What does a wellness specialist do?
A wellness specialist is responsible for guiding clients in achieving their wellness and healthy lifestyle goals by creating fitness training and programs according to clients' needs and concerns. Wellness specialists conduct regular counseling for their clients regarding their daily activities, exercise routines, stress levels, and eating habits to identify customized wellness plans and proper lifestyle balance. They also coordinate with other health professionals as needed, especially in cases requiring immediate medical attention. A wellness specialist suggests various supplementary medication and meal recommendations to help stabilize the clients' immune system and energize them on their daily tasks.
Wellness specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real wellness specialist resumes:
- Prepare patients for tests by placing ECG leads and taking resting vitals.
- Manage a fully operational wellness program with a wide range of modalities from monitoring heart rates, BMI's to nutrition/exercise.
- Instruct a beginner yoga exercise class and stretching workout regimens.
- Certify CPR instructor---Teaching students life saving skills in the presence of an emergency cardiac event.
- Interpret ECG readings before, during, and after assign exercise session; chart progress and provide feedback for physicians.
- Implement fitness and wellness classes: smoking cessation, core strengthening, circuit training, lunch-n-learns, and teach yoga classes.
- Educate patients about healthy lifestyle behaviors -Developed anaerobic and aerobic exercise routines derive from a doctor's physical examination of patients
- Assist with cardiac echocardiogram stress testing procedures.
Wellness specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Wellness Specialists are proficient in CPR, Mental Health, and Blood Pressure. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Communication skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Wellness Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CPR, 15%
Teach, trained all community First Aid courses and CPR & AED through American Red Cross.
- Mental Health, 14%
Provide supportive counseling, medication education, mental health education and early crisis intervention.
- Blood Pressure, 7%
Perform employee wellness health screenings* Perform manual blood pressure, body fat analysis, and finger sticks* Promote healthy living to employees
- Community Resources, 6%
Support accessing community resources for individuals and their families.
- Health Education, 5%
Provide first-aid, in-house/independent rehabilitation, health education, and ergonomic assessment services for employees in accordance with OSHA guidelines.
- Health Screenings, 5%
Coordinated and managed annual health screenings for program development.
"cpr," "mental health," and "blood pressure" are among the most common skills that wellness specialists use at work. You can find even more wellness specialist responsibilities below, including:
Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for a wellness specialist to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "many fitness trainers and instructors sell their services, motivating clients to hire them as personal trainers or to sign up for the classes they lead." Additionally, a wellness specialist resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "key point of contact for pharmacy patients, ensuring customers receive timely and accurate answers about healthcare related products and services. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling wellness specialist duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "fitness trainers and instructors must be able to clearly explain exercises that they demonstrate to clients." According to a wellness specialist resume, here's how wellness specialists can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "collaborate with team, provide best patient care experience, ensure effective communication across departments. "
Listening skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of wellness specialists is listening skills. This skill is critical to many everyday wellness specialist duties, as "fitness trainers and instructors must listen carefully to what clients tell them in order to determine the clients’ fitness levels and desired fitness goals." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "listen to concerns of individuals with mental illness. "
Motivational skills. A big part of what wellness specialists do relies on "motivational skills." You can see how essential it is to wellness specialist responsibilities because "to keep clients coming back for more classes or to continue personal training, fitness trainers and instructors must keep their clients motivated." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical wellness specialist tasks: "conducted fitness consultations and personalized health assessments using motivational interviewing, mbti and cbt as needed. "
Physical fitness. Another common skill required for wellness specialist responsibilities is "physical fitness." This skill comes up in the duties of wellness specialists all the time, as "fitness trainers and instructors must be able to lead classes and to demonstrate exercises to participants or their clients." An excerpt from a real wellness specialist resume shows how this skill is central to what a wellness specialist does: "administered fitness assessments to establish a health baseline and equipment orientations to ensure that employees were using equipment safely and effectively. "
Problem-solving skills. Another skill commonly found on wellness specialist job descriptions is "problem-solving skills." It can come up quite often in wellness specialist duties, since "fitness trainers and instructors must evaluate members’ or client’s fitness levels and create appropriate fitness plans to meet their needs." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day wellness specialist responsibilities: "enhanced program awareness, and assisting with program implementation and conflict resolution. "
The three companies that hire the most wellness specialists are:
- Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare11 wellness specialists jobs
- Trinity Health6 wellness specialists jobs
- Weight Watchers International, Inc.4 wellness specialists jobs
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Compare different wellness specialists
Wellness specialist vs. Corporate fitness program coordinator
A fitness coordinator spearheads and organizes fitness programs in gyms and other facilities, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. Their responsibilities include performing research and analysis to develop ideal programs, identifying program requirements, coordinating with fellow fitness experts, establishing objectives and guidelines, monitoring budgets and schedules, and ensuring that facilities meet the clients' needs. They must also develop strategies to build positive relationships with clients. Moreover, a fitness coordinator must maintain an active communication line with staff to maintain smooth workflow operations.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between wellness specialists and corporate fitness program coordinator. For instance, wellness specialist responsibilities require skills such as "cpr," "mental health," "blood pressure," and "community resources." Whereas a corporate fitness program coordinator is skilled in "alumni community," "group fitness," "fitness equipment," and "educational workshops." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Corporate fitness program coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than wellness specialists. In fact, corporate fitness program coordinators are 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Wellness specialist vs. Fitness coordinator
Each career also uses different skills, according to real wellness specialist resumes. While wellness specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "mental health," "community resources," "health education," and "rehabilitation," fitness coordinators use skills like "payroll," "cleanliness," "yoga," and "group fitness instructors."
On average, fitness coordinators earn a lower salary than wellness specialists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, fitness coordinators earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $39,216. Whereas wellness specialists have higher pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $40,974.In general, fitness coordinators achieve lower levels of education than wellness specialists. They're 5.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Wellness specialist vs. Fitness and wellness manager
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from wellness specialist resumes include skills like "mental health," "blood pressure," "community resources," and "health education," whereas a fitness and wellness manager is more likely to list skills in "front desk," "customer service," "wellness programs," and "fitness equipment. "
Fitness and wellness managers typically earn lower educational levels compared to wellness specialists. Specifically, they're 9.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Wellness specialist vs. Fitness and wellness coordinator
Types of wellness specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
