Jobs You Can Pursue With A Career In Human Development
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Pursuing a career in human development often requires powerful listening and communication skills to better serve an individual’s needs and help them improve or heal. Whether you’re helping students find academic success or you’re assisting doctors and medical professionals in a hospital, there are many jobs and career paths you can follow in the field of human development. In this article, we discuss what a career in human development is and share a list of 15 jobs you can pursue in the field.
Industries Hiring Ba Human Development And Family Studies Graduates
There are numerous employers that hire HDFS graduates, such as assisted living communities, nursing homes, youth organizations, after-school care centers, treatment centers and shelters, and in-home care/virtual care environments.
While salaries can vary based on individual experience and location, PayScale data indicates that as of March 2020, career paths for HDFS graduates are as diverse as they are varied. Examples of career opportunities in this field include office manager, counselor, customer service manager, and nonprofit organization program coordinator. Other possible career paths, such as certified child life specialist and certified family life educator, are also available, but require further education or certification.
| Position |
| $45,000 |
Specialize Your Studies To Fit Your Goals
To prepare for your specific career aspirations, you will select one or two degree . This allows you to lay the groundwork for working in specific areas, including early childhood professions, healthcare, counseling and social services, and more.
You also have the option to . This option prepares you to meet the needs of our aging population and sets you apart as someone with the skills necessary to enter this rewarding, in-demand career field.
If your interests lie in early childhood, you may also consider taking additional coursework to prepare to apply for upon graduation, opening the door to director or substitute director opportunities in child care centers.
Using skills learned through our core curriculum and personalization options, graduates of the HDFS program work in a variety of human service settings. Early childhood care and education programs, youth services organizations, long-term care centers, and Head Start programs have hired past graduates.
What Next?
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Some Quick Job Search Tips For Human Development Majors
These are the most important words you’re going to hear: never stop hustling.
Chase opportunities that excite you follow what piques your curiosity. Give every writing gig a chance.The path from point A to point B will never be cut clearly for you — but unlike the narrower majors, you can fit into anything if you just keep working.
Search according to your skillset.
When searching for a position in the Sociology field, it can be tough to find something based purely on the name of the position — especially if, being new to the field, you still aren’t totally sure what you want to do. So instead of looking for a particular job, look for a position that emphasizes a particular skillset.
For example, the skills that would help you in conducting focus groups — like maintaining the attention of a small group, asking piercing questions, strong public speaking skills — wouldn’t necessarily be the same skills that someone searching for an HR Coordinator would be looking for, as that would be more in line with organization skills, understanding how bureaucracy functions, and knowing how to help individuals with their needs while still keeping an eye on the larger picture.
Be creative with how you approach job listings
There are many more positions available that demand your writing abilities, but the ones that read “Human Development Major Wanted” are limited — so you have to be creative when applying your degree to them in interviews.
Network, network, and network
Health And Aging Services
Description: The Aging and Health concentration prepares students for future careers in various health-related and community settings. Aging covers the entire lifespan, from newborns to older adults. HDF graduates understand what typical development should look like, allowing them to identify developmental concerns and intervene before health is significantly impacted. As populations grow older, there is increased need for trained persons to provide aid and assistance.
Careers: Students have the opportunity to hone skills in the areas of leadership development, collaboration skills, and teamwork, which will help them be be leaders and coordinators of healthcare teams. Students interested in this area often work as:
- activity or quality of life directors
- crisis/hotline workers
- community engagement coordinators
- operations managers
Graduate Studies: Many students will also pursue graduate studies in public health, post-baccalaureate nursing, medical school, health psychology, gerontology, aging services, and social work.
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Family And Consumer Sciences
Family and Consumer Sciences Educator: this career path will provide the FCS content courses needed by students interested in teaching human development and family sciences, nutritional sciences and food production, textiles and apparel, and related courses to middle and high school students. Graduate level work will be required to complete the FCS teacher certification process.
Your Career In Human Development And Family Studies Awaits
Are you ready to develop an educational foundation that can prepare you for growth in your current field, graduate studies, and professional certification? Lets be brave together. Discover how Maryville Universitys online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies can help prepare you for various careers in this fast-growing field.
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Popular Ba In Human Development And Family Studies Careers
Graduates from Maryville Universitys online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies program can choose from various careers across numerous industries. The most popular career paths include childcare or preschool director, community service manager, and medical and health service manager. Other popular careers that may require additional study or certifications include mental health or behavioral health counselor and substance abuse counselor.
Counseling And Social Services
Description: This concentration prepares students for future careers working with individuals and families in counseling and therapy settings.
Careers: Students who graduate with a degree in HDF would be prepared for entry level careers as:
- intake coordinators
- family advocacy agency workers
- employee assistance programs and human resources staff
Graduate Studies: Students interested in therapy would also be required to pursue graduate studies in disciplines such as couples and family therapy, clinical social work, mental health counseling, applied behavior analysis, school/clinical/counseling psychology, consumer finance, nonprofit management, and public policy.
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Available Jobs For Human Development Majors
Many Human Development majors go into social work or counseling, or even just remain in the field as full time researchers and educators. Others go on to work in aspects of business that require an innate understanding of relationships. Human resources departments are often staffed by former Human Development Majors, and jobs that involve things like conducting test groups or otherwise managing large groups of individuals.
Remember that college isn’t job training. You’ve learned to read, write, and analyze information more deeply than other students. Your abilities are applicable to most positions, and you need to narrow the focus.
Employ those skills to analyze their needs and present an argument why you are the best person for the job — as a Human Development major, it is your responsibility to sell yourself to a potential employer.
With our career map, you can click the Job Titles and learn more specific information for each position .
But here, we wanted to call out some of the common jobs for recent Human Development major grads. Here are some of the most interesting entry-level jobs for recent Human Development grads:
coordinators can have many different responsibilities, from maintaining marketing calendars or customer databases to developing ideas and engaging in research themselves.
What Can I Do With A Human Development Degree
The point at which things happen is a decision. Instead of focusing on yourself, focus on how you can help someone else. Germany Kent
We all travel down different paths, but what we share is a need to improve ourselves. Very few people are happy in stagnancy. How do we grow? Our genetics play a role, but it can be overstated in comparison with how were socialized. Recent studies suggest that our brains and bodies are far more plastic and mutable than weve previously thought.
Every day, more people are thinking about or working to better themselves. We exercise, network, go back to school, try to break into new professions. We begin rigorous diets, get diagnosed and prescribed pharmaceuticals, meditate, go to therapy, and whatever else we find or create that works.
Most of us start working on this as adults. We try different things out and build care and development routines that work for our lives and aptitudes. Less commonly we work with professionals that work to understand us, our problems, and assist us in living more productive, happier lives.
As much as we put on ourselves, on some level we know were a product of our experiences, how weve been socialized, our culture, the policies of our society, and much more.
Before we begin, ask yourself and consider the following throughout your search for any human development degree :
Now lets look at what youll need and build up while in a human development program:
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Child And Family Development
Description: The Child and Family Development concentration prepares students for careers helping individuals and families in social service settings, such as schools, recreation centers, community agencies, retirement communities, mental health facilities, hospitals, universities, preschools, and childcare centers. HDF graduates also help with managing financial behaviors, preventing child and domestic abuse, defending the rights of people with disabilities, preparing for retirement and family transitions, and assisting with life transitions such as adoption, foster care, teen pregnancy, and the challenges of military families.
This interest area allows students to tailor courses to gain in-depth knowledge about working with children, adolescents, and families in their many environments.
Careers: HDF graduates often work in agencies as:
- service coordinators
Business Careers With Human Development Bachelor’s Degree
If you’re looking for corporate careers with a human development bachelor’s degree, then you could find a happy home in the fields of human resources or public relations. Businesses need graduates that have strong people skills to oversee the recruiting and management of staff and to present a compelling corporate message to customers and the media. A large part of these jobs involves handling sensitive people issues, such as mediating disputes, helping staff through challenging life events and managing the company’s reputation. This is where your sensitivity to diversity and strong communication skills will help you to shine.
Graduates with an HDFS major can generally take an entry-level position in human resources or public relations without any further education or training, although some positions require a master’s degree. The starting salary for a human resources assistant comes in around $34,000 per year but this should rise quickly with time and experience. Human resources managers with supervisory responsibility earned a median annual salary $110,120 in 2017.
References
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Continuing Education And Certifications In Human Development
Pursuing an advanced degree
Having a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development is obviously a great first step regardless of what sort of career you might be considering, but once you’ve finished that, another question remains: should you go onto further studies?
We did a little research, and while the Master’s might be useful to you, you’ll want to think long and hard about whether a Ph.D is for you and your chosen career.
Here are common advanced degrees that people with Human Development degree normally consider:
Master’s in Human Development
If you’re looking to increase your knowledge in a particular aspect of Human Development or improve your research skills , then a Master’s might be supremely useful to you.
If you’re looking more to increase your earning potential, a Master’s can help do that for you too, but you want to be aware of the hefty price tag that might be associated with it. Figure out how long you’ll be willing to pay off the debt and compared to how much earnings you can anticipate from it first.
If you can get the Master’s without breaking the bank, then go for it, but otherwise it might be worth it to focus on getting more job experience and building your portfolio.
PhD in Human Development
This option is really only a good idea if you’re interested in an academic career. Expect a lot of reading, a lot of writing, and not much recognition for how long and difficult your eventual book is to read.
Careers In Human Development And Family Science
Whether you are taking classes already or just starting to think about majoring in human development and family science , understanding the job opportunities for HDFS majors will help your planning. Listed below are HDFS and potential employers. A degree in human development and family science can prepare you for careers in communications, pre-school/early childhood education, community services, social services, healthcare, government, education and business.
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Jobs That Require A Ba In Human Development
Related
So you’ve tossed your cap, and your diploma hangs proudly on the wall what now? With a degree in human development and family studies, you have the foundation for a robust, dynamic career in multiple sectors. Your studies have taught you how people’s behaviors change over time, how they relate to work, stress, abuse and bereavement, and how different cultures interact with each other. As such, your degree is valued in many academic areas, from social work and education to business.
Certified Child Life Specialist
Careers: Child Life Specialist in Childrenâs Hospitals, Medical Centers, Pediatric Clinics, Childrenâs Hospitals, Advocacy Centers, Dental Clinics, Hospice and Palliative Care Programs, Diagnosis-Specific Subspecialty Services, Private Practice, Therapeutic and Specialized Camps, Rehabilitation Service Agencies, Bereavement Programs, Early Intervention, Mental Health Agencies, School Settings, Early Childhood Settings, Nonprofit Community Agencies, Funeral Homes, Legal Systems, Parent Education Programs, Research and Academia, Policy and Legislation Development.
Credential/Certification: Certified Child Life Specialist , credential issued by the Association of Child Life Professionals.
Requirements:
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What Is A Human Development Degree
Human development practitioners understand how humans grow and develop throughout the lifecycle. While they apply their knowledge in a wide variety of settings, their goal is always the same to support the health and wellbeing of individuals and families in diverse communities.
Degree programs in this field explore physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development through each stage of human life prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, late adulthood, and death and dying.
The physical domain is concerned with growth and changes in the body and brain, the senses, motor skills, and health and wellness. Cognitive human development comprises learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity. Psychosocial development involves emotions, personality, and social relationships. Students learn how these three domains of human development influence and impact every aspect of our lives from self-respect and self-esteem to how we interact with family, peers, and society at large.
Certified Family Life Educator
Careers: Family Life Educator in Community-based social services, Youth development programs, Teen pregnancy services, Adult day care, Welfare assistance, Faith-based organizations, Corporate settings, Family financial counseling and planning agencies, Government and public and family policy analysis, Child welfare and advocacy program, Cooperative extension specialist, Military family support services, Family life education, Sexuality education, Parenting education, Marriage and family enrichment programs, Curriculum development, Community education, Family intervention, Individual and family therapy support services, Crisis and hotline services, Abuse protection services, Residential treatment programs
Credential/Certification: Certified Family Life Educator , certification issued by the National Council on Family Relations .
Requirements:
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Child Youth & Family Development
- Child/Family Crisis Intervention Centers
- Youth and Family Services
- Child Advocacy Organizations
- Community Service Agencies
- Communities and Schools
- Guardian ad Litem A person appointed by the court to represent the child in court and to make recommendations to the court regarding the best interests of the child
- Residential Treatment Facilities for Children
- Recreation Centers
- Dept of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
- Early Intervention
- Drug & Alcohol Prevention Programs
- Teen Pregnancy Services
- Family Service Agencies , Health-Related Agencies
- Activity Coordinator or Program Director in Retirement Facilities
- Residential Care for Elderly
- Extended Care Centers, Adult Day Care
- Senior Citizen Groups
- Intervention Centers
- Family Resource Services
- Military Family Support Services
- Immigration & Migrant Family Services
- Cooperative Extension
- Training adult and youth volunteers to become community leaders, providing educational programs to stimulate community economic development, working in partnership with other agencies to help citizens prepare for and recover from disasters and more.
- Provide families with research-based answers to their day-to-day challenges such as managing a family budget, improving eating habits, or dealing with the special concerns related to early childhood, parenting, or aging.
