There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a direct support specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.76 an hour? That's $30,699 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 36% and produce 1,185,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many direct support 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 physical stamina, compassion and integrity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a direct support specialist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.1% of direct support specialists included mental health, while 13.1% of resumes included direct support, and 10.2% of resumes included intellectual disabilities. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the direct support specialist job title. But what industry to start with? Most direct support specialists actually find jobs in the construction and hospitality industries.
If you're interested in becoming a direct support specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 35.3% of direct support specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 10.0% of direct support specialists have master's degrees. Even though some direct support specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a direct support specialist. When we researched the most common majors for a direct support specialist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on direct support specialist resumes include associate degree degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a direct support specialist. In fact, many direct support specialist jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many direct support specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as customer service representative or sales associate.
