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Youth development professional skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Carla Alphonso,

Christina Erickson Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical youth development professional skills. We ranked the top skills for youth development professionals based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 13.4% of youth development professional resumes contained youth development as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a youth development professional needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 youth development professional skills for your resume and career

1. Youth Development

Youth Development is a gradual process that is designed to equip a young person, teenager, or adolescent with the necessary skills and mindset to grow into a mature and successful adult. This involves initiating activities that will help the youth advance mentally, socially, psychologically and grow in cognitive reasoning. The activities may include community service, mentoring programs, physical training, skill training, and many other innovative ways the youth development expert can come up with to achieve the goal.

Here's how youth development professionals use youth development:

Monitor and evaluate programs continually to ensure programs/activities meet members need and the achievement of youth development.
Trained extensively in Spanish language, youth development work, international development best practices.

2. Direct Care

Direct care is the act of identifying people with special needs and offering the necessary care for them.

Here's how youth development professionals use direct care:

Provide direct care services to individuals with mental, personality, and or substance use problems.
Provided direct care and supervision to clients on and off the residential campus.

3. Productive Relationships

Here's how youth development professionals use productive relationships:

Developed productive relationships with prospects and peers.
Developed positive and productive relationships with youth.

4. Restraints

Here's how youth development professionals use restraints:

Diffuse conflict and crisis situations between residents through building rapport, one-on-one communication tactics, and/or CPI restraints.
Performed TCI de-escalation techniques and restraints in order to maintain client and environment safety.

5. Professional Development

Professional development means to have the essential training certification or education with the purpose of earning and having a successful career. Every job requires a different set of skills. However, new skills may be needed in the future. Professional development, in this regard, helps people to develop and polish the skills and become efficient workers.

Here's how youth development professionals use professional development:

Certified Network Security Professional from Institute of Professional Development, DePaul University * OPNET certified from OPNET University Bethesda, Maryland.
Communicate with MasteryPrep management concerning what is working and what can be improved about professional development services and student workshops.

6. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how youth development professionals use cpr:

Contacted parents for late pick up and emergency school closings (Trained in Adult and infant CPR and Fire safety).
Completed intro to PA Restorative Justice Policies at youth correctional facility Certified CPR first response training certificate.

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7. Compassion

Here's how youth development professionals use compassion:

Demonstrated patience, compassion, and understanding while helping with homework.

8. Direct Supervision

Direct supervision is a term used to indicate that a person is supervising a certain task or a certain person while being physically present or in close proximity. It refers to the presence of a person and the availability of their supervision in something if it is needed.

Here's how youth development professionals use direct supervision:

Provided security by maintaining constant vigilance through the direct supervision of residents in order to provide a safe living environment.
Direct supervision of 14 staff and 3 counselors, responsible for time management, scheduling, and shift coverage issues,

9. Business Development

Business development is the ideas or initiatives that work to make business work better. Selling, advertising, product development, supply chain management, and vendor management are only a few of the divisions involved with it. There is still a lot of networking, negotiating, forming alliances, and trying to save money. The goals set for business development guide and coordinate with all of these various operations and sectors.

Here's how youth development professionals use business development:

Worked closely with the Vice President of Business Operations to align all business development efforts within organizational parameters.
Led business development in identifying, tracking and securing prospects resulting in lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships.

10. Leadership

Here's how youth development professionals use leadership:

Provided positive guidance and leadership for youth participants Assimilated high-yield learning activities and hands-on demonstrations to improve one s academic success.
Completed three-year leadership program consisting of assignments in sales, communications and field operations as well as annual cross-functional consulting projects.

11. Mathematics

Here's how youth development professionals use mathematics:

Showed compassion, Provided Homework Help/ Tutoring in Mathematics.
Work one-on-one with students at Fanning Middle School in St. Louis, MO on mathematics and reading concepts.

12. Emotional Environment

Here's how youth development professionals use emotional environment:

Demonstrated skills, ability and knowledge that promote a safe physical and emotional environment for children and families.
Demonstrated skills that promoted a safe physical and emotional environment for children within state care.

13. PowerPoint

Here's how youth development professionals use powerpoint:

Conducted research, created newsletters and PowerPoint presentations.
Created PowerPoint that reflects current EHS metric measurements vs. the goals of the year.

14. Homework Assistance

Here's how youth development professionals use homework assistance:

Provide snacks, homework assistance, physical activities, optional Bible study and enrichment to enhance their critical thinking skills.
Provided homework assistance as well as group and one on one tutoring.

15. Fine Arts

Here's how youth development professionals use fine arts:

Assisted the Youth Leader in preparing the youth for Fine Arts competitions and supervised youth during their activities.
Enhance the minds of youth through Fine Arts such as tap dance and chorus.

5 Youth Development Professional resume examples

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What skills help Youth Development Professionals find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on youth development professional resumes?

Dr. Carla Alphonso

Professor of Sociology, Presbyterian College

Skills involving data collection and analysis remain important, and are one of the qualities that help sociology majors to stand out compared to their peers. Communication skills, especially strong writing skills but also confident, effective public speaking, are helpful in today's job market. Sociology students are also well-positioned in terms of problem solving and critical thinking skills. Many jobs that our students enter need applicants who are solutions-focused, and sociology helps students in that area.

What youth development professional skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Christina Erickson Ph.D.

Professor and Director of the Bachelor of Social Work Program, Augsburg University

Gap years are welcome for students. Generally, I see a great deal of maturity as students move through the four years of college and this is necessary to prepare them for the demands of being a professional social worker. A gap year often increases the maturity level of students and can provide rich experiences that prepare them for college. A good gap year for a social work student includes human interactions that require students to work across human differences. That difference can be in a variety of forms, age, culture, gender, faith tradition, experiences, or even ways of thinking. What matters most is the student's ability to describe their own growth as they worked across those differences. Not about how other people changed because of their interaction, but how they changed to meet their goals and learn from others. Experience solving problems is helpful, too. Even learning how to take the first steps to deal with a challenge and being able to describe the steps, grows critical thinking and evaluation skills important for the most successful social work practitioners.

What type of skills will young youth development professionals need?

Dr. Stephanie Baran

Instructor, Sociology, Nicholls State University

I do not believe this has changed much-aside from the increase of distance learning. I know that in my teaching experience, the things students learn in class are directly relatable to their future endeavors. Sociology teaches its majors, minors and (other students simply taking the course for credit) how different social structures impact different lives, differently. Therefore, being able to be proactive, assess situations, understand different relationships are all still important. I think a skill we can as instructors instill in students is simply asking for help and knowing who to talk to/reaching out to others is imperative to mental health. I think employers are the ones that need to shift and provide access to different work/life balance resources, versus the graduate always being on alert.

Do you want to know more?

List of youth development professional skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a youth development professional resume and required skills for a youth development professional to have include:

Youth Development
Direct Care
Productive Relationships
Restraints
Professional Development
CPR
Compassion
Direct Supervision
Business Development
Leadership

Mathematics
Emotional Environment
PowerPoint
Homework Assistance
Fine Arts
Educational Programs
Conflict Resolution
at-Risk Youth
Role Model
Incident Reports

Eating Disorders
Teen
Front Desk
Program Participation
Healthy Lifestyle
HR
Social Justice
Quality Program
Youth Engagement
Summer Program

Updated January 8, 2025

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.

Updated January 8, 2025

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