Human service specialists provide a variety of social services with an aim to improve the quality of life of those they serve. They can work for many organizations and under the direction of others and directly with the population being served. They work with social workers, psychologists, and other professionals.
Key duties and responsibilities that human service specialists fulfill in this capacity include interviewing clients to determine their eligibility for various social programs. They also help develop programs based on agency funding. Moreover, they gather more information on clients based on investigation of public records. Lastly, they advise or offer mental health counselling or assessment to determine eligibility on medical attention or medication. A high school diploma is the minimum education requirement for this profession; however, many have completed an associate's degree in human services or a specialty area such as gerontology or addiction studies. Essential skills required include patience, compassion, analytical, and planning.
The average hourly salary is $22.35, which amounts to $46,485 annually. In addition, the career is expected to grow in the near future which will result in more opportunities in this profession across the United States.
What is a Human Service Specialist?
What Does a Human Service Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many human service 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 compassion, time-management skills and communication skills.
How To Become a Human Service Specialist
If you're interested in becoming a human service specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 63.9% of human service specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 14.1% of human service specialists have master's degrees. Even though most human service specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Human Service Specialist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a human service specialist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as social worker, progress to a title such as therapist and then eventually end up with the title case manager.
Average Salary for a Human Service Specialist
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Human Service Specialists
1. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. California State University - Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA • Private
4. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
7. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
8. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
10. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
Top Skills For a Human Service Specialist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 15.3% of human service specialists listed mental health on their resume, but soft skills such as compassion and time-management skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Human Service Specialist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Human Service Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Human Service Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Human Service Specialist Demographics
Human Service Specialist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among human service specialists, 77.5% of them are women, while 22.5% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among human service specialists is White, which makes up 55.6% of all human service specialists.
- The most common foreign language among human service specialists is Spanish at 78.5%.
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Best States For a Human Service Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a human service specialist. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, Washington, Texas, and California. Human service specialists make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $67,007. Whereas in Washington and Texas, they would average $62,029 and $61,612, respectively. While human service specialists would only make an average of $61,012 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$76,075
Avg. Salary
2. Nevada
$60,281
Avg. Salary
3. Washington
$62,029
Avg. Salary
How Do Human Service Specialist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Human Service Specialist Employers
Most Common Employers For Human Service Specialist
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Homeland Security | $61,242 | $29.44 | 27 |
| 2 | Minnesota State Fair | $52,856 | $25.41 | 12 |
| 3 | DPU - Orangeburg | $51,786 | $24.90 | 11 |
| 4 | Florida Department of Children and Families | $49,309 | $23.71 | 11 |
| 5 | Atlantic County | $49,152 | $23.63 | 14 |
| 6 | Mercer County Bd Social Svcs | $47,881 | $23.02 | 15 |
| 7 | Tellurian | $47,858 | $23.01 | 18 |
| 8 | CDSscrubs | $47,764 | $22.96 | 25 |
| 9 | Liberty Healthcare | $47,640 | $22.90 | 13 |
| 10 | SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH | $47,520 | $22.85 | 60 |
Human Service Specialist Videos
