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The differences between student development specialists and workforce development specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a student development specialist and a workforce development specialist. Additionally, a workforce development specialist has an average salary of $43,666, which is higher than the $41,280 average annual salary of a student development specialist.
The top three skills for a student development specialist include student development, professional development and student services. The most important skills for a workforce development specialist are social services, training programs, and HR.
| Student Development Specialist | Workforce Development Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $41,280 | $43,666 |
| Hourly rate | $19.85 | $20.99 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 65,270 | 80,041 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A student developmental specialist attends meetings and educational seminars and conducts various campaigns related to educational matters. They are responsible for fostering the students' learning environment, counselling with the guardians, and addressing academic implementation. Moreover, they are responsible for finding the students' abilities, traits, and personality characteristics.
A workforce development specialist is responsible for designing and conducting training and development programs to significantly improve organizational and individual performance. You will perform a few duties that include evaluating training delivery modes, such as virtual or in-person to optimize training effectiveness and costs, developing, obtaining, or organizing training guides and procedure manuals, and coordinating the placement of trainees. As a workforce development specialist, you also have to choose and assign training instructors and negotiating contracts with clients.
Student development specialists and workforce development specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Student Development Specialist | Workforce Development Specialist | |
| Average salary | $41,280 | $43,666 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $53,000 | Between $28,000 And $66,000 |
| Highest paying City | Arlington, VA | Roseville, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Transportation |
There are a few differences between a student development specialist and a workforce development specialist in terms of educational background:
| Student Development Specialist | Workforce Development Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between student development specialists' and workforce development specialists' demographics:
| Student Development Specialist | Workforce Development Specialist | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 35.4% Female, 64.6% | Male, 33.6% Female, 66.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 6.3% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 5.9% White, 60.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 6.3% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 5.8% White, 58.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |