What does a career specialist do?
Also called workforce trainers, career specialists determine career and vocational opportunities for qualified job-searches using different assessments. Career specialists plan and implement a comprehensive career development program within the realm of student services. They assess and evaluate career development test results and use them as a guide for individuals. It is part of their job to counsel in terms of administrative tasks. Skills necessary for this job include communication, attention to detail, and career guidance.
Career specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real career specialist resumes:
- Lead advocacy efforts to increase employment opportunities for veterans by contacting hiring executives and encourage the hiring of disable veterans.
- Determine eligibility and suitability for WIA youth services.
- Establish applicant eligibility and suitability for WIA enrollment associate with personal barriers to employment.
- Lead advocacy efforts to increase employment opportunities for veterans by contacting hiring executives and encourage the hiring of disable veterans.
- Document and comply with confidentiality of student information, and Medicaid billing.
Career specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Career Specialists are proficient in Career Development, Professional Development, and Career Exploration. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Instructional skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Career Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Career Development, 13%
Coordinated and supervised career development activities/programs.
- Professional Development, 8%
Utilized my extensive knowledge of child and adolescent development, gained through coursework and focused professional development endeavors.
- Career Exploration, 8%
Chaperoned teens on cultural enrichment activities and assisted teens in career exploration research.
- Financial Aid, 6%
Assessed need for additional assistance such as rehabilitation, financial aid and/or further vocational training and make appropriate referrals.
- Labor Market, 5%
Utilized current labor market information, assessment data, barrier identification to empower customers to reach employment and career goals.
- Career Planning, 5%
Facilitate and complete person- centered Career Planning for individuals in services.
Common skills that a career specialist uses to do their job include "career development," "professional development," and "career exploration." You can find details on the most important career specialist responsibilities below.
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a career specialist to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "specialists should be resourceful when developing training materials." Career specialists often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "conducted targeted skill inventories, r sum reviews and interview preparation for over 40 clients. "
Instructional skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling career specialist duties is instructional skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "training and development specialists deliver employee training programs." According to a career specialist resume, here's how career specialists can utilize instructional skills in their job responsibilities: "presented instructional/dw powerpoint presentations to students every last semester. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for career specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how career specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "training and development specialists must convey information clearly and facilitate learning to diverse audiences." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a career specialist: "provide consistent communication and career guidance to candidates. ".
Analytical skills. For certain career specialist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of a career specialist rely on this skill, as "training and development specialists must evaluate training programs, methods, and materials and choose those that best fit each situation." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what career specialists do: "assisted with workforce investment act program answering questions, maintaining customer contact and data entry in employ florida. "
The three companies that hire the most career specialists are:
- Marriott International6 career specialists jobs
- Carthage College6 career specialists jobs
- American Water4 career specialists jobs
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Career specialist vs. Development coordinator
A development coordinator is responsible for planning various programs and events for an organization or company. They primarily focus on securing funding by holding fundraising events, devising programs to increase brand awareness, and even coming up with various campaigns supporting a cause. Most of the development coordinator tasks will revolve around traveling and reaching out to clients, obtaining sponsorships, devising strategies for public relations, securing permits and logistics, seeking organizers and volunteers, and implementing policies of the company.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a career specialist are more likely to require skills like "career development," "career exploration," "financial aid," and "labor market." On the other hand, a job as a development coordinator requires skills like "customer service," "powerpoint," "excellent interpersonal," and "patients." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Development coordinators tend to make the most money working in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $61,149. In contrast, career specialists make the biggest average salary, $48,415, in the education industry.On average, development coordinators reach similar levels of education than career specialists. Development coordinators are 2.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Career specialist vs. Training coordinator
A training coordinator is an individual who develops and conducts training programs for employees or volunteers. Training coordinators create printed and instructional materials as well as maintain an online library of training resources. Aside from conducting training, training coordinators need to assess employees' development and report their progress to the management. An organization also requires its training coordinators to obtain a bachelor's degree in Human Resource or related field and have excellent communication skills.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, career specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "career development," "career exploration," "financial aid," and "labor market." Meanwhile, a training coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "training materials," "powerpoint," and "patients." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Training coordinators earn a higher average salary than career specialists. But training coordinators earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $51,627. Additionally, career specialists earn the highest salaries in the education with average pay of $48,415 annually.training coordinators earn similar levels of education than career specialists in general. They're 4.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for career specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Associate Dean of Professional and Career Development, Quinnipiac University
Career specialist vs. Trainer
A trainer is responsible for instilling knowledge and process techniques for a specific business role. Duties of a trainer include facilitating engaging classes, identifying areas of improvement and opportunities for the learner, evaluating skills and attending to the learner's challenges, organizing training materials and scheduling training sessions, and submitting timely reports to the management on progress. Trainers are required to have excellent public communication skills and extensive product knowledge to provide effective learning methodologies and maintain strategic project management.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, career specialists are more likely to have skills like "career development," "career exploration," "financial aid," and "labor market." But a trainer is more likely to have skills like "pet," "leadership," "bonds," and "training sessions."
Trainers earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $51,822. Comparatively, career specialists have the highest earning potential in the education industry, with an average salary of $48,415.Most trainers achieve a lower degree level compared to career specialists. For example, they're 5.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Career specialist vs. Team trainer
A team trainer is responsible for developing the skills of employees by implementing new strategies and techniques to increase operational efficiency and maximize productivity. Team trainers conduct skill-up training sessions, adhering to the business' and clients' needs, and provide engaging and interactive discussions for the participants, evaluating their progress through a series of activities and practical applications. They also handle training budgets, creating comprehensive reports to ensure that all the training materials meet the budget goals.
Types of career specialist
Updated January 8, 2025











