How To Become A Job Development Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a job development specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Allen Redmon Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a job development specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.57 an hour? That's $38,626 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 28,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a job development specialist?

Allen Redmon Ph.D.

Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas A&M University - Central Texas

Those who want to maximize their earning potential should consider a company’s culture as much as the job they are taking. Every company has its own culture. Those who find the right culture for them and grow into that culture will fare better than those who just accept a job without considering the culture of a company. Those who take a job without considering the culture will almost always experience a mismatch at some point, which will require them to look for a new job sooner than expected.

ScoreJob Development SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,626

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 5.89%

Black or African American 11.35%

Hispanic or Latino 16.40%

Unknown 6.31%

White 59.54%

Gender

female 59.87%

male 40.13%

Age - 44

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 - 44

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a job development specialist

Explore job development specialist education requirements

Most common job development specialist degrees

Bachelor's

62.4 %

Associate

17.5 %

Master's

13.0 %

Start to develop specific job development specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Unemployment Claims	30.53%
Employment Services	11.60%
Training Programs	9.02%
Technical Assistance	7.66%
Employment Trends	6.90%

Complete relevant job development specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New job development specialists 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 job development specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real job development specialist resumes.

Research job development specialist duties and responsibilities

Manage payroll, benefits and insurance administration.
Evaluate participant skill sets and job preparedness to assist veterans in transition from military to civilian employment.
Work with TANF, DHS, and SPD case managers.
Work with DHS clients to support work search efforts or to place in work experience situations.

Prepare your job development specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your job development specialist 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 job development specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable job development specialist resume templates

Build a professional job development specialist 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 job development specialist resume.