Direct Support Worker Overview

There are certain skills that many direct support workers 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 detail oriented, integrity and interpersonal skills.

When it comes to the most important skills required to be a direct support worker, we found that a lot of resumes listed 16.7% of direct support workers included intellectual disabilities, while 13.4% of resumes included personal care, and 9.4% of resumes included daily living activities. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

If you're interested in becoming a direct support worker, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 26.9% of direct support workers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.8% of direct support workers have master's degrees. Even though some direct support workers 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 worker. When we researched the most common majors for a direct support worker, 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 worker resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a direct support worker. In fact, many direct support worker jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many direct support workers also have previous career experience in roles such as certified nursing assistant or sales associate.