Youth development professionals help children and adolescents discover talents, improve abilities, and maximize their potential. They are in charge of developing, implementing, and evaluating various youth development programs, such as mentorship sessions, career days, field trips, and youth seminars, among many others.
Additional duties may include training youth support workers, coordinating with service providers, communicating with school administrators, and completing any necessary paperwork. They may also specialize in a specific development sector, such as public service, learning, or career building, which requires special training and experience in said sector.
Having a degree in psychology, business, or education can put you in a great spot to become a youth development professional. Prior work experience or participation in youth development programs is also a plus. Furthermore, you must show your prospective employer that you are highly communicable, work well with kids, and have a passion for serving others.
As a youth development professional, you can earn a yearly income between $32,000 to $112,000 a year, wherein the average is around $60,000 annually.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a youth development professional. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.49 an hour? That's $36,385 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 81,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many youth development professionals have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed emotional skills, communication skills and interpersonal skills.
If you're interested in becoming a youth development professional, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 62.7% of youth development professionals have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 11.7% of youth development professionals have master's degrees. Even though most youth development professionals have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a youth development professional. When we researched the most common majors for a youth development professional, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on youth development professional resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a youth development professional. In fact, many youth development professional jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many youth development professionals also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or sales associate.