How To Become A Human Services Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a human services manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Donald Spears

Human services managers are management professionals that are in charge of managing a team of human services workers. These workers offer support to families, the elderly, the poor, and others in need. Their work involves integrating services provided by all human services programs by recommending new policies and procedures. They analyze budgets and expenditures to maximize fiscal duty. Sometimes, they may help with child abuse investigations when referred by social workers in collaboration with government representatives.

Also, they ensure excellent service delivery systems by adhering to state and federal goals and program requirements. Candidates would need a bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, or a related field for this role. You must possess at least four years of social work experience. You must possess communication, organization, and interpersonal skills.

Human services managers are paid $31.85 every hour. This is equivalent to an average annual salary of $66,243. This varies from $32,000 to $134,000.

What general advice would you give to a human services manager?

Donald Spears

National Organization for Human Services Board Secretary, Professor of Human Services, National Organization for Human Services

The human services field is vital to society and is growing tremendously. Human service professionals will likely be presented with new challenges as the Baby Boomers continue to age, live longer, and remain active later than previous generations. Other pressing issues include the continuing national opioid epidemic, helping people with autism meet their potential, and supporting families as loved ones are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. There are other large-scale issues that are just as crucial, such as health care access and affordability, poverty, and social justice. Many people think of human services as being primarily face-to-face work with a client, which is often the case, but human service professionals also work on state and national levels, which is essential to creating a more fair and just society.

ScoreHuman Services ManagerUS Average

Salary

4.8

Avg. Salary $61,593

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.16%

Asian 6.33%

Black or African American 12.16%

Hispanic or Latino 18.12%

Unknown 5.18%

White 56.05%

Gender

female 68.46%

male 31.54%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a human services manager

Explore human services manager education requirements

Most common human services manager degrees

Bachelor's

56.5 %

Master's

24.8 %

Associate

10.9 %

Start to develop specific human services manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Human Services	20.38%
Lean Six Sigma	14.39%
Social Work	10.66%
Social Services	8.01%
Developmental Disabilities	4.84%

Complete relevant human services manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New human services managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a human services manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real human services manager resumes.

Research human services manager duties and responsibilities

Manage all programs operations in accordance with HRA and industry regulations, agency policies and HIPAA guidelines.
Act as a liaison between clients, guardians, medical facilities resolving financial issues and questions regarding Medicaid cases.
Calculate budgets in reference to Medicaid programs
Monitor and ensure proper payroll setup including coordination of common paymaster with university paycheck to ensure savings on FICA taxes.

Prepare your human services manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your human services manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a human services manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable human services manager resume templates

Build a professional human services manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your human services manager resume.