What does a community advisor do?
The duties of a community advisor depend on their line of work or place of employment. In universities, a community advisor plays a vital role in helping residing students attain a positive learning and living environment. Their responsibilities typically include meeting with residents to identify their needs, providing assistance in academic and community concerns, answering inquiries, and resolving issues promptly and efficiently. Furthermore, a community advisor may develop programs or projects for the residents, all while adhering to the university's policies and regulations.
Community advisor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real community advisor resumes:
- Provide one-to-one contact, conflict mediation, and referral services to residents.
- Coordinate and supervise weekly staff meetings, changing programming requirements, and mediation.
- Care for individuals with dementia, Alzheimer's disease, physical disability, those undergoing post-operative recovery and convalescents.
- Plan and execute internal communications activities, as well as provided guidance and support to leadership on communication execution.
- Provide leadership and ensure implementation of support programs require to deliver a complete and rewarding work experience for student team.
- Train to administer basic first responder first aid as necessary to youth, including, cardiopulmonary and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Community advisor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Community Advisors are proficient in Energy Efficiency, Residential Life, and Crisis Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Community Advisors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Energy Efficiency, 22%
Project Lead for joint marketing effort with 80 Home Depot stores to promote energy efficiency rebates.
- Residential Life, 13%
Provided a safe living environment for residents in residence halls while upholding Residential Life Policy.
- Crisis Management, 5%
Provided counseling and behavioral management such as conflict resolution, policy enforcement, and crisis management and response.
- Strategic Communications, 5%
Identify, develop and lead strategic communications and public relations programs aligned to business objectives.
- Press Releases, 4%
Developed electoral campaign communications, press releases, publications, strategic messaging and political advertising.
- Policy Violations, 4%
Addressed policy violations and provided appropriate follow-up to ensure a safe living environment.
"energy efficiency," "residential life," and "crisis management" are among the most common skills that community advisors use at work. You can find even more community advisor responsibilities below, including:
Compassion. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a community advisor to have is compassion. Their role and responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Community advisors often use compassion in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "comfort check, compassion care, hospice care, light housekeeping, record the services provided in the charting book. "
Time-management skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling community advisor duties is time-management skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." According to a community advisor resume, here's how community advisors can utilize time-management skills in their job responsibilities: "collaborated with staff to provide healthy and safe environment for 26 residents completed assigned paperwork and administrative tasks on time. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for community advisors to perform their duties. For an example of how community advisor responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a community advisor: "developed bi-weekly academic newsletters, electronic communication, bulletin boards. ".
Interpersonal skills. For certain community advisor responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a community advisor rely on this skill, as "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what community advisors do: "demonstrated and mentored using strong interpersonal skills in conflict resolution. "
Organizational skills. Another common skill required for community advisor responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of community advisors all the time, as "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." An excerpt from a real community advisor resume shows how this skill is central to what a community advisor does: "strengthened leadership and organizational communication skills. "
Problem-solving skills. Lastly, "problem-solving skills" is an important element of what a community advisor does. Community advisor responsibilities require this skill because "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." This resume example highlights how community advisor duties rely on this skill: "worked the desk shift to facilitate conflict resolution between roommates, respond to emergencies, and document incident reports. "
The three companies that hire the most community advisors are:
- Communities Unlimited
9 community advisors jobs
- Save the Children US8 community advisors jobs
- Phoenix American Financial Services8 community advisors jobs
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Compare different community advisors
Community advisor vs. Residence life coordinator
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a community advisor are more likely to require skills like "energy efficiency," "residential life," "strategic communications," and "press releases." On the other hand, a job as a residence life coordinator requires skills like "residence life," "student development," "on-call rotation," and "coordinators." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Residence life coordinators really shine in the education industry with an average salary of $41,638. Comparatively, community advisors tend to make the most money in the government industry with an average salary of $66,210.On average, residence life coordinators reach higher levels of education than community advisors. Residence life coordinators are 10.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Community advisor vs. Associate dean of person
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that community advisor responsibilities requires skills like "energy efficiency," "residential life," "crisis management," and "strategic communications." But an associate dean of person might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "pos," "customer service," "sales floor," and "emergency calls."
Associate dean of people earn lower levels of education than community advisors in general. They're 8.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community advisor vs. Residential instructor
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from community advisor resumes include skills like "energy efficiency," "residential life," "crisis management," and "strategic communications," whereas a residential instructor is more likely to list skills in "direct care," "autism," "data collection," and "developmental disabilities. "
Residential instructors earn the best pay in the education industry, where they command an average salary of $31,699. Community advisors earn the highest pay from the government industry, with an average salary of $66,210.residential instructors typically earn lower educational levels compared to community advisors. Specifically, they're 5.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community advisor vs. Residential life director
Types of community advisor
Updated January 8, 2025
