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What does an economic development specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read

An economic development specialist helps ailing and needing communities to grow and have more opportunities for its citizens. They do this by first assessing the community for its needs. They create surveys and questionnaires to help in acquiring and recording data. Through the data gathered and analyzed, together with a team of economists, they can formulate developmental plans. They also talk to social workers for help and implement the plan, monitoring for both negative and positive effects continuously. They also offer hands-on training and seminars to improve community skills further.

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Economic development specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real economic development specialist resumes:

  • Administer HUD CDBG grant program in excess of $1million each year.
  • Specialize in CDBG fund projects.
  • Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with the public and DCF.
  • Create maps, illustrations, maintain GIS database and design/maintain website pages.
  • Track and report periodical accomplishment of NSP goals and objectives to HUD and DCA.
  • Process requests to update clients' demographic, financial, and eligibility information by entering into DCF database.
  • Review current HUD entitlement program regulations, to include applicable OMB circulars, notices, handbooks, compliance and reporting requirements.
  • Prepare extensive grant applications on behalf of local governments for housing rehabilitation, infrastructure and emergency activities.
  • Project management of projects including the acquisition of properties, procurement for services, and rehabilitation of agency facilities.
  • Analyze and evaluate activity applications, proposals, and agreement/award documents to ensure consistency with USAID program goals and objectives.
  • Develop presentations using PowerPoint and other graphics software for community groups.

Economic development specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 12% of Economic Development Specialists are proficient in Medicaid, Economic Development, and Strong Work Ethic. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Creativity, and Instructional skills.

We break down the percentage of Economic Development Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Medicaid, 12%

    Conducted client interviews to determine public assistance eligibility utilizing Federal policy for Food Stamps, Welfare, and Medicaid programs.

  • Economic Development, 9%

    Involved in community programs aimed at achieving greater regional cooperation among economic development professionals: public entities and pro business organizations.

  • Strong Work Ethic, 9%

    Display a strong work ethic and positive attitude.

  • Social Work, 8%

    Facilitated interdisciplinary care team conferences and provided education and consultation on social work related issues to interdisciplinary care team.

  • Public Assistance Programs, 7%

    Determine eligibility pursuant to the federal standards and criteria and/or obtain necessary information for proper application processing/budgeting for public assistance programs.

  • Eligibility System, 5%

    Analyzed a broad range of documentation and entering data into a computer-based eligibility system while adhering to time sensitive agency deadlines.

"medicaid," "economic development," and "strong work ethic" are among the most common skills that economic development specialists use at work. You can find even more economic development specialist responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for an economic development specialist to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "training and development specialists must convey information clearly and facilitate learning to diverse audiences." Additionally, an economic development specialist resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "managed communications outreach including: web content; brochures; press releases and internet maps. "

Creativity. Many economic development specialist duties rely on creativity. "specialists should be resourceful when developing training materials," so an economic development specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways economic development specialist responsibilities rely on creativity: "prepared a building and property inventory to assist with business recruitment and assistance. "

Instructional skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of economic development specialists is instructional skills. This skill is critical to many everyday economic development specialist duties, as "training and development specialists deliver employee training programs." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "provided instructional and program design expertise for the development and support of online courses and specialized educational programs. "

Analytical skills. A big part of what economic development specialists do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to economic development specialist responsibilities because "training and development specialists must evaluate training programs, methods, and materials and choose those that best fit each situation." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical economic development specialist tasks: "completed forms, verified information, and input data into computer system. "

See the full list of economic development specialist skills

Choose from 10+ customizable economic development specialist resume templates

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Economic Development Specialist Resume
Economic Development Specialist Resume
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Compare different economic development specialists

Economic development specialist vs. Certified trainer

A certified trainer is responsible for creating a customized fitness program for clients to improve their body functions, including their cardiovascular stability, balance, flexibility, and overall wellness for a healthy lifestyle. Certified trainers determine the clients' fitness goals, monitoring the clients' progress, and adjusting training plans as needed. They also monitor their clients' food intake, encouraging them to follow strict diet procedures to maintain nutritional standards and practice health disciplines. A certified trainer must have excellent communication and critical-thinking skills and extensive knowledge of the fitness industry.

We looked at the average economic development specialist salary and compared it with the wages of a certified trainer. Generally speaking, certified trainers are paid $2,259 higher than economic development specialists per year.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an economic development specialist are more likely to require skills like "medicaid," "economic development," "strong work ethic," and "social work." On the other hand, a job as a certified trainer requires skills like "safety procedures," "food safety," "customer service," and "food preparation." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

On average, certified trainers reach lower levels of education than economic development specialists. Certified trainers are 7.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Economic development specialist vs. Team trainer

A team trainer is responsible for developing the skills of employees by implementing new strategies and techniques to increase operational efficiency and maximize productivity. Team trainers conduct skill-up training sessions, adhering to the business' and clients' needs, and provide engaging and interactive discussions for the participants, evaluating their progress through a series of activities and practical applications. They also handle training budgets, creating comprehensive reports to ensure that all the training materials meet the budget goals.

Team trainer positions earn lower pay than economic development specialist roles. They earn a $20,935 lower salary than economic development specialists per year.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that economic development specialist responsibilities requires skills like "medicaid," "economic development," "social work," and "public assistance programs." But a team trainer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "excellent guest," "work ethic," "guest service," and "customer service."

Average education levels between the two professions vary. Team trainers tend to reach lower levels of education than economic development specialists. In fact, they're 11.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Economic development specialist vs. Trainer

A trainer is responsible for instilling knowledge and process techniques for a specific business role. Duties of a trainer include facilitating engaging classes, identifying areas of improvement and opportunities for the learner, evaluating skills and attending to the learner's challenges, organizing training materials and scheduling training sessions, and submitting timely reports to the management on progress. Trainers are required to have excellent public communication skills and extensive product knowledge to provide effective learning methodologies and maintain strategic project management.

An average trainer eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of economic development specialists. The difference in salaries amounts to trainers earning a $4,937 lower average salary than economic development specialists.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, economic development specialists are more likely to have skills like "medicaid," "economic development," "strong work ethic," and "social work." But a trainer is more likely to have skills like "pet," "training programs," "leadership," and "bonds."

Trainers earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $51,822. Comparatively, economic development specialists have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $57,974.Most trainers achieve a similar degree level compared to economic development specialists. For example, they're 4.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Economic development specialist vs. Training coordinator

A training coordinator is an individual who develops and conducts training programs for employees or volunteers. Training coordinators create printed and instructional materials as well as maintain an online library of training resources. Aside from conducting training, training coordinators need to assess employees' development and report their progress to the management. An organization also requires its training coordinators to obtain a bachelor's degree in Human Resource or related field and have excellent communication skills.

Training coordinators tend to earn a lower pay than economic development specialists by an average of $5,813 per year.

Even though a few skill sets overlap between economic development specialists and training coordinators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an economic development specialist might have more use for skills like "medicaid," "economic development," "strong work ethic," and "social work." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of training coordinators require skills like "customer service," "training materials," "powerpoint," and "patients. "

The technology industry tends to pay the highest salaries for training coordinators, with average annual pay of $51,627. Comparatively, the highest economic development specialist annual salary comes from the professional industry.training coordinators reach similar levels of education compared to economic development specialists, in general. The difference is that they're 3.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of economic development specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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