What does a program coordinator do?
Program coordinators are mid-level employees who are assigned to work on a program of a specific department. They handle the communications between their department and any other department that they may need to collaborate with. They coordinate action plans and activities to ensure that the departments are aligned. They are present during the planning stage for the program so that they will be familiar with action items. They are directly involved in the implementation by liaising with the involved departments. Program coordinators should have good communication skills, interpersonal skills, and organization skills.
Program coordinator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real program coordinator resumes:
- Manage all medical records and client information without HIPAA violation.
- Develop a syllabus, maintain an assignment schedule, and manage course records.
- Manage operations and administer an outpatient diabetes management program for adults by MD referral.
- Perform community outreach to Medi-Cal recipients, via public speaking, flyers, wellness fairs, and practice manager meetings.
- Submit monthly claims for reimbursement to USDA.
- Review and process CME applications for ACCME approval.
- Maintain IRB approval for program activities and research projects.
- Hold staff meetings to determine appropriate goals for ISP's.
- Provide oversight to special programs including VBS and Christmas programs.
- Maintain current early childhood education resources for families and the community.
- Coordinate all infant and toddler nursery needs for special event childcare.
- Prepare IRB protocol statements, regulatory documents, and funding proposals.
- Provide annual budget analysis and annual renewal of CACFP contract with the state
- Coordinate annual CME workshop for physicians, nurses and certify athletic trainers.
- Execute several innovative ideas to streamline the CPR renewal process for hospital employees.
Program coordinator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Program Coordinators are proficient in Customer Service, Patients, and Social Work. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Organizational skills, and Time-management skills.
We break down the percentage of Program Coordinators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 10%
Provided exemplary customer service and utilized professional and culturally competent communications skills, often addressing sensitive topics and difficult subject matter.
- Patients, 9%
Provide clinical social work/counseling services to patients and caregivers; teach Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction, therapeutic art and dance/movement therapy groups.
- Social Work, 6%
Supervised eight treatment coordinators of varying disciplines, including psychology, social work and rehabilitation for 36-bed Forensic In-patient Psychiatric Hospital.
- PowerPoint, 5%
Demonstrated computer skills, including ability to utilize databases and other office software applications including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Mental Health, 4%
Administered the court-related programs for a licensed substance-abuse/mental health agency holding a Massachusetts Department of Public Health certification for batterer intervention.
- Excellent Organizational, 4%
Managed multiple and conflicting tasks requiring excellent organizational skills as well as ability to use diplomacy during difficult circumstances.
"customer service," "patients," and "social work" are among the most common skills that program coordinators use at work. You can find even more program coordinator responsibilities below, including:
Compassion. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a program coordinator to have is compassion. Their role and responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Program coordinators often use compassion in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "conferred frequently with physicians, patients and families and provided compassionate support and guidance throughout treatment and recovery. "
Organizational skills. Many program coordinator duties rely on organizational skills. "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients," so a program coordinator will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways program coordinator responsibilities rely on organizational skills: "assist program manager with all organizational programs including education, volunteers, obedience and community outreach. "
Time-management skills. This is an important skill for program coordinators to perform their duties. For an example of how program coordinator responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a program coordinator: "produced accurate financial reports to specific deadlines. ".
Communication skills. For certain program coordinator responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "communication skills." The day-to-day duties of a program coordinator rely on this skill, as "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what program coordinators do: "established an improved community outreach and support by using effective health communication and social media to foster participation. "
Problem-solving skills. A commonly-found skill in program coordinator job descriptions, "problem-solving skills" is essential to what program coordinators do. Program coordinator responsibilities rely on this skill because "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." You can also see how program coordinator duties rely on problem-solving skills in this resume example: "developed quarterly review presentation for hr solutions. "
Interpersonal skills. While "interpersonal skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to program coordinator responsibilities. Much of what a program coordinator does relies on this skill, seeing as "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of program coordinators: "presented professional training programs for staff, police, and colleagues about interpersonal violence, effective response, and best practices. "
The three companies that hire the most program coordinators are:
- Greenheart Farms283 program coordinators jobs
- University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences103 program coordinators jobs
- Centene64 program coordinators jobs
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Compare different program coordinators
Program coordinator vs. Community service coordinator
The community service coordinator is someone who works with a community for its betterment. The community service coordinator brings all welfare services to the community and connects people who need welfare to receive benefits. The community service coordinator is also tasked to collect records of people in need of welfare and other services. It is also important for this person to have interpersonal skills to talk with people and educate them of all the benefits and services they can receive.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between program coordinators and community service coordinator. For instance, program coordinator responsibilities require skills such as "customer service," "patients," "excellent organizational," and "professional development." Whereas a community service coordinator is skilled in "direct supervision," "local community," "service coordination," and "medicaid." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Community service coordinators earn the highest salaries when working in the education industry, with an average yearly salary of $42,855. On the other hand, program coordinators are paid more in the government industry with an average salary of $51,387.community service coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than program coordinators. In fact, community service coordinators are 3.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Program coordinator vs. Residence coordinator
A residence coordinator is responsible for supporting and providing the needs of the residents, including move-in procedures and processing of papers for residency. Residence coordinators interact with organizations and community offices for housing projects and property lease, identifying locations according to clients' requirements and budget limitations. They also inspect the units, ensure the stability and safety of the foundation, and furnish areas that need renovations and repairs. A residence coordinator must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in explaining leasing agreements and accommodations with the clients.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that program coordinator responsibilities requires skills like "customer service," "social work," "mental health," and "excellent organizational." But a residence coordinator might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "patient care," "medication management," "phone calls," and "rehabilitation."
Residence coordinators earn a lower average salary than program coordinators. But residence coordinators earn the highest pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $43,538. Additionally, program coordinators earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $51,387 annually.In general, residence coordinators achieve lower levels of education than program coordinators. They're 6.8% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for program coordinators in the next 3-5 years?
Cassandra Woods
Director of Advising and Career Services, University of Arkansas Pulaski Tech
Program coordinator vs. Family services coordinator
A family services coordinator maintains quantitative quality and qualitative quality monitoring systems and improvement systems for the program strategies to get executed with quality, fidelity, and reliability. They coach and offer supervisory guidance services to the family service team to keep the staff capacity robust and move the staff members towards mastering the core competencies. Other duties performed by family services coordinators include supporting vulnerable families, promoting family self-sufficiency, and supporting families whose children have special needs and chronic health conditions.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, program coordinators are more likely to have skills like "customer service," "powerpoint," "excellent organizational," and "professional development." But a family services coordinator is more likely to have skills like "child care," "foster care," "family support," and "ongoing support."
Family services coordinators make a very good living in the government industry with an average annual salary of $44,036. On the other hand, program coordinators are paid the highest salary in the government industry, with average annual pay of $51,387.Most family services coordinators achieve a similar degree level compared to program coordinators. For example, they're 2.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Program coordinator vs. Residential coordinator
A residential coordinator oversees the daily operations of nursing homes, ensuring patients get to receive optimal care and service. Their responsibilities include setting goals and guidelines, coordinating staff, liaising with external parties such as vendors and suppliers, organizing activities and programs, establishing timelines, and developing strategies to optimize operations. They must also prepare and process paperwork, hire and train new members of the workforce, and resolve issues should any arise. Moreover, aside from nursing homes, a residential coordinator may also work at other facilities and industries such as residential apartments and even private areas.
Types of program coordinator
Updated January 8, 2025
