There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an alcohol and drug counselor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.74 an hour? That's $41,067 a year!
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an alcohol and drug counselor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 25.8% of alcohol and drug counselors included substance abuse, while 19.3% of resumes included treatment plans, and 6.7% of resumes included crisis intervention. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the alcohol and drug counselor job title. But what industry to start with? Most alcohol and drug counselors actually find jobs in the health care and non profits industries.
If you're interested in becoming an alcohol and drug counselor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 33.7% of alcohol and drug counselors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 39.0% of alcohol and drug counselors have master's degrees. Even though most alcohol and drug counselors 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 alcohol and drug counselor. When we researched the most common majors for an alcohol and drug counselor, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on alcohol and drug counselor resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an alcohol and drug counselor. In fact, many alcohol and drug counselor jobs require experience in a role such as counselor. Meanwhile, many alcohol and drug counselors also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or counselor internship.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
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 substance abuse counselor you might progress to a role such as therapist eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title medical case manager.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
State of Minnesota Clinical Program Therapist, or 3-Licensed Alcohol Drug Counselor Clinical Program Therapist, or 3-Licensed Alcohol Drug Counselor | State of Minnesota State of Minnesota | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $55,52001/21/2021 $55,520 |
Maryland Government Jobs Alcohol and Drug Associate Counselor Alcohol and Drug Associate Counselor | Maryland Government Jobs Maryland Government Jobs | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $44,14001/21/2021 $44,140 |
Merakey Drug & Alcohol Counselor Drug & Alcohol Counselor | Merakey Merakey | 01/19/2021 01/19/2021 | $45,12101/19/2021 $45,121 |
Geo Group Inc. Counselor, Drug & Alcohol Counselor, Drug & Alcohol | Geo Group Inc. Geo Group Inc. | 01/15/2021 01/15/2021 | $34,39401/15/2021 $34,394 |
Lifeworks Northwest Bilingual Chemical Dependency Counselor 599 Bilingual Chemical Dependency Counselor 599 | Lifeworks Northwest Lifeworks Northwest | 01/10/2021 01/10/2021 | $36,60601/10/2021 $36,606 |
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming an Alcohol And Drug Counselor. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write an Alcohol And Drug Counselor Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Alcohol And Drug Counselor resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationLong Beach, CA • Public
New York, NY • Public
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Boston, MA • Private
New York, NY • Private
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
Evanston, IL • Private
Albany, NY • Public
San Jose, CA • Public
New York, NY • Private
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an alcohol and drug counselor. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and California. Alcohol and drug counselors make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $56,740. Whereas in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, they would average $49,599 and $49,314, respectively. While alcohol and drug counselors would only make an average of $49,057 in California, 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. Maine
$46,026
Avg. Salary
2. Nevada
$47,155
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$49,600
Avg. Salary
