A Grant Specialist's Job Description

Superior Organizational Skills

Grant specialists are typically in charge of the entire grant procurement process. This means carefully reviewing and selecting opportunities, keeping a close eye on application deadlines, meeting all reporting deadlines, and more. Superior organizational skills are a must to ensure everything runs smoothly and no opportunities are missed.

Applying for grants is writing-intensive work. Most grant specialists evaluate, write and manage grants for their employer. Even in large organizations where the specialist takes on a supervisory role, working with other grant writers, strong editing skills and well-written progress reports are required.

The grant specialist is almost always working in a close team environment. Being able to clearly communicate needs and goals is a must. Specialists may be asked to present on a regular basis, both to review proposed grants and to report on those already secured. Grant specialists also must clearly communicate with the granting organizations to increase the likelihood of successful applications.

Because almost all grant applications require the applicant to demonstrate quantitative, measurable, positive results, analytical skills are a must. Many grant specialists also create, manage and report on budgets related to their grant work, so strong financial skills are a plus.

Most grant specialist positions require a bachelor's degree. Some require a master's degree or better. The hiring organization may prefer a communications degree with strong writing skills or may look for a degree related to its larger organizational mission--for example, someone trained in accounting for a financial firm or someone with a social work background for a charitable non-profit. In very rare cases, an individual may be able to demonstrate enough on-the-job experience to overcome degree requirements, but this is the exception to the rule. Having a record of successfully awarded grants helps.