How To Become A Department Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a department specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Del Ross

People who have great selling skills with good grades in mathematics might like the role of a department specialist. The main duty of department specialists is to properly plan and execute corporate merchandise direction to enhance the sales and profits of a company. Through effective communication, consistent accountability, and action planning, these specialists make strategies and plans to achieve effective results for corporate sales.

Many people in this profession have a bachelor's degree. Apart from developing sales goals, department specialists have knowledge of customer service, products, office procedures, company policies, or special projects. Selling skills and proficiency in mathematics can be seen on the resumes of department specialists. Persistence is the key to succeeding in this role.

Professionals in this field earn around $22 an hour, making their yearly earnings more than $45,000. Unfortunately, the career's growth is in a negative direction, so department specialists jobs are decreasing in the US.

What general advice would you give to a department specialist?

Del Ross

Chief Revenue Officer, Hotel Effectiveness

Embrace change. The only certainty about the future is that tomorrow's world will look much different than today's. This applies to the hotel and travel industries and to pretty much everything else. Guest expectations will change. Technology will change. The employer and employee experiences will vary - this may prove difficult, but much of it will be for the better. If you expect to change, you will be better prepared to handle it when it happens.

ScoreDepartment SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $49,764

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.56%

Asian 7.72%

Black or African American 9.00%

Hispanic or Latino 20.61%

Unknown 5.21%

White 56.91%

Gender

female 62.42%

male 37.58%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.5

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.5

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a department specialist

Explore department specialist education requirements

Most common department specialist degrees

Bachelor's

53.5 %

Associate

20.9 %

High School Diploma

13.2 %

Start to develop specific department specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Product Knowledge	14.11%
Drive Sales	11.07%
Cleanliness	10.97%
Customer Satisfaction	9.00%
Customer Service	8.55%

Complete relevant department specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New department specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a department specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real department specialist resumes.

Research department specialist duties and responsibilities

Manage a high volume of patient information from authorizing diagnostic procedures and scheduling patients.
Conduct continuous inventory evaluation via analysis of POS computer data.
Provide account coverage on government, corporate, and mortgage-backed securities.
Strengthen organizational visibility by leading community outreach initiatives, fulfilling roles as youth mentor and orchestrating event planning and logistics.

Prepare your department specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your department specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a department specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable department specialist resume templates

Build a professional department specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your department specialist resume.