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 Does a Department Specialist Do

There are certain skills that many department specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed math skills, persistence and selling skills.

Learn more about what a Department Specialist does

How To Become a Department Specialist

If you're interested in becoming a department specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 53.5% of department specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.7% of department specialists have master's degrees. Even though most department specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Department Specialist

Department Specialist Career Paths

Average Salary for a Department Specialist

Department Specialists in America make an average salary of $49,764 per year or $24 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $70,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $35,000 per year.
Average Department Specialist Salary
$49,764 Yearly
$23.93 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Department Specialist

The role of a department specialist includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general department specialist responsibilities:

  • Support dod and direct sale contract related deliverables to include scheduling, formatting,
  • Types reports, daily schedules, memos, and general correspondence. Composes simple memos answers, screens,
  • Customer service answer arx procedural questions troubleshoot procedural questions vs. software errors performing tier 2 business support via direct store calls, call escalations from the tier 1 help desk,

There are several types of department specialist, including:

Sales Person

Role:

As a sales person, you've got to be able to form relationships with people very quickly. If you can't do that, then you likely won't be able to sell them your product. Which is the majority of your day-to-day responsibilities.

As a salesperson you have to be persuasive to get the customers to purchase your product or service. But it doesn't end there. Essentially, you want to build a network of customers who continue to come back and buy from you. So you'll want to maintain a positive business experience for these customers.

As a sales person, you'll have a range of hours that you'll be working. The average sales person works between 31-40 hours a week. So, that's not too bad. You'll be able to work those hours with ease.

  • Average Salary: $42,010
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Sales Clerk

Role:

Ever been into a store with no idea of what you're getting (phew, what a hassle!)? Or have you a hard time picking between two beautiful-colored sneakers (why not get both anyway)? Worry no more! A sales clerk might be who you need to get your shopping spree done.

Sales clerks are usually those employees walking around the store to assist customers with their store experience. They know a lot about certain products, so you can trust them to give you advice on which is the best one for you. They even demonstrate the features of these items and recommend alternatives, if you're on a tight budget. Pretty cool, right? They interact with people for over eight hours, as needed, probably even during weekends, as their job requires. But really, being a sales clerk can be an awesome job. I mean, believe me, if it wasn't for sales clerks, it would be hard to look for your favorite baseball cap or fashion tee.

Being a sales clerk gives you so much exposure interacting with different people and gaining your self-confidence. If you're into customer service, this might be a good stepping stone for gaining professional expertise!
  • Average Salary: $25,739
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Department Secretary

Role:

It is the department secretary's responsibility to handle the administrative tasks for the activities of an organization to run smoothly. A secretary answers phone calls, takes messages, and arranges appointments. You are responsible for the preparation and collation of reports, management of databases, and maintenance of diaries. During meetings, the secretary presents agendas and takes down minutes. Your duty includes making orders for new office supplies and to welcome business clients. Plus, you also have to document financial information and maintain the filing system. In addition, a secretary helps executives with project tasks, supervise new employees and implement administrative procedures.

A high school diploma is the least academic requirement for this role. Some companies prefer applicants with proven work experience in a similar role. As a secretary, you must be familiar with the office environment and tools such as Microsoft Office. You must also be able to multitask, meet up with deadlines, and possess organizational skills. The average salary of a department secretary yearly is $33,547.

  • Average Salary: $35,473
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Department Specialist Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active department specialist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where department specialists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Department Specialist Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California2,257$57,510
2Texas1,792$43,802
3Florida1,787$40,906
4New York1,159$59,304
5Pennsylvania1,125$53,946
6Georgia1,090$42,858
7Illinois1,049$48,513
8North Carolina1,010$49,562
9Ohio937$50,954
10New Jersey790$51,311
11Michigan776$48,043
12Virginia749$47,993
13Massachusetts734$62,661
14Washington654$58,066
15Indiana578$48,542
16Maryland576$49,368
17Minnesota574$51,445
18Arizona559$45,776
19Wisconsin555$49,378
20Tennessee521$47,413
21Colorado514$49,544
22Missouri483$42,508
23Iowa471$47,747
24Alabama411$44,391
25South Carolina396$48,102
26Oregon389$56,955
27Connecticut342$61,275
28Louisiana340$37,431
29Utah286$42,535
30Kentucky282$47,638
31Kansas238$47,580
32Oklahoma228$44,557
33Arkansas224$47,437
34Nevada206$53,696
35Nebraska203$48,827
36New Hampshire201$58,924
37Mississippi199$43,843
38New Mexico174$43,415
39Maine158$58,496
40Idaho151$51,980
41Delaware134$51,298
42Hawaii126$74,553
43Montana126$52,304
44West Virginia125$43,619
45Rhode Island119$60,190
46South Dakota101$51,918
47Alaska98$58,468
48Vermont90$58,498
49Wyoming77$48,786
50North Dakota75$45,482

Department Specialist Education

Department Specialist Majors

28.6 %

Department Specialist Degrees

Bachelors

53.5 %

Associate

20.9 %

High School Diploma

13.2 %

Top Skills For a Department Specialist

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.1% of department specialists listed product knowledge on their resume, but soft skills such as math skills and persistence are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Department Specialist Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Department Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Department Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Department Specialist Demographics

Department Specialist Gender Distribution

Female
Female
62%
Male
Male
38%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among department specialists, 62.4% of them are women, while 37.6% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among department specialists is White, which makes up 56.9% of all department specialists.

  • The most common foreign language among department specialists is Spanish at 46.5%.

Online Courses For Department Specialist That You May Like

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1. Customer Insights: New Product Development Orientation

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This course is the first in the Customer Insights and New Product Development (CIPD) specialization. It will introduce learners to the tools and process of gathering customer insights for identifying and developing new product opportunities. Through an integrated set of five modules and hands-on project experiences, learners will acquire the knowledge and skills to turn their ideas gained from understanding customer needs into innovative new products...

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2. Audit - Financial Statement

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Learn the audit process from planning to audit report form a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)...

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3. Financial Accounting-Adjusting Entries & Financial Statement

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4.5
(619)

Adjusting entry creation, posting adjusting entries to a worksheet, creating financial statements from the trial balance...

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Best States For a Department Specialist

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a department specialist. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Department specialists make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $74,553. Whereas in Massachusetts and Connecticut, they would average $62,661 and $61,275, respectively. While department specialists would only make an average of $60,190 in Rhode Island, 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. Hawaii

Total Department Specialist Jobs: 126
Highest 10% Earn:
$93,000
Location Quotient:
1.63

2. Maine

Total Department Specialist Jobs: 158
Highest 10% Earn:
$82,000
Location Quotient:
1.29

3. New Hampshire

Total Department Specialist Jobs: 201
Highest 10% Earn:
$84,000
Location Quotient:
1.25
Full List Of Best States For Department Specialists

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Top Department Specialist Employers

Most Common Employers For Department Specialist

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1General Atomics$64,207$30.8725
2Gap Inc.$62,951$30.2623
3Baxter International$62,772$30.1824
4Mankato Clinic$50,198$24.1321
5Larimer County$49,868$23.9819
6Shopko Optical$43,953$21.1331
7Qurate Retail$42,060$20.2219
8The Fresh Market$41,653$20.0322
9Target$39,638$19.0660
10Albertsons Companies$39,632$19.0551