What does a job coach do?
A job coach is responsible for evaluating people's skills and qualifications, advising them with career paths, helping with their aspirations, and promote employment opportunities. Job coaches help the clients build self-confidence and explore their maximum potentials to develop their professional growth. They provide counseling, understanding the clients' strengths and weaknesses, analyzing clients' personal goals, and guiding clients through job interviews and assessments. A job coach must have excellent communication, listening, and analytical skills to handle their clients' challenges and match their interests for the best career suited for them.
Job coach responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real job coach resumes:
- Perform additional responsibilities as deemed appropriate by school and district supervisors such as organizing and managing elementary school mathematics information nights.
- Educate teens with autism and intellectual disabilities on workplace skills such as communication, problem solving, developing independence
- Train and certify in CPR.
- Train and assist teachers on how to incorporate program into GED prep classes.
- Enroll clients in GED; ESOL; and/ or other job-readiness instruction and support programs.
- Provide daily supervision, support, transport and medicine to the participants during work sites and community outings, CPR certify
- Provide assistance to the individual in developing their personality, building self-confidence and inculcating leadership qualities.
- Demonstrate strong communication and leadership skills in effectively designing and implementing strategies in coaching disable high school students at their jobs.
- Perform additional responsibilities as deemed appropriate by school and district supervisors such as organizing and managing elementary school mathematics information nights.
- Streamline efficiency of individualize education plan (IEP) fulfillment for graduating students.
- Track applicant progress, counsele applicants, and reimburse employers for training expenses once (OJT) training are complete.
- Contract with DVR to develop jobs, provide job coaching, and conduct work assessments for adults
- Maintain accurate records in accordance with HUD regulatory requirements for housing services.
- Select to work on special projects in preparation for new CARF accreditation and identifying new WIA grant funding.
- Orientate customers & youth to the services and eligibility requirements of the WIA program in both group settings and individually.
Job coach skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Job Coaches are proficient in Developmental Disabilities, CPR, and Rehabilitation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Speaking skills, Compassion, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Job Coaches that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Developmental Disabilities, 13%
Secured employment for individuals with developmental disabilities
- CPR, 11%
Certified in CPR, First Aid, Human Rights, and Defensive Driving as part of Center of Hope employee training.
- Rehabilitation, 8%
Worked for vocational rehabilitation councilors by training their clients in their job duties Their clients were mentally or physically handicapped individuals.
- Customer Service, 7%
Trained over two hundred new wireless telecommunications customer service representatives as they transitioned from the training environment to the service floor.
- Mental Health, 5%
Lead counseling crisis counseling implementing behavior management systems and consistently adhering to code of ethics mental health laws and regulations.
- Direct Supervision, 4%
Provided direct supervision and support to all consumers participating in the social, recreational, therapeutic or educational programs.
Common skills that a job coach uses to do their job include "developmental disabilities," "cpr," and "rehabilitation." You can find details on the most important job coach responsibilities below.
Speaking skills. One of the key soft skills for a job coach to have is speaking skills. You can see how this relates to what job coaches do because "school and career counselors and advisors must communicate effectively with clients and students." Additionally, a job coach resume shows how job coaches use speaking skills: "addressed challenges that prevented king county unemployed residents from working and provided support services to them. "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform job coach duties is compassion. Job coaches responsibilities require that "school and career counselors and advisors often work with people who are dealing with stressful and difficult situations, so they must be able to empathize with their clients and students." Job coaches also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "use of knowledge and experience to compassionately and professionally serve people who are receiving treatment for mental health and co-occurring disorders. "
Listening skills. job coaches are also known for listening skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to job coach responsibilities, because "school and career counselors and advisors need to give full attention to students and clients in order to understand their problems." A job coach resume example shows how listening skills is used in the workplace: "established natural support at te workplace and communicated processes. "
Analytical skills. For certain job coach responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of a job coach rely on this skill, as "school and career counselors and advisors interpret student records, schoolwide data, and assessments to match interests and abilities with potential careers. ." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what job coaches do: "task analysis - breaking down tasks in to teachable sections and provide on-the-job training techniques. "
Interpersonal skills. Another common skill required for job coach responsibilities is "interpersonal skills." This skill comes up in the duties of job coaches all the time, as "school and career counselors and advisors must be able to work with people of all backgrounds and personalities." An excerpt from a real job coach resume shows how this skill is central to what a job coach does: "compile progress reports customer service interpersonal communications"
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Compare different job coaches
Job coach vs. Academic adviser
An academic adviser is responsible for managing the students' educational goals and future career aspirations by encouraging them to join scholastic activities, conducting one-on-one discussions to identify their challenges and areas of improvement, and developing educational plans to address possible difficulties. Academic advisers also monitor the students' interests and abilities for a career setting, track the students' progress, and create engaging activities to observe the students' personal and social behavior. An academic adviser must have excellent communication skills and extensive knowledge of teaching principles and disciplines to handle different personalities.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, job coach responsibilities require skills like "developmental disabilities," "cpr," "rehabilitation," and "mental health." Meanwhile a typical academic adviser has skills in areas such as "student services," "financial aid," "professional development," and "excellent interpersonal." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Academic advisers tend to make the most money working in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $52,873. In contrast, job coaches make the biggest average salary, $38,362, in the education industry.academic advisers tend to reach higher levels of education than job coaches. In fact, academic advisers are 17.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Job coach vs. Student advisor
A student advisor is responsible for supporting the students' personal growth and development by guiding them on their learning processes and educational goals. Student advisors provide regular counseling for the students to analyze their career aspirations, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and strategize learning plans to address those difficulties. They also coordinate with the students' parents and guardians to report the students' progress and determine appropriate scholastic solutions. A student advisor must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially when handling students' different needs and concerns.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real job coach resumes. While job coach responsibilities can utilize skills like "developmental disabilities," "cpr," "rehabilitation," and "mental health," student advisors use skills like "student services," "international student," "financial aid," and "professional development."
On average, student advisors earn a higher salary than job coaches. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, student advisors earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $40,721. Whereas job coaches have higher pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $38,362.student advisors earn higher levels of education than job coaches in general. They're 9.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for job coaches in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Phil Gardner Ph.D.
Director, Michigan State University
Automation - in animal care and food processing to lower demand for human labor because there are shortages.
Job coach vs. Student mentor
A student mentor is responsible for guiding the students on their educational and professional development by encouraging the students to reach their maximum potential, helping them with their study habits and academic concerns. Student mentors widen the social connection of the students by recommending them to join school activities and other educational organizations. They analyze the students' strengths and weaknesses and implement strategies to address those difficulties. A student mentor also advises the students of their potential careers, considering their interests and social experience.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a job coach is likely to be skilled in "developmental disabilities," "cpr," "rehabilitation," and "customer service," while a typical student mentor is skilled in "role model," "student life," "mathematics," and "academic support."
Student mentors earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $33,166. Comparatively, job coaches have the highest earning potential in the education industry, with an average salary of $38,362.student mentors typically earn similar educational levels compared to job coaches. Specifically, they're 2.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Job coach vs. Peer advisor
Types of job coach
Updated January 8, 2025
