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Career developer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Hassan Akmal,

Mike Hagarty

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical career developer skills. We ranked the top skills for career developers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 42.5% of career developer resumes contained leadership development as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a career developer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 career developer skills for your resume and career

1. Leadership Development

Leadership Development is a term for the process of improving the leadership, management, organizational, and similarly relevant skills of somebody working in a managerial or other leadership skill.

Here's how career developers use leadership development:

Developed and delivered 3 day leadership development training program.
Honor graduate (highest scores - 100%) for the Primary Leadership Development Course.

2. Career Development

Career development is a term referring to the process and idea of furthering one's career or otherwise altering its path by a number of processes and methods. A career development plan can be unique to the individual and might simply be to continue working the job one does in a singular company and moving up, in terms of positions and salary. Or it might be an entirely different plan, such as moving on from the position, the company, and perhaps even the industry as a whole, and doing other work somewhere else.

Here's how career developers use career development:

Career development in construction management and supervisory positions has grown to a comprehensive and educated approach to project delivery.
Ensured effective wage management and proper payroll administration, minimizing budget while promoting career development of quality staff.

3. Leadership

Here's how career developers use leadership:

Selected by leadership as subject matter expert for small business accounts, leading training for new business acquisitions with T-mobile.
Created monthly project score cards to expedite tracking by senior leadership.

4. Securities

Here's how career developers use securities:

Completed Wisconsin Uniform Securities Law Examination- Series 6.
Acquired Life, Accident and Health license Gained experience and knowledge of securities transactions

5. Business Development

Business development is the ideas or initiatives that work to make business work better. Selling, advertising, product development, supply chain management, and vendor management are only a few of the divisions involved with it. There is still a lot of networking, negotiating, forming alliances, and trying to save money. The goals set for business development guide and coordinate with all of these various operations and sectors.

Here's how career developers use business development:

Created and implemented master business development plan and executed marketing strategies.
Sole proprietor of a Coaching Practice providing successful career and business development services.

6. Training Programs

Here's how career developers use training programs:

Developed and standardized training programs to ensure high quality production.
Created training programs and seminar shared nationally.

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7. Human Resources

Human resources is a set of people in a business or a corporation that are designated to locate, interview, and recruit new employees into the company. They are also responsible to maintain the integrity of the employees and help them sort their problems out. They try to introduce and manage employee-benefit programs.

Here's how career developers use human resources:

Provided support to human resources and faculty members.
Applied Human Resources and Marketing tools.

8. Career Exploration

Career Exploration refers to the process of learning about and investigating various jobs and long-term careers. This exploration is typically seen in younger individuals about to enter the job market or in people attempting to change their career paths. Career exploration may include taking personality tests to see what job may be best suited to one person, or even simply discussing various opportunities with a career specialist or guidance counselors.

Here's how career developers use career exploration:

Counseled Comprehensive Career Exploration and Career Planning.
Organize and escort clients on Career Exploration Field Trips, exposing youth to a wide variety of industries and careers.

9. Career Fairs

Here's how career developers use career fairs:

Assist in planning, promoting, implementing and evaluating three annual career fairs to advance the placement of students.
Assisted with the coordination of employment related events/activities; Career Fairs/Employer Advisory Committee, etc.

10. Professional Development

Professional development means to have the essential training certification or education with the purpose of earning and having a successful career. Every job requires a different set of skills. However, new skills may be needed in the future. Professional development, in this regard, helps people to develop and polish the skills and become efficient workers.

Here's how career developers use professional development:

Provide individual assistance for all participants toward career readiness, job placement and professional development.
Attend weekly staff meetings and professional development opportunities.

11. GED

Here's how career developers use ged:

Provided case management services to youth working to obtain a GED.
Tutored students for GED and assisted with Resume Writing, Job Search, and Job Placement services.

12. Career Planning

Here's how career developers use career planning:

Facilitated academic and career planning workshops for 12 academic departments and customized sessions for diverse backgrounds, interests and abilities.
Coordinated and facilitated professional development workshops on career planning and readiness, and resume writing.

13. PowerPoint

Here's how career developers use powerpoint:

Explored use of AutoCad, Vissim, Passer, RISA, Synchro 7, Powerpoint, Excel.
Create PowerPoint presentations and conducted orientations.

14. Community Resources

Community resources are a set of resources that are used in the day to day life of people which improves their lifestyle in some way. People, sites or houses, and population assistance can come under the services offered by community resources.

Here's how career developers use community resources:

Work directly with the public, employers, and community resources to build a strong community workforce.
Develop and maintain knowledge of community resources.

15. TANF

Here's how career developers use tanf:

Case Management-Help TANF recipients move from reliance upon public assistance to self-sufficiency through career assessment, development & placements.
Provide case management to TANF recipients in the JET program (Jobs, Education & Training).

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What skills help Career Developers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on career developer resumes?

Hassan Akmal

Executive Director of the UCLA Career Center, University of California, Los Angeles

Transferable skills. Soft and hard. The soft skills are now referred to as "success skills" and include skills such as creativity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking and problem solving, analytics skills, and people management.
Active learning, agility, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility are additional skills in demand that graduates need to consider.

What career developer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Mike Hagarty

Director of Career Services, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

The most important element of a gap year for a graduate is to do it with purpose and a plan. Before taking the gap year try to answer the question, "What do I want to be true at the end of the year?" For example, if you are a college graduate and you want to apply (or re-apply) to graduate school next year, what do you need to do in the gap year to succeed at being accepted (e.g., entrance exam practice, work or internship experience that will make you more qualified)? If you want to change direction or don't have a career direction yet, what will help you arrive at clarity or prepare you for the transition (perhaps testing a new field, volunteering, learning a new culture)? If you want to land a position at a dream company, set specific networking or skill-building goals (including certificates and other professional credentials) so that you are at a different place at the end of the gap year.

I know this is a graduate question, but if you are an incoming freshman and decide on a gap year, the same concept holds - fill the year with learning experiences that will bring clarity, experience, and direction. In all cases, set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timed) to be intentional about growing your knowledge, skills, abilities, and network of support.

What type of skills will young career developers need?

Melissa Duncan

Assistant Dean for Career and Student Development, Elon University School of Law

Graduates need to be adaptable, to work in multi-generational settings, and familiar with the law and technology and business, and how those enhance law practice in today's world. Graduates should also be familiar with interviewing and counseling and should understand their role in society as lawyer-leaders who can provide both counseling and advocate for those who may not be able to do so for themselves.

What soft skills should all career developers possess?

William Hill

Director, Career Services, Monmouth University

Problem solving skills are essential in the workplace for new grads, especially now. They will find it increasingly difficult to engage more experienced co-workers for helpful problem solving advice in a virtual workspace. You can't just stroll over to someone's office for a quick chat anymore. They will be more often "on their own" when it comes to analyzing a challenge and crafting a solution. Verbal and written communication skills remain important in a workspace dominated by Zoom and email.

Do you want to know more?

List of career developer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a career developer resume and required skills for a career developer to have include:

Leadership Development
Career Development
Leadership
Securities
Business Development
Training Programs
Human Resources

Career Exploration
Career Fairs
Professional Development
GED
Career Planning
PowerPoint
Community Resources

TANF
Local Employers
Business Plan
IEP
Employment Barriers
Non-Profit Organization
QuickBooks

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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