What Does a Direct Support Staff Do?

We looked at the average direct support staff annual salary and compared it with the average of an attending, ambulatory care. Generally speaking, attendings, ambulatory care receive $1,642 lower pay than direct support staff per year.

While their salaries may differ, one common ground between direct support staff and attendings, ambulatory care are a few of the skills required in each craft. In both careers, employees bring forth skills like direct care, good judgment, and home maintenance.

There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a direct support staff responsibilities require skills like "direct support," "excellent interpersonal," "team-oriented environment," and "transport clients." Meanwhile a typical attending, ambulatory care has skills in areas such as "patients," "customer service," "quality care," and "rehabilitation." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

Attendings, ambulatory care really shine in the government industry with an average salary of $30,236. Whereas direct support staff tend to make the most money in the professional industry with an average salary of $30,215.

On average, attendings, ambulatory care reach similar levels of education than direct support staff. Attendings, ambulatory care are 0.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

The next role we're going to look at is the companion profession. Typically, this position earns a lower pay. In fact, they earn a $2,022 lower salary than direct support staff per year.

Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Direct support staff and companions both include similar skills like "direct care," "meal prep," and "independent living" on their resumes.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that direct support staff responsibilities requires skills like "direct support," "excellent interpersonal," "team-oriented environment," and "transport clients." But a companion might use skills, such as, "companionship," "patients," "home health," and "provide emotional support."

On average, companions earn a lower salary than direct support staff. There are industries that support higher salaries in each profession respectively. Interestingly enough, companions earn the most pay in the non profits industry with an average salary of $30,973. Whereas, direct support staff have higher paychecks in the professional industry where they earn an average of $30,215.

On the topic of education, companions earn similar levels of education than direct support staff. In general, they're 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The provider profession generally makes a higher amount of money when compared to the average salary of direct support staff. The difference in salaries is providers making $30,644 higher than direct support staff.

While looking through the resumes of several direct support staff and providers we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "excellent interpersonal," "direct care," and "mental health," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from direct support staff resumes include skills like "direct support," "team-oriented environment," "transport clients," and "good judgment," whereas a provider might be skilled in "patients," "healthcare," "customer service," and "cpr. "

Providers make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $55,214. Whereas direct support staff are paid the highest salary in the professional industry with the average being $30,215.

When it comes to education, providers tend to earn similar education levels than direct support staff. In fact, they're 3.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns higher pay than direct support staff. On average, habilitation specialists earn a difference of $3,329 higher per year.

While both direct support staff and habilitation specialists complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like direct support, money management, and behavioral issues, the two careers also vary in other skills.

While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "excellent interpersonal," "team-oriented environment," "direct care," and "transport clients" are skills that have shown up on direct support staff resumes. Additionally, habilitation specialist uses skills like developmental disabilities, cpr, opwdd, and habilitation services on their resumes.

In general, habilitation specialists make a higher salary in the non profits industry with an average of $33,867. The highest direct support staff annual salary stems from the professional industry.

The average resume of habilitation specialists showed that they earn similar levels of education to direct support staff. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 4.3% more. Additionally, they're more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.