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What does a student development specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read

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.

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Student development specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real student development specialist resumes:

  • Manage and coordinate all aspects of EOF program special events and leadership-relate activities.
  • Used Microsoft applications to create informative PowerPoint's, brochures and advertisements market to high school students.
  • Travele the state of Montana to high schools and tribal colleges to build relationships with counselors and administration.
  • Design and develop complex enterprise java applications, object orient software, work on code optimization and data modeling.
  • Monitor student behavior -assist with student IEP and report student activity

Student development specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 26% of Student Development Specialists are proficient in Student Development, Professional Development, and Student Services. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Instructional skills, and Communication skills.

We break down the percentage of Student Development Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Student Development, 26%

    Coordinated planning, operation and evaluation of the campus Student Development Program, which included all marketing activities.

  • Professional Development, 11%

    Created and implemented programs for staff on-boarding and professional development.

  • Student Services, 11%

    Provide individual academic and career planning as well as referrals to testing and student services.

  • Event Planning, 7%

    Worked closely with the Student Government Association and assisted student groups with event planning and organization.

  • Student Organizations, 7%

    Coordinated community volunteers programs, leadership development activities, and advised two student organizations.

  • Colleges, 5%

    Motivated and inspired students to apply to colleges through Decision Day, Wall of Acceptance, and daily advising sessions.

Common skills that a student development specialist uses to do their job include "student development," "professional development," and "student services." You can find details on the most important student development specialist responsibilities below.

Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a student development specialist to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "specialists should be resourceful when developing training materials." Student development specialists often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "compose signage for the advertisement of uwrf surplus inventory including posters, television slides, and facebook photos. "

Instructional skills. Another essential skill to perform student development specialist duties is instructional skills. Student development specialists responsibilities require that "training and development specialists deliver employee training programs." Student development specialists also use instructional skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "manage the all-star leadership programs, student clubs and organizations, and student leader instructional sessions. "

Communication skills. student development specialists are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to student development specialist responsibilities, because "training and development specialists must convey information clearly and facilitate learning to diverse audiences." A student development specialist resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "manage data, communication, and projects by using word, excel, powerpoint, and publisher. "

Analytical skills. For certain student development specialist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of a student development specialist rely on this skill, as "training and development specialists must evaluate training programs, methods, and materials and choose those that best fit each situation." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what student development specialists do: "generate statistical reports using mixed method data collection. "

Most common student development specialist skills

The three companies that hire the most student development specialists are:

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Compare different student development specialists

Student development specialist vs. Trainer

A trainer is responsible for instilling knowledge and process techniques for a specific business role. Duties of a trainer include facilitating engaging classes, identifying areas of improvement and opportunities for the learner, evaluating skills and attending to the learner's challenges, organizing training materials and scheduling training sessions, and submitting timely reports to the management on progress. Trainers are required to have excellent public communication skills and extensive product knowledge to provide effective learning methodologies and maintain strategic project management.

The annual salary of trainers is $6,294 higher than the average salary of student development specialists.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both student development specialist and trainer positions are skilled in professional development, front desk, and powerpoint.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, student development specialist responsibilities require skills like "student development," "student services," "event planning," and "student organizations." Meanwhile a typical trainer has skills in areas such as "pet," "training programs," "leadership," and "bonds." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Trainers really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $51,822. Comparatively, student development specialists tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $40,833.On average, trainers reach lower levels of education than student development specialists. Trainers are 8.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Student development specialist vs. Training coordinator

A training coordinator is an individual who develops and conducts training programs for employees or volunteers. Training coordinators create printed and instructional materials as well as maintain an online library of training resources. Aside from conducting training, training coordinators need to assess employees' development and report their progress to the management. An organization also requires its training coordinators to obtain a bachelor's degree in Human Resource or related field and have excellent communication skills.

A career as a training coordinator brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a student development specialist. In fact, training coordinators salary is $5,418 higher than the salary of student development specialists per year.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that student development specialist responsibilities requires skills like "student development," "student services," "event planning," and "student organizations." But a training coordinator might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "training materials," "patients," and "training sessions."

Training coordinators may earn a higher salary than student development specialists, but training coordinators earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $51,627. On the other hand, student development specialists receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $40,833.training coordinators earn lower levels of education than student development specialists in general. They're 7.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Student development specialist vs. Certified trainer

A certified trainer is responsible for creating a customized fitness program for clients to improve their body functions, including their cardiovascular stability, balance, flexibility, and overall wellness for a healthy lifestyle. Certified trainers determine the clients' fitness goals, monitoring the clients' progress, and adjusting training plans as needed. They also monitor their clients' food intake, encouraging them to follow strict diet procedures to maintain nutritional standards and practice health disciplines. A certified trainer must have excellent communication and critical-thinking skills and extensive knowledge of the fitness industry.

On average scale, certified trainers bring in higher salaries than student development specialists. In fact, they earn a $13,490 higher salary per year.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from student development specialist resumes include skills like "student development," "professional development," "student services," and "event planning," whereas a certified trainer is more likely to list skills in "safety procedures," "food safety," "customer service," and "food preparation. "

Certified trainers typically earn lower educational levels compared to student development specialists. Specifically, they're 11.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Student development specialist vs. Corporate trainer

A corporate trainer is someone who essentially works as a teacher in a corporate setting. Daily duties include training employees with new company systems, skills, and strategies. They monitor the engagement levels and performance of the training participants. Also, they collaborate with project stakeholders to create training content and design. Corporate trainers must have high interpersonal skills to connect with trainers easily and to get them to participate actively in the training sessions. Preferred candidates for the job are those with a bachelor's degree in human resources or those with relevant job experience in the same field.

Corporate trainers tend to earn a higher pay than student development specialists by an average of $17,523 per year.While both student development specialists and corporate trainers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like professional development, conflict resolution, and powerpoint, the two careers vary in some skills.While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "student development," "student services," "event planning," and "student organizations" are skills that commonly show up on student development specialist resumes. On the other hand, corporate trainers use skills like customer service, training sessions, training materials, and hr on their resumes.corporate trainers enjoy the best pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $58,663. For comparison, student development specialists earn the highest salary in the health care industry.In general, corporate trainers hold lower degree levels compared to student development specialists. Corporate trainers are 9.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of student development specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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