How To Become A Unit Supervisor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a unit supervisor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A unit supervisor spends time ensuring that employees are getting work done efficiently and completed on time. This is the person that sets goals and deadlines that conform to the vision of the company.

Unit supervisors make schedules and inspire safe, reliable, and good work habits amongst the team members. They are also involved in helping new hires by ensuring they can work at the standard speed with which their job requires.

You need good interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to be a unit supervisor. Apart from this, you must be able to communicate vitality, empathy, and unity.

Also, you should be able to review an employee's performance to help improve and meet expectations. It will help if you have excellent leadership skills to fill the position well.

For unit supervisors in the nursing field, administrative skills will help you communicate will other workers well. Additionally, you should be able to communicate with patients when required.

ScoreUnit SupervisorUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,749

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.0

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.65%

Asian 5.67%

Black or African American 10.67%

Hispanic or Latino 18.06%

Unknown 4.79%

White 60.16%

Gender

female 48.39%

male 51.61%

Age - 48

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 - 48

Stress level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a unit supervisor

Explore unit supervisor education requirements

Most common unit supervisor degrees

Bachelor's

55.1 %

Associate

19.6 %

Master's

13.9 %

Start to develop specific unit supervisor skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	11.18%
Corrective Action	10.18%
Social Work	7.56%
Oversight	7.28%
Conflict Resolution	6.19%

Complete relevant unit supervisor training and internships

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

Research unit supervisor duties and responsibilities

Manage direct support professionals serving adult populations for persons with mental health, developmental disabilities and children with autism.
Document patient information and recording information correctly, as well as ensuring other workers are following OSHA and HIPAA requirements.
Attend weekly QA collaboration meetings and actively participate in discussions.
Utilize Kaizen activities to drive continuous process and quality improvements.

Prepare your unit supervisor resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable unit supervisor resume templates

Build a professional unit supervisor 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 unit supervisor resume.