Skills
Recreation Manager Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in recreation managers, and how to build and show them.
What skills do recreation managers need?
Recreation Managers need technical skills such as program planning, facility management, and budgeting, plus people skills like leadership and communication. They also use tools such as Registration software and Scheduling tools.
Technical (hard) skills
- Program planning
- Facility management
- Budgeting
- Staff training
- Risk management
- Marketing
People (soft) skills
- Leadership
- Communication
- Creativity
- Organization
Tools, equipment and technology
- Registration software
- Scheduling tools
- Budget software
- Social media
- Maintenance systems
- Radios
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how recreation managers put their skills to work:
- How to plan a summer day camp
- How to build a recreation program budget
- How to inspect a playground for safety
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Program planning” and “Facility management.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “leadership,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as CPRP near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our recreation manager glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Recreation Manager training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.