What does an employment specialist do?
An employment specialist deals with job applicants to match their talents to a specific job that properly suits them. Employment specialists assist applicants or the unemployed by testing their skills, conducting mock interviews, and creating a proper resume. They can work separately within a company or be part of the human resources department to assist in the hiring process. Employment specialists are often tasked to handle company layoffs and act as the liaison officer between the employer and the Department of Labor.
Employment specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real employment specialist resumes:
- Collaborate with partner agencies to share leads, information and execute OJT agreements.
- Assist in managing unemployment claims, wrongful termination claims, civil and EEOC suits.
- Demonstrate knowledge of vocational rehabilitation theory and practice along with the hiring needs and job requirements of the local business community.
- Present information about vocational rehabilitation to community.
- Maintain records according to CARF standards.
- Verify identity with I9 documents like driver license; passports and social security cards.
- Enter candidate, interview and hiring information receive into PeopleSoft and notify recruiter of the results when complete.
- Assess their transferable skills and experience to better match them with appropriate job referrals when requirements are met.
- Train other coordinators on division operations.
- Maintain and update I9 employment eligibility documentation.
- Research rehire status of numerous applicants through PeopleSoft.
- Provide comprehensive employability training and job search assistance to individuals with disabilities.
- Provide statistical data to supervisory staff to assess effectiveness of outreach and placement services for veterans.
- Generate and analyze biweekly and monthly new employee corporate compliance report; process and audit departmental payroll.
- Recruit for-profit and non-for-profit employers to create training and development opportunities for customers to increase their employability skills.
Employment specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Employment Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Rehabilitation, and Mental Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Creativity, and Instructional skills.
We break down the percentage of Employment Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 10%
Delivered superior customer service and administer friendly and comprehensive assistance to all customers while managing front-end operations.
- Rehabilitation, 9%
Collaborated with many community providers including the Department of Social Services, Social Security, group home managers and rehabilitation councilors.
- Mental Health, 8%
Assisted parenting clients with Mental Health Diagnosis with obtaining employment through facilitating Job Readiness Training.
- Social Work, 6%
Communicated effectively with coworkers, employers, social workers, parents and other Interdisciplinary team members.
- Competitive Employment, 5%
Provide assertive engagement and community outreach based services to consumers directed toward the goal of competitive employment in integrated job settings.
- Mental Illness, 4%
Provided daily direct, hands-on assistance and support to consumers diagnosed with mental illness or developmental disability at their internship sites.
"customer service," "rehabilitation," and "mental health" are among the most common skills that employment specialists use at work. You can find even more employment specialist responsibilities below, including:
Detail oriented. One of the key soft skills for an employment specialist to have is detail oriented. You can see how this relates to what employment specialists do because "specialists must pay attention to detail when evaluating applicants’ qualifications, doing background checks, maintaining records of an employee grievance, and ensuring that a workplace complies with labor standards." Additionally, an employment specialist resume shows how employment specialists use detail oriented: "consult with hr directors, clients, or recruiting directors to determine details of open positions. "
Communication skills. employment specialist responsibilities often require "communication skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "listening and speaking skills are essential for human resources specialists." This resume example shows what employment specialists do with communication skills on a typical day: "attended staff, ip and vocational rehabilitation meetings to facilitate communication between agencies and provide individual employment preferences. "
Interpersonal skills. A commonly-found skill in employment specialist job descriptions, "interpersonal skills" is essential to what employment specialists do. Employment specialist responsibilities rely on this skill because "specialists continually interact with others and must be able to converse and connect with people from varied backgrounds." You can also see how employment specialist duties rely on interpersonal skills in this resume example: "provide case management and assist families and youth in accomplishing their goals skills used motivational interviewing counseling customer service teamwork interpersonal"
The three companies that hire the most employment specialists are:
- Central City Concern170 employment specialists jobs
- State of Georgia: Teachers Retirement System of Georgia30 employment specialists jobs
- TPI26 employment specialists jobs
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Compare different employment specialists
Employment specialist vs. Staffing coordinator
A staffing coordinator is responsible for assisting the staffing needs of an organization, organizing the hiring process, and monitoring the working schedule of staff to ensure smooth operations. Staffing coordinators often coordinate with recruiting agencies for staffing solutions to fill roles and process onboarding. They also manage payroll procedures and check timesheets, create staffing reports, and address the employees' inquiries and concerns. A staffing coordinator must be knowledgeable on human resources procedures, as well as have excellent organizational and communication skills to perform administrative tasks as needed and determine staffing strategies.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, employment specialist responsibilities require skills like "mental health," "social work," "competitive employment," and "mental illness." Meanwhile a typical staffing coordinator has skills in areas such as "patients," "home health," "patient care," and "data entry." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Staffing coordinators tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $43,154. In contrast, employment specialists make the biggest average salary, $40,645, in the professional industry.staffing coordinators tend to reach lower levels of education than employment specialists. In fact, staffing coordinators are 6.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Employment specialist vs. Human resources coordinator
A human resources coordinator is responsible for cooperating with the company's human resources department, supporting its processes and procedures, and assisting with employees' concerns. Human resources coordinators' duties include maintaining business files and employees' records, processing documents and submitting required reports, administering background checks for the recruitment process, reviewing and referring to company's handbook for corrective action and performance review, scheduling meetings and facilitating events, and advising effective strategies to human resources management. A human resources coordinator requires excellent communication and employee-relation skills to support the company's daily operations.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, employment specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "rehabilitation," "mental health," "social work," and "competitive employment." Meanwhile, a human resources coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "process payroll," "data entry," "powerpoint," and "excellent organizational." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Human resources coordinators may earn a higher salary than employment specialists, but human resources coordinators earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $49,546. On the other hand, employment specialists receive higher pay in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $40,645.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Human resources coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than employment specialists. In fact, they're 1.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for employment specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Michael Van Lear
Director, Hawaii Pacific University
Employment specialist vs. Human resources administrative assistant
A human resources administrative assistant is responsible for performing administrative tasks such as gathering and processing necessary documentation, preparing timely reports and evaluations, arranging schedules, maintaining and monitoring record databases, and responding to inquiries. Aside from assisting human resource officers in their tasks, they can also lend a hand in screening and training new workforce members. Furthermore, because a human resources administrative assistant holds the employee database, they need to coordinate with other departments and employees to ensure that everyone receives what is needed.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an employment specialist is likely to be skilled in "rehabilitation," "mental health," "social work," and "competitive employment," while a typical human resources administrative assistant is skilled in "data entry," "powerpoint," "travel arrangements," and "administrative tasks."
Human resources administrative assistants earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $39,077. Comparatively, employment specialists have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $40,645.When it comes to education, human resources administrative assistants tend to earn lower degree levels compared to employment specialists. In fact, they're 6.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Employment specialist vs. Recruiting coordinator
A recruiting coordinator's tasks include posting job vacancies, coordinating candidate travel, setting up schedules for interviews and handling last-minute scheduling changes, preparing offer letters, and conducting background checks on aspirants. The coordinator assists in the company's recruiting and talent acquisition procedures and strategies by hiring job-seekers to fill in vacant positions and to supply the company's workforce needs and goals. To be effective, he/she should have excellent communication skills and intimate knowledge about hiring best practices to be able to attract aspirants.
Types of employment specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
