What does a Project Specialist do?
A project specialist's role is to ensure that a project or program's completion is within the allotted time and budget. They are primarily responsible for devising plans and strategies to quicken the pace of production or processes involved, creating a comprehensive schedule, monitoring the progress and producing reports, tracking the budget and expenditures, and coordinating with all department personnel. Moreover, a project specialist may also schedule and attend meetings, all while adhering to the company's policies and standards.
Project specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real project specialist resumes:
- Manage all phases of SDLC.
- Manage SDLC so that all controls are followed.
- Manage tracking and resolution of defects and reporting of UAT execution results.
- Purchase and manage inventory for aircraft LCD displays across all Rockwell sites.
- Manage relational database through SQL programming, as well as ERP and MRP.
- Design screen layouts and fields in the ERP system to accomplish above goals as well as enhance end user experience.
- Maximize sales of windows, fencing, siding, roofing, HVAC, and generators.
- Create and update project timelines in VISIO.
- Design and implement knowledge areas of PMBOK standard.
- Request all POs and process goods receipts against customer orders.
- Create drawings for fabricate components and BOM's for commercial parts.
- Reduce ramp-up times for new QA staff by streamlining procedures for systems access.
- Develop organization charts, procedure flow diagrams and other documents in Microsoft Visio.
- Establish reputation for proactive management of QA issues resulting in reduce development cycle times.
- Handle day-to-day support of PC's, servers, printers, and other peripheral devices.
Project specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Project Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Project Management, and Project Proposals. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Listening skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Project Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 25%
Resolved wireless hardware, application and network issues by providing technical customer service support, troubleshooting and remote testing solutions.
- Project Management, 17%
Worked directly with Project Management coordinating computer hardware installations and other deployment and repair functions for various customer contract project work.
- Project Proposals, 10%
Estimated project costs, performed take-offs, and developed project proposals working directly with the General Contractor of the project.
- Telemarketing, 7%
Managed coordination, implementation and installation of next generation telemarketing system, an NT-based, client server environment.
- PowerPoint, 4%
Conducted audit of company activities and evaluated various compliance options/strategies * Presented project findings to departmental heads using Microsoft PowerPoint.
- Patients, 2%
Conduct face-to-face or phone interviews of sampled patients to collect behavioral information relevant to medical care and clinical outcomes.
Common skills that a project specialist uses to do their job include "customer service," "project management," and "project proposals." You can find details on the most important project specialist responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a project specialist to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "computer support specialists must be patient and sympathetic." Project specialists often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "generate customer-specific solutions for issues & concerns while ensuring timely product updates in accordance with fda regulations. "
Listening skills. Another essential skill to perform project specialist duties is listening skills. Project specialists responsibilities require that "support workers must be able to understand the problems that their customers are describing and know when to ask questions to clarify the situation." Project specialists also use listening skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "created sales orders, purchase orders, communicated with vendors, and performed order and data entry. "
Speaking skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of project specialists is speaking skills. This skill is critical to many everyday project specialist duties, as "support workers must describe the solutions to computer problems in a way that a nontechnical person can understand." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "assist in the data entry, indexing, and general processing of various projects and contracts presented to the company. "
Writing skills. project specialist responsibilities often require "writing skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "strong writing skills are useful for preparing instructions and email responses for employees and customers, as well as for real-time web chat interactions." This resume example shows what project specialists do with writing skills on a typical day: "assisted in developing and writing policies/procedures, along with training materials relating to project/portfolio management process and the clarity ppm tool. "
Problem-solving skills. Another crucial skill for a project specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." A big part of what project specialists relies on this skill, since "support workers must identify both simple and complex computer problems, analyze them, and solve them." How this skill relates to project specialist duties can be seen in an example from a project specialist resume snippet: "performed quality control reviews of financial reports to senior management, accounts receivable analysis, and w-2 research and error resolution. "
The three companies that hire the most project specialists are:
- Anderson Merchandisers147 project specialists jobs
- Oracle124 project specialists jobs
- Best Buy63 project specialists jobs
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Compare different project specialists
Project specialist vs. Specialist-small business
A small business specialist develops new business programs to meet changing customer demands. They are responsible for ensuring integrity and consistency in the domain of business. They analyze causes of a business issue, obtain business data, and make enquiries. They are responsible for making purchase agreements, confidentiality arrangements, and joint venture arrangement.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a project specialist are more likely to require skills like "project management," "project proposals," "strong customer service," and "telemarketing." On the other hand, a job as a specialist-small business requires skills like "customer relationships," "business development," "business portfolio," and "business administration." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that specialist-small businesses earn slightly differ from project specialists. In particular, specialist-small businesses are 4.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a project specialist. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Project specialist vs. Project officer
A project officer provides vital support to a project by monitoring deadlines for each project task and closely monitors the project schedule. They work with the project manager and other team members to reach the project target. They can work in almost every field of industry, such as construction, communications, education, and even sales. They can also do administrative tasks, including arranging team meetings, file project documents to the database, and technological skills, and they report directly to the Project Manager to assess project progress and to discuss future steps.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real project specialist resumes. While project specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "strong customer service," "telemarketing," and "pre sales," project officers use skills like "press releases," "logistical support," "dod," and "infrastructure."
Project officers earn a lower average salary than project specialists. But project officers earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $60,687. Additionally, project specialists earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $77,221 annually.project officers earn higher levels of education than project specialists in general. They're 9.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Project Specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Matthew Gilbert
Lecturer of Marketing, Coastal Carolina University
Project specialist vs. Project consultant
A project consultant is responsible for communicating with the clients for their specific needs, develop strategic plans, and determine project resources to achieve their business goals and objectives. Project consultants are employed across various industries, offering their knowledge and expertise to facilitate clients' requests and propositions. They also collaborate with different development teams to discuss project parameters and analyze opportunities to improve plans and progress efficiency. A project consultant must have excellent communication and critical-thinking skills, responding to clients' inquiries and concerns, and providing recommendations to ensure successful project completion.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a project specialist is likely to be skilled in "project proposals," "strong customer service," "telemarketing," and "powerpoint," while a typical project consultant is skilled in "healthcare," "financial statements," "business process," and "strategic plan."
Most project consultants achieve a higher degree level compared to project specialists. For example, they're 8.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Project specialist vs. Business development specialist
A business development specialist is an expert who determines opportunities for marketing strategy optimization and business growth. The specialists perform business process and financial analysis, effective network creation, and business plan implementation. Being a good business development specialist requires knowledge and experience in managing a business. The skillset for the position includes a strong command in English, information technology, attention to detail, and written and verbal communication.
Types of project specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
