversity

Advocate Gender Distribution

Female
Female
74%
Male
Male
26%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among advocates, 74.3% of them are women, while 25.7% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among advocates is White, which makes up 54.0% of all advocates.

  • The most common foreign language among advocates is Spanish at 66.2%.

Online Courses For Advocate That You May Like

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1. Disaster, Crisis, and Emergency Preparedness Communication

coursera

This course will introduce you to basic concepts of emergency management, planning, and crisis risk communication. You will understand the definitions of and operational challenges associated with disasters and public health emergencies. You will identify important components of risk communication, and you will identify and evaluate the ways social characteristics shape vulnerabilities to crises and health outcomes. In completing this course, you will begin to learn about the nature of...

2. Assessing and Improving Community Health

coursera

This course is intended to serve as an introduction to population health from both the vantage point of both public health and healthcare. We will examine the key components of community health needs assessments, how they are used, and how to compare population health assessments across subpopulations and time. We will also explore the epidemiological sources and criteria by which to select high quality data sources to estimate population health indicators and to select evidence-based...

3. Addiction & Mental Health (Dual Diagnosis) Integrative 12hrs

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4.7
(1,379)

Substance Abuse & Mental Health Interventions: Drug & Alcohol Addiction & Mental Health - Integrative Holistic Approach...

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Best States For an Advocate

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an advocate. The best states for people in this position are New York, Maryland, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Advocates make the most in New York with an average salary of $67,967. Whereas in Maryland and New Jersey, they would average $65,011 and $62,607, respectively. While advocates would only make an average of $62,337 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. New York

Total Advocate Jobs: 1,781
Highest 10% Earn:
$116,000
Location Quotient:
1.4

$67,967

Avg. Salary

View 1,781 Advocate Jobs In NY

2. Maryland

Total Advocate Jobs: 867
Highest 10% Earn:
$112,000
Location Quotient:
1.38

$65,011

Avg. Salary

View 867 Advocate Jobs In MD

3. Pennsylvania

Total Advocate Jobs: 1,302
Highest 10% Earn:
$100,000
Location Quotient:
1.13

$58,445

Avg. Salary

View 1,302 Advocate Jobs In PA
Full List Of Best States For Advocates

How Do Advocates Rate Their Jobs?

Working as an Advocate? Share your experience anonymously.
Overall Rating*
Career Growth
Work/Life balance
Pay/Salary

Top Advocate Employers

Most Common Employers For Advocate

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1NRDC$46,089$22.1615
2Community Support Services$40,336$19.3946
3Altegra Health$39,321$18.9018
4Catholic Community Services of Lane County$39,034$18.7714
5Homes.com$38,668$18.5913
6Catholic Community Services of Utah$38,454$18.4913
7Gallagher$38,340$18.4318
8Sojourner Center$38,172$18.3514
9Youth Advocate Programs$36,969$17.77160
10Convey Health Solutions$36,431$17.5124
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Advocate Videos

Career in Law explained by Gaurav Sahay, Advocate | YouCareer
Five Ways to be an Effective Advocate

Becoming an Advocate FAQs

How Long Does It Take To Become An Advocate?

It takes 4 years of professional experience to become an advocate. That is the time it takes to learn specific advocate skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 7 to 9 years years to become an advocate.

How Many Years Does It Take To Become An Advocate?

It takes about four to five years to become an advocate. To be an advocate, a person needs to pursue a bachelor's degree in a related field as well as develop the necessary soft skills, such as communication and empathy.

What Does It Take To Be An Advocate?

To be an advocate, a person needs to pursue a bachelor's degree in a related field as well as develop the necessary soft skills, such as communication and empathy. There are multiple types of advocates; therefore, a person who wants to be an advocate must first decide what kind of advocate they want to be.

What Is Being An Advocate?

Being an advocate is taking the role of a professional to speak and advocate for a particular category of person. This could be a customer, a victim, a child, or a patient.

Advocates work to gain the best outcomes in a volatile situation for the people that they represent. This means they need to be extremely empathetic to their clients as they navigate challenging situations.

Have more questions? See all answers to common community and social services questions.

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Updated April 6, 2023