What does a vocational rehabilitation specialist do?
A vocational rehabilitation specialist helps clients suffering from disabilities, impairments, or injuries with employment opportunities. Their job is to critically assess their clients' interests and problems and to use that to figure out the perfect position that would be a great fit for their capabilities. Their job may also involve the evaluation of employees who wish to return to work to determine if they can do so and how best to go about it.
Vocational rehabilitation specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real vocational rehabilitation specialist resumes:
- Collaborate with institutions of higher learning and local organizations to help assign veterans achieve independent living and academic success.
- Determine eligibility for vocational rehabilitation services.
- Develop individualize rehabilitation treatment plans.
- Determine eligibility for vocational rehabilitation services.
Vocational rehabilitation specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 34% of Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists are proficient in Rehabilitation, Community Resources, and Independent Living. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Patience, and Compassion.
We break down the percentage of Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Rehabilitation, 34%
Develop individualized rehabilitation treatment plans.
- Community Resources, 10%
Created, implemented, and maintained a network of employment contacts and community resources.
- Independent Living, 7%
Enhanced prolonged independent living capacities.
- Vocational Rehabilitation, 7%
Transferred with vocational rehabilitation to counselor position
- IPE, 4%
Provide services that will address goals and objectives outlined on the client's individualized Plan for Employment (IPE).
- Vocational Evaluations, 4%
Provided vocational evaluations, cognitive therapy, vocational counseling, job coaching and follow-up.
Common skills that a vocational rehabilitation specialist uses to do their job include "rehabilitation," "community resources," and "independent living." You can find details on the most important vocational rehabilitation specialist responsibilities below.
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a vocational rehabilitation specialist to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "rehabilitation counselors need to be able to communicate effectively with clients." Additionally, a vocational rehabilitation specialist resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "maintain contact and communication with community organizations and vendors. "
Patience. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling vocational rehabilitation specialist duties is patience. The role rewards competence in this skill because "rehabilitation counselors must have patience to help clients learn new skills and strategies to address their disabilities." According to a vocational rehabilitation specialist resume, here's how vocational rehabilitation specialists can utilize patience in their job responsibilities: "work with individuals with traumatic brain injuries accomplishments certified brain injury specialist skills used organization planning patience flexibility listening communication redirection modeling"
Compassion. This is an important skill for vocational rehabilitation specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how vocational rehabilitation specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "rehabilitation counselors often work with people who are dealing with stressful and difficult situations." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a vocational rehabilitation specialist: "earned repeated commendations from supervisor and patients for providing high-quality, compassionate care. ".
Interpersonal skills. vocational rehabilitation specialist responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "rehabilitation counselors must be able to work with different types of people." This resume example shows what vocational rehabilitation specialists do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "establish and maintains interpersonal relationships with youths to encouraged and assist with their social adjustments. "
Listening skills. Another crucial skill for a vocational rehabilitation specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "listening skills." A big part of what vocational rehabilitation specialists relies on this skill, since "good listening skills are essential for rehabilitation counselors." How this skill relates to vocational rehabilitation specialist duties can be seen in an example from a vocational rehabilitation specialist resume snippet: "communicated with local agencies and organizations, schools, churches, courts and employers regarding client involvement and attendance in programs. "
The three companies that hire the most vocational rehabilitation specialists are:
- Project Transition3 vocational rehabilitation specialists jobs
- Peoria Unified School District2 vocational rehabilitation specialists jobs
- Accord Healthcare2 vocational rehabilitation specialists jobs
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Compare different vocational rehabilitation specialists
Vocational rehabilitation specialist vs. Work counselor
A work counselor's responsibility is to know the employee's problems including stress, workplace depression, declining productivity, and anxiety, and help solve them by resolving negative patterns, rehabilitation, and prevention to improve quality of life. Such purpose is to reduce sickness absence and pressure. Part of their helping profession is to respect the employees' privacy by sharing information and opinions on resources that the client needs since they are not tasked to disclose information and give advice.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, vocational rehabilitation specialist responsibilities require skills like "rehabilitation," "ipe," "vocational evaluations," and "physical disabilities." Meanwhile a typical work counselor has skills in areas such as "discharge planning," "mental health," "social services," and "restraints." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Work counselors tend to make the most money working in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $57,053. In contrast, vocational rehabilitation specialists make the biggest average salary, $52,301, in the government industry.On average, work counselors reach similar levels of education than vocational rehabilitation specialists. Work counselors are 1.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Vocational rehabilitation specialist vs. Supportive employment case manager
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that vocational rehabilitation specialist responsibilities requires skills like "rehabilitation," "ipe," "vocational evaluations," and "physical disabilities." But a supportive employment case manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "developmental disabilities," "intellectual disabilities," "mental health," and "persistent mental illness."
In general, supportive employment case managers achieve lower levels of education than vocational rehabilitation specialists. They're 10.8% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Vocational rehabilitation specialist vs. Developmental training counselor
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from vocational rehabilitation specialist resumes include skills like "rehabilitation," "community resources," "vocational rehabilitation," and "ipe," whereas a developmental training counselor is more likely to list skills in "developmental disabilities," "cpr," "direct support," and "adl. "
Developmental training counselors typically earn lower educational levels compared to vocational rehabilitation specialists. Specifically, they're 17.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Vocational rehabilitation specialist vs. Job coach/job developer
Even though a few skill sets overlap between vocational rehabilitation specialists and job coach/job developers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a vocational rehabilitation specialist might have more use for skills like "rehabilitation," "ipe," "vocational evaluations," and "functional limitations." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of job coach/job developers require skills like "professional development," "developmental disabilities," "on-the-job training," and "mock interviews. "
In general, job coach/job developers hold lower degree levels compared to vocational rehabilitation specialists. Job coach/job developers are 8.1% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of vocational rehabilitation specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
