What does a park supervisor do?
Park supervisor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real park supervisor resumes:
- Provide leadership and supervision by managing day-to-day operations for a county park facility.
- Instruct lifeguard certification classes while being CPR and first aid certify.
- Generate knowledge and experience of inventories, payroll, scheduling, and supervising staff.
- Care for animals on exhibit including several species of turtles, snakes, frogs and fish.
- Create action plans for staff for appropriate services and programs, administer budget plan for facility, staff evaluations and payroll.
- Certify in first aid and serve as a first responder in the event of an injury to youth or adult players.
- Investigate encroachments with other rangers.
- Maintain individual camping areas and ensure cleanliness of all comfort stations.
- Provide emergency medical responder care to wide variety of patients in park, operating within scope of responsibility.
- Clean litter, laid down grass/turf, replace park sprinklers, replace garbage bags in trash cans.
Park supervisor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Park Supervisors are proficient in Routine Maintenance, Equipment Maintenance, and Grounds Maintenance. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Management skills, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Park Supervisors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Routine Maintenance, 11%
Conducted routine maintenance, including park cleanup and educational displays.
- Equipment Maintenance, 9%
Rent and water collections, lawn care, meter reading, and equipment maintenance.
- Grounds Maintenance, 9%
Supervised seasonal and part-time employees for grounds maintenance and equipment management.
- Swimming Pools, 6%
Supervised staff of registration office, retail store, marina, two swimming pools, housekeeping, maintenance/grounds and security.
- DCR, 6%
Executed DCR programming in environmental education through hikes, walks, demonstrations, talks and hands-on activities.
- Public Safety, 6%
Communicated with park rangers via public safety radio to report emergencies and maintain security.
Most park supervisors use their skills in "routine maintenance," "equipment maintenance," and "grounds maintenance" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential park supervisor responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a park supervisor to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "conservation scientists and foresters must be able to evaluate results from field tests and experiments to determine potential impacts on soil, forest lands, and the spread of fires." Additionally, a park supervisor resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "analyze staffing requirements and ensure efficient compliance to production schedules and safety procedures. "
Management skills. Another essential skill to perform park supervisor duties is management skills. Park supervisors responsibilities require that "conservation scientists and foresters must be able to lead the forest and conservation workers and technicians they supervise." Park supervisors also use management skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "assist in seasonal operation, management and maintenance of 7,000 acre blue hills reservation area. "
Physical stamina. park supervisors are also known for physical stamina, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to park supervisor responsibilities, because "conservation scientists and foresters may walk long distances in challenging terrain, such as steep or wooded areas, and may work in all kinds of weather conditions." A park supervisor resume example shows how physical stamina is used in the workplace: "observed physical conditions, cleanliness, upkeep, drainage, wear-and-tear, and damages in recreational areas and to public-use facilities. "
The three companies that hire the most park supervisors are:
- Bath & Body Works30 park supervisors jobs
- Compass Group USA18 park supervisors jobs
- Delaware North10 park supervisors jobs
Compare different park supervisors
Park supervisor vs. Interpretive naturalist
Naturalists are people who educate the public on environmental-related matters. The core responsibilities of this position are preserving, restoring, maintaining, and protecting natural habitat. Other duties performed by a naturalist are; guide work, conducting field studies of local and natural habitats, educating and providing the general public with recreational activities, assisting with administrative tasks that relate to parking admission, and leading and offering guidance during trips and nature walks for both adults and children.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, park supervisor responsibilities require skills like "routine maintenance," "equipment maintenance," "grounds maintenance," and "swimming pools." Meanwhile a typical interpretive naturalist has skills in areas such as "natural history," "interpretive programs," "public speaking," and "natural resources." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Interpretive naturalists tend to reach similar levels of education than park supervisors. In fact, interpretive naturalists are 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Park supervisor vs. Naturalist
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that park supervisor responsibilities requires skills like "routine maintenance," "equipment maintenance," "grounds maintenance," and "swimming pools." But a naturalist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "nature programs," "cultural history," "natural history," and "outdoor education."
Naturalists earn similar levels of education than park supervisors in general. They're 1.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Park supervisor vs. Natural resource educator
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a park supervisor is likely to be skilled in "routine maintenance," "equipment maintenance," "grounds maintenance," and "swimming pools," while a typical natural resource educator is skilled in "education programs," "public speaking," "environmental education," and "water quality."
Natural resource educators typically earn higher educational levels compared to park supervisors. Specifically, they're 7.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 4.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Park supervisor vs. National park ranger
Types of park supervisor
Updated January 8, 2025
